login(1) and /etc/ttys

[escott%deis.uci.edu at icsg.UCI.EDU]

Excuse me if this is obvious, but why is it that when there is no entry in
"/etc/ttys" for the terminal device you are logging in to, no record is made
of your login in "/etc/utmp"?  I've looked at the (4.2BSD) sources and it
seems as though this is being done on purpose.  I added a bunch of pty's
(ttyq*) to my (DYNIX 2.1 [really 4.2BSD]) system without remembering to put
them in "/etc/ttys", and every time somebody logged in to a ttyq* they were
invisible from programs like "u", "w", and "last"!  Seems funny...

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Scott Menter  UCI ICS Computing Support Group   Univ. of Calif. at Irvine
                     (714) 856 7552              Irvine, California  92717

 Internet:  escott at ics.uci.edu             UUCP:  ...!ucbvax!ucivax!escott
 Bitnet:    escott at uci               CSNet: escott%ics.uci.edu at csnet-relay
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