NAME

       writetmp - write special wtmp entries to a wtmp file.

SYNOPSIS

       writetmp  [-w  wtmp|-]  [-X[3|4]]  [-u  user] [-l line] [-h host] [-i id] [-p pid] [-t type] [-c comment]
       [--help] [--version] [entry-type]

DESCRIPTION

       Writetmp is a utility to write special entries to a wtmp file.  Useful as either a  replacement  for  the
       functionality  of  the  "halt  -w"  or "reboot -w" commands which are normally run at shutdown time or to
       write special wtmp entries to an alternate wtmp file to which such entries would normally not be written.

       Under normal conditions radius radtwmp or tacacs accounting logs do not  contain  shutdown  and  boottime
       entries  because the access control software is not setup to take into account these events.  In the case
       of a quick shutdown or server crash, the wtmp file(s) will lose coherency.   To  avoid  or  minimize  the
       amount of accounting error, it is necessary to write shutdown and boottime entries to such logs.

       Also  changes  in  time which are made manually with date or via the network with a program such as rdate
       are not reflected in the accounting logs, which, if the time difference is severe can improperly  account
       time for logins active during the time change.

       If  an entry-type is specified on the command line, the -u, -l, -h, -i, -p, -t and -c options are ignored
       as writetmp will fill in the username, line, id, and host entries as required for  that  particular  wtmp
       entry-type.

       Writetmp understands the following entry types:

       shutdown
              used just prior to a normal system shutdown.  Also accepts halt or reboot as aliases for shutdown.

       boottime
              used at system initialization time, to indicate the system is booting.

       oldtime
              Indicates the time is about to change.

       newtime
              Indicates  the  time  has changed.  The difference in time is determined from the timestamp on the
              last oldtime entry.

       runlevel
              Indicates a change in runlevel (useless in an accounting sense).

OPTIONS

       Writetmp understands the following command line switches:

       --help Outputs a verbose usage listing.

       --version
              Displays the version of writetmp.

       -w wtmp
              Select a different output file instead of the default (/var/log/wtmp).

       -X[3]  Write to a wtmp file maintained by versions 3.3 or  3.4  Tacacs  terminal  server  access  control
              software.

       -X4    Write to a wtmp file maintained by version 4.0 of Tacacs terminal server access control software.

       -u user
              Specify the username for the username field.

       -l line
              Specify the tty name for the line field.

       -h host
              Specify the hostname.

       -i id  Specify the init id name. Not applicable to tacacs wtmp files.

       -p pid Specify the pid number. Not appliccable to tacacs wtmp files.

       -t type
              Specify  the type of wtmp entry for the ut_type field, not to be confused with entry-type.  May be
              coded as a number or one of: unknown, runlevel, boottime, newtime, oldtime, init, login,  user  or
              dead.

       -c comment
              Specify the comment for the tacacs 4 wtmp comment field (16 characters max).

EXAMPLES

       Write a shutdown message to an alternate wtmp log:

            writetmp -w /var/adm/xtmp shutdown

       A shell script to update the time in an alternate wtmp file when netdate is run:

            #!/bin/sh
            writetmp -w /var/adm/xtmp oldtime
            netdate clock.llnl.gov
            writetmp -w /var/adm/xtmp newtime

       Find out how often and for how long people run a specific program, such as pine:

            #!/bin/sh
            # /var/adm/cmdtmp must be globally writable.
            cmdtmp=/var/adm/cmdtmp

            writetmp -w $cmdtmp -u pine -l cmd$$ -h $USER -t user
            /path/to/real-pine $*
            writetmp -w $cmdtmp -l cmd$$ -t dead

FILES

       /var/log/wtmp        login database.

AUTHOR

       Steve Baker (ice@mama.indstate.edu)

BUGS

       Does  not  lock  the  wtmp file and does not guarantee a successful write.  Could in theory corrupt a log
       file.

       Rdate and netdate can take seconds to complete, so writing oldtime/newtime records around them may not be
       entirely accurate.

SEE ALSO

       date(1), last(1), sac(8), netdate(8L), reboot(8)