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

Patches to make this work better on any platform are always welcome. The source is managed at https://github.com/jonathanstowe/Sys-Utmp so feel free to fork and send a pull request.

AUTHOR

Jonathan Stowe, <jns@gellyfish.co.uk>

LICENCE

This Software is Copyright Netscalibur UK 2001, Jonathan Stowe 2001-2013

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