LL2_READ_ENTRY(3)

📦
version 2.41.6 · 9 versions
, in alpine 3.22, alpine 3.23, fedora 43, fedora 44

💅 LL2_READ_ENTRY(3) — the liblastlog2 read-one-entry girlies ✨

okay so real talk, this is a page from the Programmers Manual (section 3, the library-call section, iykyk) and it's about ll2_read_entry from lastlog2.h. she reads one entry. one. that's her whole thing and she's iconic for it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

ll2_read_entry — reads one entry from the database and hands it right back to you, no cap 💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <lastlog2.h>

int ll2_read_entry (struct ll2_context *context, const char *user,
int64_t *ll_time, char tty, char rhost, char pam_service, char error);

like, literally that's the whole signature bestie, copy it exactly, don't get creative with it 🫶

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so what she does: she reads the first entry from the database (the one defined in context, mwah) for the user user. that's it. one entry. the first one. periodt 💅

and if context is NULL? no worries, she just goes with the default database, the one defined in LL2_DEFAULT_DATABASE. iconic default behaviour honestly 🌈

here's the lil example they give, and yes you're getting it verbatim because code is sacred:

char    *error = NULL;
const   char *user = "root";
int64_t res_time;
char    *res_tty = NULL;
char    *res_rhost = NULL;
char    *res_service = NULL;

int ret = ll2_read_entry (NULL, user, &res_time, &res_tty, &res_rhost, &res_service, &error);

see how she's passing the pointers so the values can come back out? main character energy ngl 👑

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

okay so the score-keeping, pay attention:

  • returns 0 on success 🎉
  • returns -ENOMEM — or -1 on other failure 💀

and error? she contains an error string if the return value is -1. but — and this is the part you gotta hear — error is not guaranteed to contain an error string, it could also be NULL. so vibe check your error pointer before you go trusting it, fr fr 🙈

error should be freed by the caller. that's you. you're the caller. free her 💖

and one more: if the lastlog2 database does not exist at all, the errno ENOENT is set and you can check that. very "she's not there, bestie" of the database 😭

the evaluated values come back out through ll_time, tty, rhost and pam_service. those are your little presents 🎁

🌺 AUTHORS 🌺

Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@suse.de> — thank you for your service king 🫶

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

go read these next, they're all in the same friend group:

💀 REPORTING BUGS 💀

found a bug? don't suffer in silence bestie, use the issue tracker: <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>. the devs wanna hear from you 🍓

🧚 AVAILABILITY 🧚

the liblastlog2 library is part of the util-linux package since version 2.40. you can download it from the Linux Kernel Archive: <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>. go get her ✨

lowkey reminder: this is LL2_READ_ENTRY(3) from the Programmers Manual, and it shipped with util-linux 2.41.6 dated 2026-08-31. that's the whole page, no notes, slay 💅💖
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