GETUTXENT(3) BSD Library Functions Manual GETUTXENT(3)
NAME
endutxent, getutxent, getutxid, getutxline, getutxuser, pututxline, setutxdb, setutxent -- user accounting database functions
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <utmpx.h>
void
endutxent(void);
struct utmpx *
getutxent(void);
struct utmpx *
getutxid(const struct utmpx *id);
struct utmpx *
getutxline(const struct utmpx *line);
struct utmpx *
getutxuser(const char *user);
struct utmpx *
pututxline(const struct utmpx *utmpx);
int
setutxdb(int type, const char *file);
void
setutxent(void);
DESCRIPTION
These functions operate on the user accounting database which stores records of various system activities, such as user login and logouts,
but also system startups and shutdowns and modifications to the system's clock. The system stores these records in three databases, each
having a different purpose:
/var/run/utx.active
Log of currently active user login sessions. This file is similar to the traditional utmp file. This file only contains process
related entries, such as user login and logout records.
/var/log/utx.lastlogin
Log of last user login entries per user. This file is similar to the traditional lastlog file. This file only contains user login
records for users who have at least logged in once.
/var/log/utx.log
Log of all entries, sorted by date of addition. This file is similar to the traditional wtmp file. This file may contain any type
of record described below.
Each entry in these databases is defined by the structure utmpx found in the include file <utmpx.h>:
struct utmpx {
short ut_type; /* Type of entry. */
struct timeval ut_tv; /* Time entry was made. */
char ut_id[]; /* Record identifier. */
pid_t ut_pid; /* Process ID. */
char ut_user[]; /* User login name. */
char ut_line[]; /* Device name. */
char ut_host[]; /* Remote hostname. */
};
The ut_type field indicates the type of the log entry, which can have one of the following values:
EMPTY No valid user accounting information.
BOOT_TIME Identifies time of system boot.
SHUTDOWN_TIME Identifies time of system shutdown.
OLD_TIME Identifies time when system clock changed.
NEW_TIME Identifies time after system clock changed.
USER_PROCESS Identifies a process.
INIT_PROCESS Identifies a process spawned by the init process.
LOGIN_PROCESS Identifies the session leader of a logged-in user.
DEAD_PROCESS Identifies a session leader who has exited.
Entries of type INIT_PROCESS and LOGIN_PROCESS are not processed by this implementation.
Other fields inside the structure are:
ut_tv The time the event occurred. This field is used for all types of entries, except EMPTY.
ut_id An identifier that is used to refer to the entry. This identifier can be used to remove or replace a login entry by writing a new
entry to the database containing the same value for ut_id. This field is only applicable to entries of type USER_PROCESS,
INIT_PROCESS, LOGIN_PROCESS and DEAD_PROCESS.
ut_pid The process identifier of the session leader of the login session. This field is only applicable to entries of type USER_PROCESS,
INIT_PROCESS, LOGIN_PROCESS and DEAD_PROCESS.
ut_user The user login name corresponding with the login session. This field is only applicable to entries of type USER_PROCESS and
INIT_PROCESS. For INIT_PROCESS entries this entry typically contains the name of the login process.
ut_line The name of the TTY character device, without the leading /dev/ prefix, corresponding with the device used to facilitate the user
login session. If no TTY character device is used, this field is left blank. This field is only applicable to entries of type
USER_PROCESS and LOGIN_PROCESS.
ut_host The network hostname of the remote system, connecting to perform a user login. If the user login session is not performed across a
network, this field is left blank. This field is only applicable to entries of type USER_PROCESS.
This implementation guarantees all inapplicable fields are discarded. The ut_user, ut_line and ut_host fields of the structure returned by
the library functions are also guaranteed to be null-terminated in this implementation.
The getutxent() function can be used to read the next entry from the user accounting database.
The getutxid() function searches for the next entry in the database of which the behaviour is based on the ut_type field of id. If ut_type
has a value of BOOT_TIME, SHUTDOWN_TIME, OLD_TIME or NEW_TIME, it will return the next entry whose ut_type has an equal value. If ut_type
has a value of USER_PROCESS, INIT_PROCESS, LOGIN_PROCESS or DEAD_PROCESS, it will return the next entry whose ut_type has one of the previ-
ously mentioned values and whose ut_id is equal.
