[ale] bogus idel time for user

John Heim john at johnheim.net
Mon Jan 30 11:42:04 EST 2012


The problem appears on my own linux desktop too. I rebooted my machine, and 
then did a 'who -Htu'. The results are below.  Note that for "Idle", it says 
"old" for my login.  This is a debian squeeze machine.  It just appears as 
if idle time means nothing for a user. I was thinking it might be like CPU 
idle time which is the amount of time the CPU has been idel since last boot. 
So every millisecond you're not doing something, like the time between 
keystrokes, counts as idle time. But why would it say "old" when I just 
logged n after rebooting? Actually, the idle time for a user as shown by 
finger does appear to be total idle time  for a user since last reboot. 
Useless information if there ever was any.  If you're a fast typer, you'd 
have less idle time than a slow typer.

$ who -Htu
NAME     LINE         TIME         IDLE          PID COMMENT
jheim    tty7         Jan 30 10:27  old         2190 (:0)
jheim    pts/0        Jan 30 10:28 00:02        2451 (:0.0)

From: "Geoffrey Myers" <lists at serioustechnology.com>
To: "Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale at ale.org>
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: [ale] bogus idel time for user


> Jim Kinney wrote:
>> check the output of the last command. The who command shows currently
>> logged in and last shows current and previous logins.
>
> I find the output of:
>
> who -Tu
>
> useful.
>
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 10:34 AM, John Heim <john at johnheim.net
>> <mailto:john at johnheim.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     Anyone know how a machine can get a bogus idel time for a user? I 
>> have a
>>     problem with users getting kicked off their machines for being idel
>>     for too
>>     long. Problem is, they just logged on. If I finger user, it shows he
>>     logged
>>     on today but his idle time is 39 days. That's a problem because I
>>     have our
>>     machines configured to log people out if they are idel for more than
>>     4 days.
>>     How can a user have been idel for 39 days when they just logged on? I
>>     thought maybe he was logged in more than once but who shows just one
>>     login
>>     for him.  Below is the output from the who and the finger commands. I
>>     modified it slightly to hide the user's actual identity.
>>
>>     # who
>>     johnsmith     tty8         Jan 30 08:32 (:0)
>>     # finger johnsmith
>>     Login: johnsmith                              Name: John Smith
>>     Directory: /fac/johnsmith                    Shell: /bin/tcsh
>>     Office:  555-5555,  555 Van Vleck
>>     On since Mon Jan 30 08:32 (CST) on tty8 from :0
>>       39 days idle
>>         (messages off)
>>     No mail.
>>     No Plan.
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> -- 
>> James P. Kinney III
>>
>> As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to
>> consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as
>> they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the 
>> outcome.
>> - ////2011 Noam Chomsky
>>
>> http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
>> ////
>>
>>
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>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Until later, Geoffrey
>
> "I predict future happiness for America if they can prevent
> the government from wasting the labors of the people under
> the pretense of taking care of them."
> - Thomas Jefferson
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