ac -  print statistics about users' connect time


SYNOPSIS

       ac     [ -d | --daily-totals ] [ -y | --print-year ]
              [ -p | --individual-totals ] [ people ]
              [ -f | --file filename ] [ -a | --all-days ]
              [ --complain ] [ --reboots ] [ --supplants ]
              [ --timewarps ] [ --compatibility ]
              [ --tw-leniency num ] [ --tw-suspicious num ]
              [ -z | --print-zeros ] [ --debug ]
              [ -V | --version ] [ -h | --help ]


DESCRIPTION

       ac prints out a report of connect time (in hours) based on
       the logins/logouts in the current wtmp file.  A  total  is
       also printed out.

       The  accounting file wtmp is maintained by init(8) and lo­
       gin(1).  Neither ac nor  login  creates  the  wtmp  if  it
       doesn't  exist,  no accounting is done.  To begin account­
       ing, create the file with a length of zero.

       NOTE:  The wtmp file can get really big, really fast.  You
       might want to trim it every once and a while.

       GNU  ac works nearly the same u*x ac, though it's a little
       smarter in several ways.  You should therefore expect dif­
       ferences in the output of GNU ac and the output of ac's on
       other systems.  Use the command info accounting to get ad­
       ditional information.


OPTIONS

       -d, --daily-totals
              Print  totals for each day rather than just one big
              total at the end.  The output looks like this:
                      Jul  3  total     1.17
                      Jul  4  total     2.10
                      Jul  5  total     8.23
                      Jul  6  total     2.10
                      Jul  7  total     0.30

       -p, --individual-totals
              Print time totals for each user in addition to  the
              usual  everything-lumped-into-one  value.  It looks
              like:
                      bob       8.06
                      goff      0.60
                      maley     7.37
                      root      0.12
                      total    16.15

       people Print out the sum total of the connect time used by
              all  of  the  users  included in people.  Note that

              names; wildcards are not allowed.

       -f, --file filename
              Read from the file filename instead of the system's
              wtmp file.

       --complain
              When the wtmp file  has  a  problem  (a  time-warp,
              missing  record,  or whatever), print out an appro­
              priate error.

       --reboots
              Reboot records are NOT written at the time of a re­
              boot,  but  when the system restarts; therefore, it
              is impossible to know exactly when the  reboot  oc­
              curred.  Users may have been logged into the system
              at the time of the reboot, and many ac's  automati­
              cally  count the time between the login and the re­
              boot record against the user (even  though  all  of
              that  time  shouldn't be, perhaps, if the system is
              down for a long time, for instance).  If  you  want
              to count this time, include the flag.  *For vanilla
              ac compatibility, include this flag.*

       --supplants
              Sometimes, a logout record is  not  written  for  a
              specific  terminal,  so the time that the last user
              accrued cannot be calculated.  If you want  to  in­
              clude  the  time  from the user's login to the next
              login on the terminal (though probably  incorrect),
              include  this you want to include the time from the
              user's login to the  next  login  on  the  terminal
              (though  probably  incorrect),  include  this flag.
              *For vanilla ac compatibility, include this  flag.*

       --timewarps
              Sometimes,  entries  in  a  wtmp file will suddenly
              jump back into the  past  without  a  clock  change
              record  occurring.   It  is  impossible to know how
              long a user was logged in when this occurs.  If you
              want  to  count  the time between the login and the
              time warp against  the  user,  include  this  flag.
              *For  vanilla ac compatibility, include this flag.*

       --compatibility
              This is shorthand for typing out  the  three  above
              options.

       -a, --all-days
              If  we're printing daily totals, print a record for
              every day  instead  of  skipping  intervening  days
              where  there  is  no  login activity.  Without this
              flag, time accrued during  those  intervening  days

              activity.

       --tw-leniency num
              Set the time warp leniency to num seconds.  Records
              in  wtmp files might be slightly out of order (most
              notably when two logins occur within  a  one-second
              period  -  the  second one gets written first).  By
              default, this value is set to 60.  If  the  program
              notices this problem, time is not assigned to users
              unless the --timewarps flag is used.

       --tw-suspicious num
              Set the time warp suspicious value to num  seconds.
              If  two  records  in the wtmp file are farther than
              this number of seconds apart, there  is  a  problem
              with  the  wtmp  file  (or your machine hasn't been
              used in a year).  If the program notices this prob­
              lem,  time  is  not  assigned  to  users unless the
              --timewarps flag is used.

       -y, --print-year
              Print year when displaying dates.

       -z, --print-zeros
              If a total for any category (save the grand  total)
              is  zero,  print  it.   The  default is to suppress
              printing.

       --debug
              Print verbose internal information.

       -V, --version
              Print the version number of ac to  standard  output
              and quit.

       -h, --help
              Prints  the  usage  string and default locations of
              system files to standard output and exits.


FILES

       wtmp
              The system wide login record file. See wtmp(5)  for
              further details.


AUTHOR

       The  GNU  accounting  utilities were written by Noel Cragg
       <noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. The man page was adapted  from  the
       accounting     texinfo    page    by    Susan    Kleinmann
       <sgk@sgk.tiac.net>.

       login(1), wtmp(5), init(8), sa(8)


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