From: Andrew Bower <andrew@bower.uk>
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2025 22:02:22 +0100
Subject: Use /var/log/wtmp.db as default database location

Forwarded: not-needed
---
 README.md                        |  2 +-
 lib/libwtmpdb.c                  |  3 +++
 man/pam_wtmpdb.8.xml             | 15 ++++++++++++---
 man/wtmpdb.8.xml                 | 21 +++++++++++++++------
 src/pam_wtmpdb.c                 |  3 +++
 tmpfiles.d/wtmpdb.conf           |  1 +
 units/wtmpdb-rotate.service      |  2 +-
 units/wtmpdb-update-boot.service |  2 +-
 8 files changed, 37 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e2f8a0f..2e02328 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ The package constists of a library, PAM module, a commandline interface and an o
 * `wtmpdb` is used to add reboot and shutdown entries and to display existing entries (like `last`).
 * `wtmpdbd` is used to manage the database in a secure way.
 
-By default the database will be written as `/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db`.
+By default the database will be written as `/var/log/wtmp.db`, with a symbolic link from `/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db`.
 
 ## Configuration
 
diff --git a/lib/libwtmpdb.c b/lib/libwtmpdb.c
index 8e5f2d9..a0c54e3 100644
--- a/lib/libwtmpdb.c
+++ b/lib/libwtmpdb.c
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@
 
 #include "varlink.h"
 
+#undef _PATH_WTMPDB
+#define _PATH_WTMPDB "/var/log/wtmp.db"
+
 #if WITH_WTMPDBD
 static int varlink_is_active = 1;
 #else
diff --git a/man/pam_wtmpdb.8.xml b/man/pam_wtmpdb.8.xml
index 2781648..54a2c4f 100644
--- a/man/pam_wtmpdb.8.xml
+++ b/man/pam_wtmpdb.8.xml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
     <para>
       pam_wtmpdb is a PAM module to record the login and logout
       information of the user. The module uses
-      <filename>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</filename> as database
+      <filename>/var/log/wtmp.db</filename> as database
       file to store all information.
     </para>
     <para>
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@
         <listitem>
           <para>
             Use <option>file</option> instead of
-            <filename>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</filename>.
+            <filename>/var/log/wtmp.db</filename>.
           </para>
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
@@ -166,11 +166,20 @@
     <title>FILES</title>
     <variablelist>
       <varlistentry>
-        <term>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</term>
+        <term>/var/log/wtmp.db</term>
         <listitem>
           <para>Wtmpdb logging database file</para>
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
+      <varlistentry>
+        <term>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</term>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Symbolic link from the upstream location to the above
+            database file
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+      </varlistentry>
     </variablelist>
   </refsect1>
 
diff --git a/man/wtmpdb.8.xml b/man/wtmpdb.8.xml
index ba4975b..04e1b06 100644
--- a/man/wtmpdb.8.xml
+++ b/man/wtmpdb.8.xml
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
         <listitem>
           <para>
 	    <command>wtmpdb last</command> goes through the
-	    <filename>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</filename> database (or the
+	    <filename>/var/log/wtmp.db</filename> database (or the
 	    database designated by the <command>-f</command> option) and
 	    displays a list of of all users logged in and logged out. The
 	    output can be restricted to different patterns via various
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@
         <listitem>
           <para>
 	    <command>wtmpdb boot</command> writes system boot times
-	    to the <filename>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</filename> database.
+	    to the <filename>/var/log/wtmp.db</filename> database.
 	  </para>
 	  <title>boot options</title>
 	  <varlistentry>
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@
         <listitem>
           <para>
 	    <command>wtmpdb shutdown</command> writes system shutdown
-	    requests to the <filename>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</filename>
+	    requests to the <filename>/var/log/wtmp.db</filename>
 	    database.
 	  </para>
 	  <title>shutdown options</title>
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@
         <listitem>
           <para>
 	    <command>wtmpdb rotate</command> exports old log entries
-	    to the <filename>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp_yyyymmmdd.db</filename>
+	    to the <filename>/var/log/wtmp_yyyymmmdd.db</filename>
 	    database and removes these entries from the original one.
 	  </para>
 	  <title>rotate options</title>
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@
 	<listitem>
           <para>
 	    <command>wtmpdb import</command> imports legacy wtmp log
-	    files to the <filename>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</filename>
+	    files to the <filename>/var/log/wtmp.db</filename>
 	    database.
 	  </para>
 	  <title>import options</title>
@@ -378,11 +378,20 @@
     <title>FILES</title>
     <variablelist>
       <varlistentry>
-        <term>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</term>
+        <term>/var/log/wtmp.db</term>
         <listitem>
           <para>Wtmpdb logging database file</para>
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
+      <varlistentry>
+        <term>/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db</term>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Symbolic link from the upstream location to the above
+            database file
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+      </varlistentry>
     </variablelist>
   </refsect1>
 
diff --git a/src/pam_wtmpdb.c b/src/pam_wtmpdb.c
index 8b5a24f..5aeaccb 100644
--- a/src/pam_wtmpdb.c
+++ b/src/pam_wtmpdb.c
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@
 
 #include "wtmpdb.h"
 
+#undef _PATH_WTMPDB
+#define _PATH_WTMPDB "/var/log/wtmp.db"
+
 #define WTMPDB_DEBUG        01  /* send info to syslog(3) */
 #define WTMPDB_QUIET        02  /* keep quiet about things */
 #define WTMPDB_SKIP         04  /* Skip if service is in skip list */
diff --git a/tmpfiles.d/wtmpdb.conf b/tmpfiles.d/wtmpdb.conf
index f66548e..dcaf2a9 100644
--- a/tmpfiles.d/wtmpdb.conf
+++ b/tmpfiles.d/wtmpdb.conf
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@
 # See tmpfiles.d(5) for details
 #
 d /var/lib/wtmpdb 0755 - - -
+L /var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db - - - - ../../log/wtmp.db
diff --git a/units/wtmpdb-rotate.service b/units/wtmpdb-rotate.service
index 7918857..465b659 100644
--- a/units/wtmpdb-rotate.service
+++ b/units/wtmpdb-rotate.service
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [Unit]
 Description=Rotate wtmpdb
 Documentation=man:wtmpdb(8)
-RequiresMountsFor=/var/lib/wtmpdb
+RequiresMountsFor=/var/log
 
 [Service]
 Type=oneshot
diff --git a/units/wtmpdb-update-boot.service b/units/wtmpdb-update-boot.service
index c46dcb9..bc16f7c 100644
--- a/units/wtmpdb-update-boot.service
+++ b/units/wtmpdb-update-boot.service
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Description=Write boot and shutdown times into wtmpdb
 Documentation=man:wtmpdb(8)
 DefaultDependencies=no
-RequiresMountsFor=/var/lib/wtmpdb
+RequiresMountsFor=/var/log
 Conflicts=shutdown.target
 After=systemd-remount-fs.service systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
 Before=shutdown.target