Subject: Re: utmp file format change
To: Johan Danielsson <joda@pdc.kth.se>
From: James Graham <greywolf@starwolf.com>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 08/22/2001 13:09:02
On 22 Aug 2001, Johan Danielsson wrote:

# Jun-ichiro itojun Hagino <itojun@iijlab.net> writes:
#
# > 	the approach I like the best is the openbsd one, with a bit of clever
# > 	backward compat code in last(1) and other tools.  any comments?
#
# Are there good reasons for keeping a binary format?

Well, fixed-length records are easier to deal with -- having to deal
with RLL or terminated strings just adds overhead.  Okay, it's minimal,
given the speeds of today's machines, but the availibility of processing
power &c. does not justify such an approach (program for efficiency,
don't assume that the hardware will take up the slack), especially
considering we do not just run on today's machines.

# /Johan

				--*greywolf;
--
NetBSD: The free OS with a money back guarantee!