GNU bug report logs - #73928
"who" should support wtmpdb

Previous Next

Full log

View this message in rfc822 format

From: Arsen Arsenović <arsen <at> aarsen.me>
To: Bruno Haible <bruno <at> clisp.org>
Cc: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>, bug-gnulib <at> gnu.org, 1080330 <at> bugs.debian.org, Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk <at> suse.com>, Chris Hofstaedtler <zeha <at> debian.org>, Vincent Lefevre <vincent <at> vinc17.net>, Michael Stone <mstone <at> debian.org>, 73928 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#73928: Bug#1080330: coreutils: who no longer works
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2025 12:26:05 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Bruno Haible <bruno <at> clisp.org> writes:

> Arsen Arsenović wrote:
>> This is correct, though, there is a session for the user 'gdm', and
>> they're taking up tty1.  If you walk up to that computer (you said you
>> were using SSH, so I assume you're remote), you'll see GDM running on
>> the screen (on one of the virtual TTYs).
>
> If Giovanni De Micheli has an account on this computer, who's output
> is ambiguous: you cannot tell whether the real user 'gdm' or the GNOME
> display manager is occupying the "seat". I would suggest that, at least,
> the GNOME display manager identifies itself as "(gdm)" instead of "gdm".

Sure, but one cannot name two users on a Unix system 'gdm', and there is
a passwd entry for 'gdm', so that scenario is impossible (save for
administrative errors):

  arsen <at> fedora:~$ grep gdm /etc/passwd
  gdm:x:42:42:GNOME Display Manager:/var/lib/gdm:/usr/sbin/nologin
  arsen <at> fedora:~$ useradd gdm
  useradd: user 'gdm' already exists

Presumably Giovanni might pick 'giovannidm' or 'gdmicheli' or such
instead.

The case for or against there being a user called 'gdm' when one
installs a Fedora system is one best presented to the Fedora hackers,
though, as it does not impact the correctness of the result above.
-- 
Arsen Arsenović

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.