sessreg(1)

NAME

       sessreg - manage utmp/wtmp entries for non-init clients

SYNOPSIS

       sessreg [-w wtmp-file] [-u utmp-file] [-l line-name] [-h host-name] [-s
       slot-number] [-x Xservers-file] [-t ttys-file] [-a] [-d] user-name

DESCRIPTION

       Sessreg is a simple program for managing utmp/wtmp entries for xdm ses-
       sions.

       System  V  has a better interface to /etc/utmp than BSD; it dynamically
       allocates entries in the file, instead of writing them at  fixed  posi-
       tions indexed by position in /etc/ttys.

       To  manage  BSD-style  utmp files, sessreg has two strategies.  In con-
       junction with xdm,  the  -x  option  counts  the  number  of  lines  in
       /etc/ttys  and then adds to that the number of the line in the Xservers
       file which specifies the display.  The display name must  be  specified
       as the "line-name" using the -l option.  This sum is used as the "slot-
       number" in /etc/utmp that this entry will be written at.  In  the  more
       general case, the -s option specifies the slot-number directly.  If for
       some strange reason your system uses a file  other  that  /etc/ttys  to
       manage  init,  the -t option can direct sessreg to look elsewhere for a
       count of terminal sessions.

       Conversely, System V managers will not ever need to use  these  options
       (-x,  -s  and -t).  To make the program easier to document and explain,
       sessreg accepts the BSD-specific flags in the System V environment  and
       ignores them.

       BSD  and  Linux  also  have  a  host-name  field in the utmp file which
       doesn't exist in System V.  This option is also ignored by the System V
       version of sessreg.

USAGE

       In Xstartup, place a call like:

              sessreg -a -l $DISPLAY -x /usr/X11R6/lib/xdm/Xservers $USER

       and in Xreset:

              sessreg -d -l $DISPLAY -x /usr/X11R6/lib/xdm/Xservers $USER

OPTIONS

       -w wtmp-file
              This  specifies an alternate wtmp file, instead of /usr/adm/wtmp
              for BSD or /etc/wtmp for sysV.  The special name "none" disables
              writing records to /usr/adm/wtmp.

       -u utmp-file
              This  specifies  an alternate utmp file, instead of "/etc/utmp".
              The special name "none" disables writing records to /etc/utmp.

       -l line-name
              This describes the "line" name of the entry.  For terminal  ses-
              sions, this is the final pathname segment of the terminal device
              filename (e.g. ttyd0).  For X sessions, it  should  probably  be
              the local display name given to the users session (e.g. :0).  If
              none is specified, the terminal name  will  be  determined  with
              ttyname(3) and stripped of leading components.

       -h host-name
              This  is set for BSD hosts to indicate that the session was ini-
              tiated from a remote host.  In typical xdm usage,  this  options
              is not used.

       -s slot-number
              Each  potential session has a unique slot number in BSD systems,
              most are identified by the position  of  the  line-name  in  the
              /etc/ttys  file.   This  option  overrides  the default position
              determined with ttyslot(3).  This option  is  inappropriate  for
              use with xdm, the -x option is more useful.

       -x Xservers-file
              As  X  sessions are one-per-display, and each display is entered
              in this file, this options sets the slot-number to be the number
              of lines in the ttys-file plus the index into this file that the
              line-name is found.

       -t ttys-file
              This specifies an alternate file which the -x option will use to
              count the number of terminal sessions on a host.

       -a     This session should be added to utmp/wtmp.

       -d     This  session  should  be  deleted from utmp/wtmp.  One of -a/-d
              must be specified.

SEE ALSO

       xdm(1)

AUTHOR

       Keith Packard, MIT X Consortium

                                                                    SESSREG(1)