Re: problems with finger

[dsb3 <dsb3@earthlink.net>]

On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Pere Camps wrote:

>Hi!
>
>$ ps ax | grep S1
>
>11680  S1 S    0:00 /sbin/getty -L -f /etc/issue.ttyS1 ttyS1 9600 vt100
>
>$ finger
>
>castor25 Jose Castor             pb        Oct  1 17:40 (minxo.upc.es)
>ceo      Cercle d'Estudis Orien  S1     2  Oct  1 13:57
>david25  David Moya Rubio        p1     6  Oct  1 13:52 (dttix14.upc.es)
>...
>

looks like your utmp file is mangled.  the easiest way is to just wipe it
out entirely.  (try as root:  "> /var/run/utmp")  it's also possible to
fix the utmp file by manipulating it's contents - depending on the number
of users on your system this may be better, or simply wiping the utmp
immediately before rebooting.

- dave

--

   |     oOOooO           /  
 --|    oOobodoO        /   dsb3@earthlink.net
 --|     ooOoOo       /    
   |       II       /     "Rocky Road," croaked the toad.
   |       II     /