strange stuff from ''last''

Sheldon E. Newhouse
Sat, 08 Aug 1998 05:18:42 -0000

Hi,
 Since upgrading from RH-4.2 to RH-5.1, I have regularly noticed the
following strange stuff appearing from last.

ing      *4***        ************J\*@ Thu Aug  6 12:46   still logged in
\h*@***  otify        ***@             Thu Aug  6 12:46   still logged in
\h*@**** otify        ***@             Thu Aug  6 12:46 - 12:46  (00:00)

However notice that ''who'' does not report this

lamm     tty1     Aug  6 12:46
lamm     ttyp2    Aug  6 12:47 (:0.0)
lamm     ttyp4    Aug  6 15:05 (:0.0)
lamm     ttyp5    Aug  6 14:21 (:0.0)
lamm     ttyp9    Aug  6 23:06 (:0.0)

Reboots stop the problem for awhile but then it reappears.

I also read that glibc has sometimes produced corruption in utmp.  Do
others notice this strange output of ''last?'' Is this a
security issue or
more likely just growing pains for utmp and glibc?

Thanks for input,
 -sen