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GETTY(8)		  BSD System Manager's Manual		      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(8).  If getty notices an se-
     quence of characters that appear to be an initialization packet from a
     PPP session it invokes the ppp(8) utility directly.  By default the
     ppp(8) utility will see the user as the name ppp_direct.

     The argument tty is the special device file in /dev to open for the ter-
     minal (for example, ``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 spe-
     cially.  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 indicated by the
     table located, getty will clear the terminal screen, print a banner head-
     ing, 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.

     The getty program can attempt to determine the serial line speed if so
     configured by the gettytab entry; each time getty receives a break, it
     cycles to the next entry in a series of gettytab entries to try.

     A line may optionally be used for both dial-in and dial-out service.
     This is enabled by the bi flag in the initial gettytab entry.  For bidi-
     rectional service, getty synchronizes with dial-out use via lock files
     (see tip(1) and uucico(8)).

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

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

4th Berkeley Distribution	 June 4, 1993				     1

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