4 ms·

Perhaps `utmp` is a `tmp` file storing `u`sers.

• gpvos 11y ago
  If true (and I think it's rather probable), that is yet another example that nothing is as permanent as a temporary hack.
  • thwarted 11y ago
    `tmp` doesn't necessarily mean that the file or the hack is temporary, but perhaps that it contains temporary, ephemeral, or temporal information.
    • gpvos 11y ago
      You have a point there, although temporary/ephemeral only holds for utmp. wtmp (and btmp) are more like logs; so they are temporal, but that's really not the expected meaning of `tmp` in Unix. utime appeared in V7, while utmp appeared in V6, so that is no excuse either (unless the name was already used internally).
• yuliyp 11y ago
  User-Terminal MaPping?