Re: SSH logins and "finger" in debian 13

Klaus Singvogel <[email protected]> Thu, 16 Jul 2026 08:55:08 +0200
Newsgroups gmane.linux.debian.user
Organization private
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Hello,

Tom Yates wrote:
> Under Debian 12, finger reported ssh logins:
[...]
> under Debian 13, it doesn't seem to:
[...]
> Is this a known behaviour?  Is it something I can fix with a config change?

This change was made to address the removal of /var/log/wtmp and to switch to systemd as the replacement.

The previous wtmp format was not 64-bit compatible. With the system moving to a 64-bit time representation, Linux can avoid the Y2038 problem that would occur if it continued relying on a 32-bit time measurement.

Reference: https://github.com/thkukuk/wtmpdb/blob/main/README.md

As a (rough, but incomplete) replacement, you can use: loginctl list-sessions --no-legend

Best regards,
	Klaus.