Neil says:
>  Chris G Demetriou <Chris_G_Demetriou@ux2.sp.cs.cmu.edu> wrote:
> > Either you change the binary format of utmp and wtmp, or you don't.
> > If you don't, you aren't recording all of the login name.
> > If you do, you break binary compatibility.

> Yes. The latter. I have changed the format. All the tools that
> use it look at a define for the length of the username.

Well, all the tools to which you have the source.  But considering the
number of popular software packages that are available on the net in
Linux and BSDI formats but not NetBSD, I think that breaking binary
compatibility is something that should not be undertaken lightly.

(Granted, neither DOOM nor Netscape use wtmp, to my knowledge anyway;
but I'd be wary of such a change until either (a) NetBSD has a big enough
following that anyone in their right mind publishes software compiled for
NetBSD, or (b) we convince BSDI and/or Linux to make the same change...)

I know all too well how immensely frustrating it is to limit a system due
to another system's popularity, but sometimes it is the only appropriate
choice.