idle time for w command

[Jonathan I. Kamens]

In article <4274 at pluto.dss.com>, cat at pluto.dss.com (Iain Wacey) writes:
|> How does the w command determine how long someone has been idle?

  It checks the access time on the device file (i.e. the st_atime field of the
stat structure obtained by calling stat() on the user's tty device.

|> We are
|> writing a login protocol using our own devices and w always reports
|> users on these devices as being idle for a long period of time.

  Do your devices correctly update their access times when appropriate?

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