pyutmpx 0.4.1

user accounting databases reader on UNIX-like systems

This project is a binary CPython 3.x module which allows you to interact with the user accounting databases utmp, wtmp, btmp, and lastlog, which keep track of the boot, login and logout events.

It was developed for the fingerd project, which needs to know the last login date of a user, if the user is still logged in, on which line they are connected to the system, and so on. I decided to make my own module to manage these files.

For now, the project is only available on Linux.

For more information, you can consult the docs on pyutmpx.touhey.pro.

Quickstart

A more thorough onboarding guide is available in the documentation; here are some basic instructions.

Install the module by using the following command:

python -m pip install pyutmpx

List all entries in the utmp file:

import pyutmpx

for entry in pyutmpx.utmp:
        print(entry)

Get the last boot time:

import pyutmpx

for entry in pyutmpx.utmp:
        if entry.type != pyutmpx.BOOT_TIME:
                continue
        print(f"Last boot time is {entry.time.isoformat()}")
        exit()

print("No boot time on record.")

Get the last login time and host for a given user:

import pyutmpx

uid = 1000

for entry in pyutmpx.lastlog:
        if entry.uid != uid:
                continue

        print(f"Last login at {entry.time.isoformat()} on {entry.line} "
                f"from {entry.host}")
        exit()

print("No last login.")

Changelog

0.4.1 (September 19th, 2021)

• In the code:

  • Added a lot of macros to use feature tests in order to kickstart cross-platforming system-specific code.

  • Added compatibility for OpenBSD 6.x (tested on an OpenBSD 6.9 install).

  • Added management of the case where utmp entries found in the file are all-zeroes (now making pyutmpx ignoring them).

  • Rewrote the module’s and attributes’ description for expliciting how every attribute is gathered and populated.

  • Rewrote the object building logic to be more efficient and less cumbersome.

  • Made that system-specific functions now raise Python exceptions.

  • Fixed symbols that shouldn’t have been exported (made them static).

• In the documentation:

  • Added the ACCOUNTING and RUN_LEVEL types.

  • Added a description of the exit_status class, and wtmp and btmp objects.

  • Rewrote the attributes’ description for expliciting how every property is populated.

  • Added a retroactive changelog (about time!).

• In the build system:

  • Added the header to the dependency, in order to cause a rebuild on header modification.

0.4 (September 11th, 2021)

• In the code:

  • Added support for the wtmp and btmp user accounting databases.

  • Added support for the exit status (ut->ut_exit) with the addition of the exit_status class.

  • Added support for the session identifier (ut->ut_session) and remote Internet address (ut->ut_addr_v6).

  • Added the UTC timezone by default to all dates in all entries.

  • Isolated system-specific code into sys.c.

• In the documentation:

  • Removed the “reference” found in the README to replace it with a very simple quickstart piece of code.

0.3.1 (September 6th, 2021)

• In the code:

  • Added the forgotten host properties in those accessible in utmp_entry instances.

0.3 (September 6th, 2021)

• In the code:

  • Added a lastlog database reader.

• In the documentation:

  • Added a first version of the documentation with three sections inspired from the Divio documentation framework: onboarding (tutorial), discussion topics and API (technical reference).

  • Created the <https://pyutmpx.touhey.pro/>_ website.

• In the build system:

  • Removed the setup.cfg file in favor of having everything in the setup.py file.

0.2.2 (September 11th, 2018)

• In the code:

  • Made utmp entry type public again; let users be adults.

  • Fixed bad reference counting on utmp entries.

  • Removed tests; system-specific stuff like this is hard to test.

• In the documentation:

  • Added a small reference in the README file.

0.2.1 (September 11th, 2018)

• In the code:

  • Put the headers with the rest of the source files.

  • Started making the code modular.

  • Made utmp entry type private, as it should only be returned by pyutmpx iterators.

• In the documentation:

  • Fixed some reference issues in the README, identified using checkdocs.

0.2 (September 11th, 2018)

• In the code:

  • Added some very basic tests.

• In the documentation:

  • Rewrote the README from markdown to reStructuredText.

• In the build system:

  • Separated the setup script into setup data (setup.cfg) and the script itself (setup.py).

0.1.3 (February 8th, 2018)

• In the build system:

  • Fixed some packaging issues.

0.1.2 (February 7th, 2018)

• In the code:

  • Renamed the main header from main.h to pyutmpx.h and added a few casts.

0.1.1 (February 7th, 2018)

• In the build system:

  • Fixed some packaging issues (headers not in package, does not build).

0.1 (February 7th, 2018)

Initial release as an independent project from fingerd.