GETTYDEFS(5)
NAME
gettydefs - speed and tty settings used by getty
DESCRIPTION
The file /etc/gettydefs contains information used by
getty(1m) to set up the speed and tty settings for a line.
It supplies information on what the login-prompt should
look like. It also supplies the speed to try next if the
user indicates the current speed is not correct by typing
a <break> character.
Each entry in /etc/gettydefs has the following :
label# initial-flags # final-flags # login-prompt #next-label
Each entry is followed by a blank line. Lines that begin
with are ignored and may be used to comment the file. The
various fields can contain quoted characters of the form
\b, \n, \c, etc., as well as \nnn, where nnn is the octal
value of the desired character. The various fields are:
label This is the string against which getty
tries to match its second argument. It is
often the speed, such as 1200, at which
the terminal is supposed to run, but it
needn't be (see below).
initial-flags These flags are the initial ioctl(2) set-
tings to which the terminal is to be set
if a terminal type is not specified to
getty. Getty understands the symbolic
names specified in /usr/include/termio.h
(see termio(7)). Normally only the speed
flag is required in the initial-flags
field. Getty automatically sets the ter-
minal to raw input mode and takes care of
most of the other flags. The initial-flag
settings remain in effect until getty exe-
cutes login(1m).
final-flags These flags take the same values as the
initial-flags and are set just prior to
getty executes /bin/login. The speed flag
is again required. The composite flag
SANE takes care of most of the other flags
that need to be set so that the processor
and terminal are communicating in a ratio-
nal fashion. The other two commonly spec-
ified final-flags are TAB3, so that tabs
are sent to the terminal as spaces, and
HUPCL, so that the line is hung up on the
final close.
login-prompt This entire field is printed as the login-
prompt. Unlike the above fields where
white space is ignored (a space, tab or
new-line), they are included in the login-
prompt field.
The login-prompt may contain various @char
and \char parameters. These are described
in full in the getty(1m) section PROMPT
SUBSTITUTIONS.
next-label This indicates the next label of the entry
in the table that getty should use if the
user types a <break> or the input cannot
be read. Usually, a series of speeds are
linked together in this fashion, into a
closed set. For instance, 2400 linked to
1200, which in turn is linked to 300,
which finally is linked back to 2400.
If getty is called without a speed argument, then the
first entry of /etc/gettydefs is used, thus making the
first entry of /etc/gettydefs the default entry. It is
also used if getty can't find the specified label. If
/etc/gettydefs itself is missing, there is one entry built
into getty which will bring up a terminal at 9600 baud.
It is strongly recommended that after making or modifying
/etc/gettydefs, it be run through getty with the check
(-c) option to be sure there are no errors.
FILES
/etc/gettydefs
SEE ALSO
login(1m) getty(1m) ioctl(2) termio(7)