Re: Pesky message: cannot stat /var/run/utmp. Please "unset watch".

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On Thu, Jul 23, 2026 at 12:33:32PM -0400, Robert Heller wrote:
> At Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:12:31 -0400 Greg Wooledge <[email protected]> wrot=
e:
>=20
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 23, 2026 at 09:15:05 -0400, Robert Heller wrote:
> > > On a fresh install of trixie (Debian 13), I am getting this message. =
 Where is
> > > it coming from?
> > >
> > > The message is:
> > >
> > > cannot stat /var/run/utmp.  Please "unset watch".
> >
> > It would help enormously if you told us what command you ran to produce
> > the message.
>=20
> I'm not running any partitular command.  This message occurs at every she=
ll
> prompt.  I do have a set prompt in my .cshrc (I am using tcsh as my shell=
):
>=20
> #
> # set prompt
> #
> set me =3D `whoami`
> if ("$me" !=3D "root") set prompt=3D"`hostname`% "
> if ("$me" =3D=3D "root") set prompt=3D"`hostname`# "
> #

- Does it happen if you don't set your prompt?
- does it happen if you invoke hostname directly?
- does it happen (improbable) if you invoke whoami directly?

This would help to bisect (trisect?) the problem.

Cheers
--=20
tom=C3=A1s

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