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

From: khym@azeotrope.org (Dave Huang)
To: gnats-bugs@netbsd.org
Cc: gnats-admin@netbsd.org, netbsd-bugs@netbsd.org
Subject: Re: bin/32903: utmp remains empty
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 11:07:32 -0600

 On Fri, Feb 24, 2006 at 10:35:02AM +0000, i18rabbit@cwazy.co.uk wrote:
 >  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.
 
 You still haven't answered why your system didn't have a "utmp" group,
 and why your file permissions were incorrect. 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).