4.3BSD - /usr/man/cat8/getty.0

GETTY(8)                                                              GETTY(8)


NAME
       getty  - set terminal mode

SYNOPSIS
       /etc/getty [ type [ tty ] ]

DESCRIPTION
       Getty  is  usually  invoked  by  init(8) to open and initialize the tty
       line, read a login name, and invoke login(1).  getty attempts to  adapt
       the system to the speed and type of terminal being used.

       The  argument  tty  is  the special device file in /dev to open for the
       terminal (e.g., ‘‘ttyh0’’).  If there is no argument or the argument is
       ‘‘-’’, the tty line is assumed to be open as file descriptor 0.

       The  type  argument  can  be used to make getty treat the terminal line
       specially.  This argument is used as  an  index  into  the  gettytab(5)
       database, to determine the characteristics of the line.  If there is no
       argument, or there is no such table, the default  table  is  used.   If
       there  is  no /etc/gettytab a set of system defaults is used.  If indi‐
       cated by the table located, getty will clear the terminal screen, print
       a banner heading, and prompt for a login name.  Usually either the ban‐
       ner of the login prompt will include the  system  hostname.   Then  the
       user’s  name  is  read,  a character at a time.  If a null character is
       received, it is assumed to be  the  result  of  the  user  pushing  the
       ‘break’  (‘interrupt’)  key.  The speed is usually then changed and the
       ‘login:’ is typed again; a second ‘break’ changes the speed  again  and
       the  ‘login:’  is typed once more.  Successive ‘break’ characters cycle
       through the same standard set of speeds.

       The user’s name is terminated by a new-line or carriage-return  charac‐
       ter.   The  latter  results  in  the system being set to treat carriage
       returns appropriately (see tty(4)).

       The user’s name is scanned to see if it contains any lower-case  alpha‐
       betic  characters;  if  not, and if the name is nonempty, the system is
       told to map any future upper-case  characters  into  the  corresponding
       lower-case characters.

       Finally, login is called with the user’s name as an argument.

       Most  of the default actions of getty can be circumvented, or modified,
       by a suitable gettytab table.

       Getty can be set to timeout after some interval, which will cause  dial
       up  lines  to  hang  up  if  the  login  name is not entered reasonably
       quickly.

DIAGNOSTICS
       ttyxx: No such device or address.  ttyxx: No such file or  address.   A
       terminal  which  is turned on in the ttys file cannot be opened, likely
       because the requisite lines are either not configured into the  system,
       the associated device was not attached during boot-time system configu‐
       ration, or the special file in /dev does not exist.

FILES
       /etc/gettytab

SEE ALSO
       gettytab(5), init(8), login(1), ioctl(2), tty(4), ttys(5)


4th Berkeley Distribution        May 22, 1986                         GETTY(8)