2009-12-02 Who is logging in

Who is logging into my Linux workstation?

At my most regular workplace (I have several), I have a Debian Linux workstation. The username/password information is managed over NIS, and is configured such, that every user can log into every workstation.

I have no problem with this, but do like to know who is logging in when I'm using the desktop. Thus at startup, I run the following script in the background:

  #!/bin/sh

  [ ! -e /usr/bin/whoami ] && exit 1
  [ ! -e /usr/bin/gmessage ] && exit 1

  while [ 1 ]
  do
    LOGINNAME=`w  -h | cut -f1 -d' ' | grep -v whoami`
    if [ $LOGINNAME ]; then
      gmessage "User $LOGINNAME logged in" -button OK
    else
      sleep 1
    fi
  done

Save this script somewhere in your home directory. I've called it 'loginwatch'. Then make it executable and run it in the background as follows:

 $ chmod +x loginwatch
 $ ./loginwatch &

This script assumes that you use the Gnome desktop, because it uses the gmessage utility.