Ubuntu Manpage: sessreg - manage utmp/wtmp entries for non-init clients

Provided by: x11-xserver-utils_7.7+2ubuntu1_amd64

NAME

       sessreg - manage utmp/wtmp entries for non-init clients

SYNOPSIS

       sessreg  [-w  wtmp-file]  [-u utmp-file] [-L lastlog-file] [-l line-name] [-h host-name] [-s slot-number]
       [-x Xservers-file] [-t ttys-file] [-V] [-a] [-d] user-name

DESCRIPTION

       Sessreg is a simple program for managing utmp/wtmp and lastlog entries for xdm sessions.

       System V has a better interface to utmp than BSD; it dynamically allocates entries in the  file,  instead
       of writing them at fixed positions indexed by position in /etc/ttys.

       To  manage  BSD-style  utmp  files,  sessreg  has two strategies.  In conjunction with xdm, the -x option
       counts the number of lines in /etc/ttys and then adds to that the number of the line in the Xservers file
       which specifies the display.  The display name must be specified as the "line-name" using the -l  option.
       This  sum  is used as the "slot-number" in the utmp file that this entry will be written at.  In the more
       general case, the -s option specifies the slot-number directly.  If for some strange reason  your  system
       uses a file other than /etc/ttys to manage init, the -t option can direct sessreg to look elsewhere for a
       count of terminal sessions.

       Conversely,  System  V  managers  will  not  ever need to use these options (-x, -s and -t).  To make the
       program easier to document  and  explain,  sessreg  accepts  the  BSD-specific  flags  in  the  System  V
       environment and ignores them.

       BSD  and Linux also have a host-name field in the utmp file which doesn't exist in System V.  This option
       is also ignored by the System V version of sessreg.

USAGE

       In Xstartup, place a call like:

              sessreg -a -l $DISPLAY -x /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers $USER

       and in Xreset:

              sessreg -d -l $DISPLAY -x /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers $USER

OPTIONS

-w wtmp-file
This specifies an alternate wtmp file, instead of /var/log/wtmp. The special name "none" disables
writing records to the wtmp file.

-u utmp-file
This specifies an alternate utmp file, instead of /var/run/utmp. The special name "none" disables
writing records to the utmp file.

-L lastlog-file
This specifies an alternate lastlog file, instead of /var/log/lastlog, if the platform supports
lastlog files. The special name "none" disables writing records to the lastlog file.

-l line-name
This describes the "line" name of the entry. For terminal sessions, this is the final pathname
segment of the terminal device filename (e.g. ttyd0). For X sessions, it should probably be the
local display name given to the users session (e.g. :0). If none is specified, the terminal name
will be determined with ttyname(3) and stripped of leading components.

-h host-name
This is set for BSD hosts to indicate that the session was initiated from a remote host. In
typical xdm usage, this options is not used.

-s slot-number
Each potential session has a unique slot number in BSD systems, most are identified by the
position of the line-name in the /etc/ttysfile. This option overrides the default position
determined with ttyslot(3). This option is inappropriate for use with xdm, the -x option is more
useful.

-x Xservers-file
As X sessions are one-per-display, and each display is entered in this file, this options sets the
slot-number to be the number of lines in the ttys-file plus the index into this file that the
line-name is found.

-t ttys-file
This specifies an alternate file which the -x option will use to count the number of terminal
sessions on a host.

-V This option causes the command to print its version and exit.

-a This session should be added to utmp/wtmp.

-d This session should be deleted from utmp/wtmp. One of -a/-d must be specified.

AUTHOR