NAME
ttys - terminal initialization data

DESCRIPTION
The ttys file contains information that is used by various routines
to initialize and control the use of terminal special files. This
information is read with the getttyent(3) library routines. There
is one line in the ttys file per special file. Fields are
separated by tabs and/or spaces. Some fields may contain more than
one word and should be enclosed in double quotes. Blank lines and
comments can appear anywhere in the file; comments are delimited by
‘#’ and new line. Unspecified fields default to null. The first
field is the terminal’s entry in the device directory, /dev. The
second field of the file is the command to execute for the line,
typically getty(8), which performs such tasks as baud-rate
recognition, reading the login name, and calling login(1). It can
be, however, any desired command, for example the start up for a
window system terminal emulator or some other daemon process, and
can contain multiple words if quoted. The third field is the type
of terminal normally connected to that tty line, as found in the
termcap(5) data base file. The remaining fields set flags in the
ty_status entry (see getttyent(3)) or specify a window system
process that init(8) will maintain for the terminal line. As flag
values, the strings ‘on’ and ‘off’ specify whether init(8) should
execute the command given in the second field, while ‘secure’ in
addition to ‘on’ allows root to login on this line. These flag
fields should not be quoted. The string ‘window=’ is followed by a
quoted command string which init(8) will execute before starting
getty(8). If the line ends in a comment, the comment is included
in the ty_comment field of the ttyent structure.

Some examples:

console "/etc/getty std.1200" vt100 on secure
ttyd0 "/etc/getty d1200" dialup on # 555-1234
ttyh0 "/etc/getty std.9600" hp2621-nl on # 254MC
ttyh1 "/etc/getty std.9600" plugboard on # John’s office
ttyp0 none network
ttyp1 none network off

The first example permits root login on the console at 1200 baud,
the second allows dialup at 1200 baud without root login, the third
and fourth allow login at 9600 baud with terminal types of
"hp2621-nl" and "plugboard" respectively, the fifth and sixth line
are examples of network pseudo ttys, which should not have getty
enabled on them, and the last example shows a terminal emulator and
window system startup entry.

FILES
/etc/ttys

SEE ALSO
login(1), getttyent(3), gettytab(5), init(8), getty(8)