1LOGIN(1) General Commands Manual LOGIN(1)
2
6 login - sign on
7
9 login [ -p ] [ username ]
10
12 The login command is used when a user initially signs on, or it may be
13 used at any time to change from one user to another. The latter case
14 is the one summarized above and described here. See “How to Get
15 Started” for how to dial up initially.
16 If login is invoked without an argument, it asks for a user name, and,
18 if appropriate, a password. Echoing is turned off (if possible) during
19 the typing of the password, so it will not appear on the written record
20 of the session.
21 After a successful login, accounting files are updated and the user is
23 informed of the existence of mail. The message of the day is printed,
24 as is the time of his last login. Both are suppressed if he has a
25 “.hushlogin” file in his home directory; this is mostly used to make
26 life easier for non-human users, such as uucp.
27 Login initializes the user and group IDs and the working directory,
29 then executes a command interpreter (usually csh(1)) according to spec‐
30 ifications found in a password file. Argument 0 of the command inter‐
31 preter is the name of the command interpreter with a leading dash
32 (“-”).
33 Login also modifies the environment environ(7) with information speci‐
35 fying home directory, command interpreter, terminal type (if available)
36 and user name. The `-p' argument causes the remainder of the environ‐
37 ment to be preserved, otherwise any previous environment is discarded.
38 If the file /etc/nologin exists, login prints its contents on the
40 user's terminal and exits. This is used by shutdown(8) to stop users
41 logging in when the system is about to go down.
42 Login is recognized by sh(1) and csh(1) and executed directly (without
44 forking).
45
47 /var/run/utmp accounting
48 /usr/adm/wtmp accounting
49 /usr/spool/mail/* mail
50 /etc/motd message-of-the-day
51 /etc/passwd password file
52 /etc/nologin stops logins
53 .hushlogin makes login quieter
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56 init(8), getty(8), mail(1), passwd(1), passwd(5), environ(7), shut‐
57 down(8), rlogin(1c)
58
60 “Login incorrect,” if the name or the password is bad.
61 “No Shell”, “cannot open password file”, “no directory”: consult a pro‐
62 gramming counselor.
63
65 An undocumented option, -r is used by the remote login server,
66 rlogind(8C) to force login to enter into an initial connection proto‐
67 col. -h is used by [22mtelnetd(8C) and other servers to list the host from
68 which the connection was received.
694th Berkeley Distribution November 27, 1996 LOGIN(1)