The getutxline() function searches for the next entry in the database whose ut_type has a value of USER_PROCESS or LOGIN_PROCESS and whose
ut_line is equal to the same field in line.
The getutxuser() function searches for the next entry in the database whose ut_type has a value of USER_PROCESS and whose ut_user is equal to
user.
The previously mentioned functions will automatically try to open the user accounting database if not already done so. The setutxdb() and
setutxent() functions allow the database to be opened manually, causing the offset within the user accounting database to be rewound. The
endutxent() function closes the database.
The setutxent() database always opens the active sessions database. The setutxdb() function opens the database identified by type, whose
value is either UTXDB_ACTIVE, UTXDB_LASTLOGIN or UTXDB_LOG. It will open a custom file with filename file instead of the system-default if
file is not null. Care must be taken that when using a custom filename, type still has to match with the actual format, since each database
may use its own file format.
The pututxline() function writes record utmpx to the system-default user accounting databases. The value of ut_type determines which data-
bases are modified.
Entries of type SHUTDOWN_TIME, OLD_TIME and NEW_TIME will only be written to /var/log/utx.log.
Entries of type USER_PROCESS will also be written to /var/run/utx.active and /var/log/utx.lastlogin.
Entries of type DEAD_PROCESS will only be written to /var/log/utx.log and /var/run/utx.active if a corresponding USER_PROCESS, INIT_PROCESS
or LOGIN_PROCESS entry whose ut_id is equal has been found in the latter.
In addition, entries of type BOOT_TIME and SHUTDOWN_TIME will cause all existing entries in /var/run/utx.active to be discarded.
All entries whose type has not been mentioned previously, are discarded by this implementation of pututxline(). This implementation also
ignores the value of ut_tv.
RETURN VALUES
The getutxent(), getutxid(), getutxline(), and getutxuser() functions return a pointer to an utmpx structure that matches the mentioned con-
straints on success or NULL when reaching the end-of-file or when an error occurs.
The pututxline() function returns a pointer to an utmpx structure containing a copy of the structure written to disk upon success. It
returns NULL when the provided utmpx is invalid, or ut_type has a value of DEAD_PROCESS and an entry with an identifier with a value equal to
the field ut_id was not found; the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.
The setutxdb() function returns 0 if the user accounting database was opened successfully. Otherwise, -1 is returned and the global variable
errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
In addition to the error conditions described in open(2), fdopen(3), fopen(3), fseek(3), the pututxline() function can generate the following
errors:
[ESRCH] The value of ut_type is DEAD_PROCESS, and the process entry could not be found.
[EINVAL] The value of ut_type is not supported by this implementation.
In addition to the error conditions described in fopen(3), the setutxdb() function can generate the following errors:
[EINVAL] The type argument contains a value not supported by this implementation.
[EFTYPE] The file format is invalid.
SEE ALSO
last(1), write(1), getpid(2), gettimeofday(2), tty(4), ac(8), newsyslog(8), utx(8)
STANDARDS
The endutxent(), getutxent(), getutxid(), getutxline() and setutxent() functions are expected to conform to IEEE Std 1003.1-2008
(``POSIX.1'').
The pututxline() function deviates from the standard by writing its records to multiple database files, depending on its ut_type. This pre-
vents the need for special utility functions to update the other databases, such as the updlastlogx() and updwtmpx() functions which are
available in other implementations. It also tries to replace DEAD_PROCESS entries in the active sessions database when storing USER_PROCESS
entries and no entry with the same value for ut_id has been found. The standard always requires a new entry to be allocated, which could
cause an unbounded growth of the database.
The getutxuser() and setutxdb() functions, the ut_host field of the utmpx structure and SHUTDOWN_TIME are extensions.
HISTORY
These functions appeared in FreeBSD 9.0. They replaced the <utmp.h> interface.
AUTHORS
Ed Schouten <ed@FreeBSD.org>
BSD
October 27, 2011 BSD