lfs-book/chapter06/create-utmp.xml

<sect2>
<title>Creating the /var/run/utmp, /var/log/wtmp and /var/log/btmp 
files</title>

<para>
Programs like login, shutdown, uptime and others want to read from and write
to the /var/run/utmp /var/log/btmp and /var/log/wtmp. These files contain 
information about who is currently logged in. It also contains information 
on when the computer was last booted and shutdown and a record of the
bad login attempts.
</para>

<para>
Create these files with their proper permissions by running the
following commands:
</para>

<blockquote><literallayout>
	<userinput>touch /var/run/utmp /var/log/wtmp /var/log/btmp
		/var/log/lastlog &amp;&amp;</userinput>
	<userinput>chmod 644 /var/run/utmp /var/log/wtmp /var/log/btmp
		/var/log/lastlog</userinput>
</literallayout></blockquote>

</sect2>