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GETTY(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual GETTY(8)
NAME
getty - set terminal mode
SYNOPSIS
getty [type [tty]]
DESCRIPTION
The getty utility 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 file in /dev to open for the
terminal (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
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 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 utility can be set to timeout after some interval, which will
cause dial up lines to hang up if the login name is not entered
reasonably quickly.
FILES
/etc/gettytab
/etc/ttys
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.
SEE ALSO
login(1), ioctl(2), tty(4), gettytab(5), ttys(5), init(8), pstat(8)
HISTORY
A getty utility appeared in Version 3 AT&T UNIX.
FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11 July 21, 2020 FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p11