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

On 2026-07-23 12:33 -0400, Robert Heller wrote:

> At Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:12:31 -0400 Greg Wooledge <[email protected]> wro=
te:
>
>>=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?
>> >=20
>> > The message is:
>> >=20
>> > cannot stat /var/run/utmp.  Please "unset watch".
>>=20
>> It would help enormously if you told us what command you ran to produce
>> the message.
>
> I'm not running any partitular command.  This message occurs at every sh=
ell=20
> prompt.  I do have a set prompt in my .cshrc (I am using tcsh as my shel=
l):
>
> #
> # set prompt
> #
> set me =3D `whoami`
> if ("$me" !=3D "root") set prompt=3D"`hostname`% "
> if ("$me" =3D=3D "root") set prompt=3D"`hostname`# "
> #

The prompt is irrelevant, but apparently you have also "set watch" in
your .cshrc and should drop that, as the original message suggests.

Cheers,
       Sven