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The file /var/adm/wtmp grows with each login, but is never reduced. The contents of wtmp is used (only?) by the command "last", which shows, in reverse order, all the logins and reboots that happened since the start of the wtmp file. The file should not be deleted, but the contents can be discarded using the following command: # > /var/adm/wtmp Alternatively the freeware utility "tidysys" can remove all the entries from wtmp that are older than (say) 15 days. Tidysys was written by Terry Murray <terry@weavel.demon.co.uk> for AIX 3.2 and is available from ftp://ftp.frontiernet.net/pub/aix/. Tidysys was ported to AIX 4.1 by C. Deignan and is available from <http://www-frec.bull.com/>.
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Last Update May 13 2007 @ 00:21 AM