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Q&A What does the "Valid" column mean in the output of "faillock"?

I was looking into unlocking my login after too many incorrect password attempts. I found this post about it. Doing faillock -user $(whoami) --reset did indeed unlock the login. However, what exac...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  edited 1y ago by AdminBee‭

Question arch-linux password
#2: Post edited by user avatar AdminBee‭ · 2023-08-03T19:04:25Z (over 1 year ago)
Make title more concrete to the part of the output in question; shorten the output lines so that they fit without hor. scroll bars.
  • How do I interpret the output of faillock?
  • What does the "Valid" column mean in the output of "faillock"?
  • I was looking into unlocking my login after too many incorrect password attempts. I found [this post](https://superuser.com/a/1597163) about it. Doing `faillock -user $(whoami) --reset` did indeed unlock the login.
  • However, what exactly is the output of `faillock` and how do I interpret it?
  • When I ran it while I was locked out, the output was something like this:
  • ```
  • $ faillock
  • my_username:
  • When Type Source Valid
  • 2023-08-02 14:39:43 TTY /dev/pts/1 V
  • 2023-08-02 14:39:44 TTY /dev/pts/1 V
  • ...
  • ```
  • When I run it after unlocking, there are no rows, only a header. I assume this is a list of failed login attempts, but then why is there a tick mark under `Valid`?
  • There is a [brief man page](https://man.archlinux.org/man/faillock.8) about this program, but it doesn't mention anything about this "valid" thing.
  • I was looking into unlocking my login after too many incorrect password attempts. I found [this post](https://superuser.com/a/1597163) about it. Doing `faillock -user $(whoami) --reset` did indeed unlock the login.
  • However, what exactly is the output of `faillock` and how do I interpret it?
  • When I ran it while I was locked out, the output was something like this:
  • ```
  • $ faillock
  • my_username:
  • When Type Source Valid
  • 2023-08-02 14:39:43 TTY /dev/pts/1 V
  • 2023-08-02 14:39:44 TTY /dev/pts/1 V
  • ...
  • ```
  • When I run it after unlocking, there are no rows, only a header. I assume this is a list of failed login attempts, but then why is there a tick mark under `Valid`?
  • There is a [brief man page](https://man.archlinux.org/man/faillock.8) about this program, but it doesn't mention anything about this "valid" thing.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar matthewsnyder‭ · 2023-08-02T20:56:00Z (over 1 year ago)
How do I interpret the output of faillock?
I was looking into unlocking my login after too many incorrect password attempts. I found [this post](https://superuser.com/a/1597163) about it. Doing `faillock -user $(whoami) --reset` did indeed unlock the login.

However, what exactly is the output of `faillock` and how do I interpret it?

When I ran it while I was locked out, the output was something like this:

```
$ faillock
my_username:
When                Type  Source                                           Valid
2023-08-02 14:39:43 TTY   /dev/pts/1                                           V
2023-08-02 14:39:44 TTY   /dev/pts/1                                           V
...
```

When I run it after unlocking, there are no rows, only a header. I assume this is a list of failed login attempts, but then why is there a tick mark under `Valid`?

There is a [brief man page](https://man.archlinux.org/man/faillock.8) about this program, but it doesn't mention anything about this "valid" thing.