2.11BSD#431 - /usr/man/cat8/getty.0

GETTY(8)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual		 GETTY(8)


NAME
     getty  - set terminal mode

SYNOPSIS
     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 termi-
     nal 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 termi-
     nal 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 banner of the login prompt will include
     the system hostname.  Then the user's name is read, a char-
     acter 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 character.	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 alphabetic 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 argu-
     ment.

     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


Printed 11/26/99	November 17, 1996			1


GETTY(8)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual		 GETTY(8)


     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 configuration, 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)


Printed 11/26/99	November 17, 1996			2