chkutent(1M) chkutent(1M)
chkutent - check and repair utmp entries
chkutent [-f utmpx-file][-w wtmpx-file]
chkutent opens and reads /var/adm/utmpx and makes 2 checks for
consistency; whether there are any entries that have duplicate 'id'
fields, and whether there are any entries that are stale. Stale entries
are found by looking at all entries that have ut_type equal to
USER_PROCESS and checking to see if the process (specified by ut_pid) is
still alive. If it isn't, it sets the ut_type to DEAD_PROCESS and sets
the process's termination time to the current time. It then makes sure
that the files utmp, wtmp, and wtmpx are all consistent.
Keeping the utmp file(s) consistent and up to date is important for
accounting, last(1), and other system administration functions. However,
these files are updated by a variety of programs, some of which are
public domain programs. If these programs are terminated without giving
them the opportunity to clean up their utmp entry, the files can easily
get out of sync. The exact algorithm for updating the utmp files is also
notoriously non-standard, so many third party or public domain
applications may not quite do it correctly for IRIX. For these reasons,
chkutent is run by cron(1M) every night and if any erroneous entries are
found, they are repaired and a report sent to the system administrator.
There are cases of corruption that chkutent cannot correct - in this case
a message is printed with the word CORRUPT, and chkutent terminates
without any further actions.
If an administrator gets messages from chkutent frequently they may wish
to start an investigation into which program(s) on the machine are
generating them. Infrequent messages can safely be ignored.
The following is a list of messages and probable causes:
chkutent:ERROR:write failed on:xx
The write to the utmpx file to correct a duplicate entry
failed. This is likely due to an out of space condition on the
file system that contains the utmpx file.
chkutent:utmpx file xx CORRUPT with dup entry and neither entry `DEAD'
There is a duplicate entry (two entries with the same `id') but
chkutent didn't know how to fix it since both entries claim to
represent still existing sessions. Action to correct this
problem should be taken promptly. Having everyone log out and
then running chkutent will usually work. Otherwise, the utmp
and utmpx files should be made zero length and the system
rebooted.
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chkutent(1M) chkutent(1M)
chkutent:ERROR:Could not update utmpx file
The call to pututxline(3) failed. This is usually due to
either an out of space problem or that the utmp file
corresponding to the utmpx file doesn't exist. It is important
that both files exist - it is sufficient to simply touch(1) the
missing file.
utmpx fix - xx xx xx xx - see chkutent(1M)
This is `normal' message printed each time chkutent finds an
entry that represents a stale session. If no other error
message are printed, it can be assumed that this entry was
fixed.
utmpx dup - xx xx xx xx - see chkutent(1M)
This message printed each time chkutent finds a duplicate
entry. This represents a serious corruption of the utmpx file.
If this kind of corruption is frequently seen it is imperative
that the offending program(s) be tracked down and fixed. If no
other error message are printed, it can be assumed that this
entry was fixed.
The chkutent program may be run at any time by an administrator.
chkutent does take an optional -f utmpx-file argument to let it operate
on any utmpx-like file. Similarly, the optional -w wtmpx-file argument
instructs chkutent to operate on the given file when updating the wtmp
records. If the -f option is given without the -w option, no wtmp
processing is done.
/var/adm/utmp
/var/adm/utmpx
/var/adm/wtmp
/var/adm/wtmpx
getutx(3C)
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