wtmp missing

Hi,

I have run linux mint for many years and recently decided to have a look at mx linux. I installed it a few weeks ago and within the last few days just noticed that I cannot run last or lastb. There is no wtmp or btmp file in /var/log I do not remember if I had ever run last on this os before. I don't know if the file existed and was removed or if it was never there. I have since touched both files and it seems to be logging.

My question is: Are wtmp and btmp installed as part of the mx linux system?

I have done quite a bit of searching and have been unable to find the answer.

Thanks!

You can create them yourself as root.

Originally Posted by Linux From Scratch touch /var/log/{btmp,lastlog,faillog,wtmp} chgrp -v utmp /var/log/lastlog chmod -v 664 /var/log/lastlog chmod -v 600 /var/log/btmp

Thanks for the response Hazel! I had already touched the files before posting. Logging now seems to be enabled.

My question though was: Are wtmp and btmp installed as part of the mx linux system?

Not knowing the answer to that, I cannot say if last and lastb were removed from the system or were never there.

I am still trying to find out if lastb is part of the MX Linux system. I have received info on how to correct it, but that is not my question. Why would lastb be removed from MX Linux? Are wtmp and btmp installed as part of the MX Linux system?

Originally Posted by p12funk My question is: Are wtmp and btmp installed as part of the mx linux system?

Never ran MX myself, so cannot answer that, but in Slackware "wtmp" and "lastlog" are installed through the standard "etc" package (which doesn't do only etc files:

System configuration files. The /etc directory is traditionally the location where configuration files are found.

but btmp is not, you have to create it yourself when you want bad login attempts logged.

PS: faillog, the other log file for failed attempts, is part of the shadow package.

On Ubuntu 18.04 (I doubt MX Linux is much different in this respect):

$ grep -A3 /var/log/ /var/lib/dpkg/info/base-files.postinst
  if [ ! -f /var/log/wtmp ]; then
    echo -n>/var/log/wtmp
  fi
  if [ ! -f /var/log/btmp ]; then
    echo -n>/var/log/btmp
  fi
  if [ ! -f /var/log/lastlog ]; then
    echo -n>/var/log/lastlog
  fi
  chown root:utmp /var/log/wtmp /var/log/btmp /var/log/lastlog
  chmod 664 /var/log/wtmp /var/log/lastlog
  chmod 660 /var/log/btmp
  if [ ! -f /var/run/utmp ]; then
    echo -n>/var/run/utmp
  fi

Originally Posted by p12funk I am still trying to find out if lastb is part of the MX Linux system.

It should be. lastb is part of util-linux.