NAME

Sys::Utmp - Object(ish) Interface to UTMP files.

SYNOPSIS

  use Sys::Utmp;

  my $utmp = Sys::Utmp->new();

  while ( my $utent =  $utmp->getutent() )
  {
     if ( $utent->user_process )
     {
        print $utent->ut_user,"\n";
     }
   }

   $utmp->endutent;

See also examples/pwho in the distribution directory.

DESCRIPTION

Sys::Utmp provides a vaguely object oriented interface to the Unix user accounting file ( sometimes /etc/utmp or /var/run/utmp). Whilst it would prefer to use the getutent() function from the systems C libraries it will attempt to provide its own if they are missing.

This may not be the module that you are looking for - there is a User::Utmp which provides a different procedural interface and may well be more complete for your purposes.

METHODS

new

The constructor of the class. Arguments may be provided in Key => Value pairs : it currently takes one argument 'Filename' which will set the file which is to be used in place of that defined in _PATH_UTMP.

getutent

Iterates of the records in the utmp file returning a Sys::Utmp::Utent object for each record in turn - the methods that are available on these objects are descrived in the Sys::Utmp::Utent documentation. If called in a list context it will return a list containing the elements of th Utent entry rather than an object. If the import flag ':fields' is used then constants defining the indexes into this list will be defined, these are uppercase versions of the methods described in Sys::Utmp::Utent.

setutent

Rewinds the file pointer on the utmp filehandle so repeated searches can be done.

endutent

Closes the file handle on the utmp file.

utmpname SCALAR filename

Sets the file that will be used in place of that defined in _PATH_UTMP. It is not defined what will happen if this is done between two calls to getutent() - it is recommended that endutent() is called first.

EXPORT

No methods or constants are exported by default.

Exportable constants

These constants are exportable under the tag ':constants':

     ACCOUNTING
     BOOT_TIME
     DEAD_PROCESS
     EMPTY
     INIT_PROCESS
     LOGIN_PROCESS
     NEW_TIME
     OLD_TIME
     RUN_LVL
     USER_PROCESS

These are the values that will be found in the ut_type field of the Sys::Utmp::Utent object.

These constants are exported under the tag ':fields' :

     UT_USER
     UT_ID
     UT_LINE
     UT_PID
     UT_TYPE
     UT_HOST
     UT_TIME

These provide the indexes into the list returned when getutent is called in list context.

BUGS

Probably. This module has been tested on Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD ,SCO Openserver and SCO UnixWare and found to work on those platforms. If you have difficulty building the module or it doesnt behave as expected then please contact the author including if appropriate your /usr/include/utmp.h

AUTHOR

Jonathan Stowe, <jns@gellyfish.com>

LICENCE

This Software is Copyright Netscalibur UK 2001, Jonathan Stowe 2001-2006

This Software is published as-is with no warranty express or implied.

This is free software and can be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

perl. Sys::Utmp::Utent