[rhn-users] /var/log/lastlog on RHEL4 AS(x86_64)

[Richard Lefebvre]

Anyone got an absurdly large lastlog file on a RHEL4 AS(x86_64):

# ls -als /var/log/lastlog
52 -r--------  1 root root 1254130450140 Mar  9 10:59 /var/log/lastlog

# ls -alhs /var/log/lastlog
52K -r--------  1 root root 1.2T Mar  9 10:59 /var/log/lastlog

as the "s" flag of "ls" reports the file occupies only 52K on the 
filesystem, but the "l" reports a size of 1.2TeraBytes. This causes a 
problem if I try to backup this file because the any commands other then 
lastlog that tries to read this file will go for the full 1.2T. Right 
now I ignore it, but I would like to back it anyway. There is no point 
of doing a compressed copy of it since it would be unusable afterwards.

This whole lastlog bit should probably be reset into a 32bit mode, the 
19M file is a bit more managable.

Richard