[NTLUG:Discuss] ssh login

[Steve Baker]

TJ Davis wrote:
> so do you have a solution as to how to fix the problem?  The first and 
> only suggestion did not work.

Well, firstly, to be absolutely clear about this: The user *ISN'T* still
logged in after the machine was rebooted - that's simply not possible.
It's only that the utmp/wtmp files didn't get updated to show that they
logged out - so if you *ask* whether they are logged in or not using 'who'
or something like it, you get the wrong answer.

So this shouldn't be a terrible security problem or a drain on system
resources or anything like that.

So - what can you do?

Unless this is causing you some kind of terrible grief - I'd do *nothing*
UNIX has been working like this since the early 1970's and everyone is used
to flakey results coming back out of utmp/wtmp.

But if you absolutely have to fix it, I'd wipe out the utmp/wtmp files on
reboot.  That'll ensure that they are not going to show any bogus
information from before the reboot - and the only loss will be that users
won't be told when they last logged in or logged out if the machine had
to be rebooted in the meantime.

Heck - this is Linux - machines frequently go for YEARS between reboots!

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