The following reply was made to PR bin/32903; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: i18rabbit@cwazy.co.uk
To: gnats-bugs@netbsd.org
Cc: 
Subject: Re: bin/32903: utmp remains empty
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:16:19 GMT

 >  |  >  >  login(1) is run with root privileges.
 >  |  >  >  if it wants to write to a file, it can
 >  |  >  >  do so.  the problem is that it is not
 >  |  >  >  writing to the utmp file as it should.
 >  |  >  >  it would seem to me the problem is with
 >  |  >  >  the login source code - maybe it wasn't
 >  |  >  >  compiled with a "UTMP" preprocessor
 >  |  >  >  variable defined or something.  i don't
 >  |  >  >  see how it has anything to do with groups
 >  |  >  >  or permissions - this solution seems like
 >  |  >  >  a wild goose chase. ?
 >  |  >
 >  |  >  login drops its root privileges after you log in. And it seems to me that
 >  |  >  if utmp entries are created for everyone except you, the problem must not
 >  |  >  be in the login source code.
 >  |
 >  |  utmp entries are created by ssh logins and reboots/shutdowns,
 >  |  but not for *any* console or telnet logins.  this is the problem.
 >  |
 >  |  >  You still haven't answered why your system didn't have a "utmp" group,
 >  |  >  and why your file permissions were incorrect.
 >  |
 >  |  because i maintain several BSD systems, and i have
 >  |  a stripped custom /etc directory that i use for
 >  |  all of them; for ease of set-up and maintenance.
 >  |
 >  |  > Seeing that NetBSD has come with a utmp group for over a decade, the fact
 >  |  > that you didn't have one points to a problem in your install. Maybe the
 >  |  > incorrect permissions are unrelated, but you should look at your install
 >  |  > first, not the source code. If not permissions, maybe your pam configuration
 >  |  > is messed up (pam_lastlog.so not being used).
 >  |
 >  |  reboots+shutdowns and sshd make correct utmp entries.
 >  |  login and telnetd do not.  i would like to know if
 >  |  there is a "manual" test i can do to isolate
 >  |  the problem.
 > 
 >  For login and telnet logging is done by the pam_lastlog module. It syslogs
 >  on error. Pam lastlog cannot fail because /etc/pam.d/system contains:
 > 
 >  session         required        pam_lastlog.so          no_fail no_nested
 > 
 >  If you take out the no_fail, then you might not be able to login anymore,
 >  but at least you'll know it is failing. Do you have
 > 
 >  /usr/lib/security/pam_lastlog.so.0?
 
 yes.  keep in mind: i CAN log in via login, but no
 utmp entries are made, and no log files are updated.
 extracting a fresh copy of "login" from base.tgz
 makes no difference.  i run it, and still, no
 utmp entries are made.
  
 >  christos