Public bug reported: I was investigating the use of a single high UID user (ie, 2000000000) and discovered that /var/log/lastlog grew to an enormously large sparse file:
$ ls -lh /var/log/lastlog -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 544G Jul 27 12:35 /var/log/lastlog The file is actually quite small though: $ ls -lh --size /var/log/lastlog 56K -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 544G Jul 27 12:35 /var/log/lastlog On a standalone system, this is possibly not a problem since it is highly unlikely that a system will have 2 billion users, but this is confirmed to wreak havoc on rsync backups. ** Affects: util-linux (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1707645 Title: system with high numbered uids has huge sparse /var/log/lastlog To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/util-linux/+bug/1707645/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs