1GETTY(8)                    System Manager's Manual                   GETTY(8)
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NAME

6       getty  - set terminal mode
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SYNOPSIS

9       getty [ type [ tty ] ]
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DESCRIPTION

12       Getty  is  usually  invoked  by  init(8) to open and initialize the tty
13       line, read a login name, and invoke login(1).  getty attempts to  adapt
14       the system to the speed and type of terminal being used.
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16       The  argument  tty  is  the special device file in /dev to open for the
17       terminal (e.g., ``ttyh0'').  If there is no argument or the argument is
18       ``-'', the tty line is assumed to be open as file descriptor 0.
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20       The  type  argument  can  be used to make getty treat the terminal line
21       specially.  This argument is used as  an  index  into  the  gettytab(5)
22       database, to determine the characteristics of the line.  If there is no
23       argument, or there is no such table, the default  table  is  used.   If
24       there  is  no /etc/gettytab a set of system defaults is used.  If indi‐
25       cated by the table located, getty will clear the terminal screen, print
26       a banner heading, and prompt for a login name.  Usually either the ban‐
27       ner of the login prompt will include the  system  hostname.   Then  the
28       user's  name  is  read,  a character at a time.  If a null character is
29       received, it is assumed to be  the  result  of  the  user  pushing  the
30       `break'  (`interrupt')  key.  The speed is usually then changed and the
31       `login:' is typed again; a second `break' changes the speed  again  and
32       the  `login:'  is typed once more.  Successive `break' characters cycle
33       through the same standard set of speeds.
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35       The user's name is terminated by a new-line or carriage-return  charac‐
36       ter.   The  latter  results  in  the system being set to treat carriage
37       returns appropriately (see tty(4)).
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39       The user's name is scanned to see if it contains any lower-case  alpha‐
40       betic  characters;  if  not, and if the name is nonempty, the system is
41       told to map any future upper-case  characters  into  the  corresponding
42       lower-case characters.
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44       Finally, login is called with the user's name as an argument.
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46       Most  of the default actions of getty can be circumvented, or modified,
47       by a suitable gettytab table.
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49       Getty can be set to timeout after some interval, which will cause  dial
50       up  lines  to  hang  up  if  the  login  name is not entered reasonably
51       quickly.
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DIAGNOSTICS

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

61       /etc/gettytab
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SEE ALSO

64       gettytab(5), init(8), login(1), ioctl(2), tty(4), ttys(5)
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684th Berkeley Distribution      November 17, 1996                      GETTY(8)
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