correct. If you include "-R" is merely a matter of taste, but you got the drift.

Then issue the command there, simply. If you read the man page careful enough you will notice the following:

There is a file called /var/tmp/wtmp, where every login/logóut-activity is stored. This file has a certain format and last is designed to retrieve information from this file and put it in readable form. You can even create a file of this certain format yourself and let "last" work on that (with the "-f" option). As every system maintains this log you can query it on every system.

NO!!!

It shows, that you have logged in to bubble coming from hottub. You logged in to hottub, then logged in to bubble from there. For the bubble system, you are coming from hottub, while for the hottub system you are coming from whichever system to used to access it.

Think of it as a series of rooms (the systems) connected by doors (the network connections). Every room "knows" which door you came through when you entered it, but not more: if you start in room A, go to room B and from there to room C, room C will record "has come from room B", room B will record "has come from room A" and room A will - well, it will know you started there, because you came from nowhere else.

The equivalent of "knowing you started there" is having some local terminal instead of a network address as "coming from". Compare your output (network connection) to when i use "last" on the laptop i am writing this. Notice the "pts" and "tty" devices instead of a network address. These are local (pseudo)-terminals instead of network connections.:

Code:

# last
bakunin  pts/0        :0.0             Mon May  7 17:25   still logged in   
bakunin  pts/0        :0.0             Mon May  7 06:50 - 07:02  (00:12)    
bakunin  pts/0        :0.0             Mon May  7 06:42 - 06:43  (00:00)    
bakunin  tty7         :0               Sat May  5 20:21   still logged in   
reboot   system boot  2.6.35-22-generi Sat May  5 20:21 - 17:25 (1+21:04)

Don't give up. Once you managed some basic understanding you are in for one of the most wonderful experiences in life. Working with Unix is like playing an instrument - the better you get the more beauty you reveal and the more things you find that you can still learn while the topic gots even more interesting with every answered question.

I hope this helps.

bakunin