GETTY(8)                     System Administration                    GETTY(8)

NAME

       getty - set terminal mode

SYNOPSIS

       getty [ type [ tty ] ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  getty  program is called by init(8) to open and initialize the tty
       line, read a login name, and invoke login(1).

       The argument tty is the special device to open for  the  terminal  (for
       example,  ``.ttyco'').   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 gettytab5 data‐
       base, to determine the characteristics of the line.  If there is no ar‐
       gument, 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  indicated
       by  the  table  located,  getty will clear the terminal screen, print a
       banner heading, and prompt for a login name.  Usually either the banner
       or the login prompt will include the system hostname.

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

       The getty program can be set to timeout after some interval, which will
       cause dial up lines to hang up if the login name is not entered reason‐
       ably 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 device does not
              exist.

FILES

       /etc/gettytab

SEE ALSO

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

HISTORY

       A getty program appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.



GNO                              8 April 1998                         GETTY(8)