gettydefs(4)                                                      gettydefs(4)


NAME
     gettydefs - speed and terminal settings used by getty

DESCRIPTION
     The /etc/gettydefs file contains information used by getty(1M) to set up
     the speed and terminal settings for a line.  It supplies information on
     what the login(1) 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.

     Note: Customers who need to support terminals that pass 8 bits to the
     system (as is typical outside the U.S.) must modify the entries in
     /etc/gettydefs as described in the WARNINGS section.

     Each entry in /etc/gettydefs has the following format:

          label# initial-flags # final-flags # login-prompt #next-label

     Each entry is followed by a blank line.  The various fields can contain
     quoted characters of the form \b, \n, \c, and so on 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 need not be
                    (see below).

     initial-flags  These flags are the initial ioctl(2) settings to which the
                    terminal is to be set if a terminal type is not specified
                    to getty.  The flags that getty understands are the same
                    as the ones listed in /usr/include/sys/termio.h (see
                    termio(7)).  Normally only the speed flag is required in
                    the initial-flags.  getty automatically sets the terminal
                    to raw input mode and takes care of most of the other
                    flags.  The initial-flag settings remain in effect until
                    getty executes login.

     final-flags    These flags take the same values as the initial-flags and
                    are set just before getty executes 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 rational
                    fashion.  The other two commonly specified 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 newline), they are included in the login-prompt
                    field.  As a special feature, this field can contain the
                    string $HOSTNAME, which is replaced by the current


                    hostname of the machine.  See hostname(1) for more
                    information.

     next-label     If this entry does not specify the desired speed,
                    indicated by the user typing a <break> character, then
                    getty searches for the entry with next-label as its label
                    field and sets up the terminal for those settings.
                    Usually, a series of speeds are linked together in this
                    fashion, into a closed set; for instance, 2400 linked to
                    1200, which is linked to 300, which finally is linked to
                    2400.

     If getty is called without a second 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 not find the specified
     label.  If /etc/gettydefs itself is missing, there is one entry built
     into getty that brings up a terminal at 300 baud.

     It is strongly recommended that after making or modifying /etc/gettydefs,
     it be run through getty with the check option to be sure there are no
     errors.

FILES
     /etc/gettydefs

SEE ALSO
     getty(1M), login(1), stty(1), ioctl(2), termio(7).

WARNINGS
     To support terminals that pass 8 bits to the system (see the BUGS
     section), modify the entries in the /etc/gettydefs file for those
     terminals as follows:  add CS8 to initial-flags and replace all
     occurrences of SANE with the values:  BRKINT IGNPAR ICRNL IXON OPOST
     ONLCR CS8 ISIG ICANON ECHO ECHOK.

     An example of changing an entry in /etc/gettydefs is illustrated below.
     All the information for an entry must be on one line in the file.

     Original entry:

          CONSOLE # B9600 HUPCL OPOST ONLCR # B9600 SANE IXANY TAB3
          HUPCL # $HOSTNAME console Login:  # console

     Modified entry:

          CONSOLE # B9600 CS8 HUPCL OPOST ONLCR # B9600 BRKINT IGNPAR
          ICRNL IXON OPOST ONLCR CS8 ISIG ICANON ECHO ECHOK IXANY
          TAB3 HUPCL # $HOSTNAME console Login:  # console

     This change permits terminals to pass 8 bits to the system so long as the
     system is in MULTI-USER state.  When the system changes to SINGLE-USER
     state, the getty is killed and the terminal attributes are lost.  So to


     permit a terminal to pass 8 bits to the system in SINGLE-USER state,
     after you are in SINGLE-USER state, type (see stty(1)):

          stty -istrip cs8


BUGS
     8-bit with parity mode is not supported.


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