Re: 'w' works, 'who' does not...

[Raja R Harinath <harinath@cs.umn.edu>]

Jon Valesh <jon@exo.com> writes:
> I have a set of servers running debian 1.2 as downloadable from a mirror
> site today. There are two servers, using NIS to distribute user 
> information.
> 
> >From either system, if I type 'who', all I get back is a command prompt.
> 
> If I use 'w', I get the correct data.
> 
> I accedentally installed everything available from 'unstable' on both 
> systems yesterday.

This is due to problems with the `/var/run/utmp' file: libc5 and libc6
use different formats.  

  `login', which is the primary(?) generator of utmp entries, is still libc5
   (BTW, does `xterm' generate utmp entries, or does it use `login' to do
   the dirty work?  Anyway `xterm' is also libc5)

  `who' is from `shellutils', which was recently upgraded to libc6

  `w' is from `procps', which is still libc5

This causes other interesting anamolies:

  $ echo $LOGNAME
  harinath
  $ echo $USER
  harinath
  $ logname
  logname: no login name

`bash' is still libc5, so it works.

- Hari
-- 
Raja R Harinath ------------------------------ harinath@cs.umn.edu
"When all else fails, read the instructions."      -- Cahn's Axiom
"Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing."   -- Roy L Ash


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