UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi there

Firstly, can someone tell me if UUCP is necessary when using Mailx. I don't know much about UUCP other than it is a form of networking that allows files and electronic mail to be transfered.

Secondly, Unix keeps a log of the last time users have logged on. When I look at the user accounts I get the following message for all the user accounts:

"last login by root: wtmp begins Wed Jul 31 07:32"

The scripts we ran were run on th 31st July. Can someone maybe tell me what the above message is telling and where I can find the logs for the last time users have logged on. I am trying to identify accounts that have not been used for a period of time and which can be closed.

Thanks

last - display login and logout information about users and terminals

It is hard to answer the UUCP question. First, mailx can be used fine on a standalone system with no connections whatsoever to any other system. You will only be able to send mail to other users on this standalone system. Twenty years ago it was not unusual to do this. I have access to a few systems that are not currently connected to a network and while I prefer elm, I could use mailx.

If you want to exchange mail with users on other systems, you must use a network of some kind to connect to those other systems. These days, most everyone will use TCP/IP.

UUCP remains an option. You can use UUCP to connect systems together, And you can configure UUCP to support mail. At this point in time, UUCP is rather obsolete. So I really would not recommend using UUCP. UUCP is actually a bit complex. It will probably take two weeks or so to get comfortable with it. And those two weeks could be better spent learning something a little more useful.

This is my opinion anyway. If people out there still think UUCP is a useful system, I would be interested hear any different opinions.

It is not necessary to have UUCP components for mailx to work. mailx is a MUA (mail user agent). E-mail systems have MUAs and MTAs. Normally the MUAs and the MTAs are decoupled (not dependent on each other). This is almost always the case unix systems.

I don't use mailx... I use elm as my terminal MUA, BTW.