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Why is the utmp/wtmp data periodically corrupted?

April 26, 2017corrupted Data periodically utmp wtmp

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Why is the utmp/wtmp data periodically corrupted?

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There has been a change in the format of the UTMP and WTMP files in the transition from libc5 to glibc. This can cause many utilities like finger, who, or w to complain about the files being corrupt. Unfortunately, some of the binaries provided in the NetWinder disk image expect one format and some expect the other. When all of the distribution gets put together, the format should stabilize on the newer UTMP/WTMP format. This is mentioned in the glibc FAQ, questions 2.13 and 3.2: http://cscw1.ifs.uni-linz.ac.at/link/usr-doc/glibc-2.0.