diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'upstream/opensuse-tumbleweed/man7/pty.7')
-rw-r--r-- | upstream/opensuse-tumbleweed/man7/pty.7 | 158 |
1 files changed, 158 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/upstream/opensuse-tumbleweed/man7/pty.7 b/upstream/opensuse-tumbleweed/man7/pty.7 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5d9b429c --- /dev/null +++ b/upstream/opensuse-tumbleweed/man7/pty.7 @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@ +.\" Copyright (C) 2005 Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com> +.\" +.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft +.\" +.TH pty 7 2022-12-04 "Linux man-pages 6.05.01" +.SH NAME +pty \- pseudoterminal interfaces +.SH DESCRIPTION +A pseudoterminal (sometimes abbreviated "pty") +is a pair of virtual character devices that +provide a bidirectional communication channel. +One end of the channel is called the +.IR master ; +the other end is called the +.IR slave . +.PP +The slave end of the pseudoterminal provides an interface +that behaves exactly like a classical terminal. +A process that expects to be connected to a terminal, +can open the slave end of a pseudoterminal and +then be driven by a program that has opened the master end. +Anything that is written on the master end is provided to the process +on the slave end as though it was input typed on a terminal. +For example, writing the interrupt character (usually control-C) +to the master device would cause an interrupt signal +.RB ( SIGINT ) +to be generated for the foreground process group +that is connected to the slave. +Conversely, anything that is written to the slave end of the +pseudoterminal can be read by the process that is connected to +the master end. +.PP +Data flow between master and slave is handled asynchronously, +much like data flow with a physical terminal. +Data written to the slave will be available at the master promptly, +but may not be available immediately. +Similarly, there may be a small processing delay between +a write to the master, and the effect being visible at the slave. +.PP +Historically, two pseudoterminal APIs have evolved: BSD and System V. +SUSv1 standardized a pseudoterminal API based on the System V API, +and this API should be employed in all new programs that use +pseudoterminals. +.PP +Linux provides both BSD-style and (standardized) System V-style +pseudoterminals. +System V-style terminals are commonly called UNIX 98 pseudoterminals +on Linux systems. +.PP +Since Linux 2.6.4, BSD-style pseudoterminals are considered deprecated: +support can be disabled when building the kernel by disabling the +.B CONFIG_LEGACY_PTYS +option. +(Starting with Linux 2.6.30, +that option is disabled by default in the mainline kernel.) +UNIX 98 pseudoterminals should be used in new applications. +.SS UNIX 98 pseudoterminals +An unused UNIX 98 pseudoterminal master is opened by calling +.BR posix_openpt (3). +(This function opens the master clone device, +.IR /dev/ptmx ; +see +.BR pts (4).) +After performing any program-specific initializations, +changing the ownership and permissions of the slave device using +.BR grantpt (3), +and unlocking the slave using +.BR unlockpt (3)), +the corresponding slave device can be opened by passing +the name returned by +.BR ptsname (3) +in a call to +.BR open (2). +.PP +The Linux kernel imposes a limit on the number of available +UNIX 98 pseudoterminals. +Up to and including Linux 2.6.3, this limit is configured +at kernel compilation time +.RB ( CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS ), +and the permitted number of pseudoterminals can be up to 2048, +with a default setting of 256. +Since Linux 2.6.4, the limit is dynamically adjustable via +.IR /proc/sys/kernel/pty/max , +and a corresponding file, +.IR /proc/sys/kernel/pty/nr , +indicates how many pseudoterminals are currently in use. +For further details on these two files, see +.BR proc (5). +.SS BSD pseudoterminals +BSD-style pseudoterminals are provided as precreated pairs, with +names of the form +.I /dev/ptyXY +(master) and +.I /dev/ttyXY +(slave), +where X is a letter from the 16-character set [p\-za\-e], +and Y is a letter from the 16-character set [0\-9a\-f]. +(The precise range of letters in these two sets varies across UNIX +implementations.) +For example, +.I /dev/ptyp1 +and +.I /dev/ttyp1 +constitute a BSD pseudoterminal pair. +A process finds an unused pseudoterminal pair by trying to +.BR open (2) +each pseudoterminal master until an open succeeds. +The corresponding pseudoterminal slave (substitute "tty" +for "pty" in the name of the master) can then be opened. +.SH FILES +.TP +.I /dev/ptmx +UNIX 98 master clone device +.TP +.I /dev/pts/* +UNIX 98 slave devices +.TP +.I /dev/pty[p\-za\-e][0\-9a\-f] +BSD master devices +.TP +.I /dev/tty[p\-za\-e][0\-9a\-f] +BSD slave devices +.SH NOTES +Pseudoterminals are used by applications such as network login services +.RB ( ssh "(1), " rlogin "(1), " telnet (1)), +terminal emulators such as +.BR xterm (1), +.BR script (1), +.BR screen (1), +.BR tmux (1), +.BR unbuffer (1), +and +.BR expect (1). +.PP +A description of the +.B TIOCPKT +.BR ioctl (2), +which controls packet mode operation, can be found in +.BR ioctl_tty (2). +.PP +The BSD +.BR ioctl (2) +operations +.BR TIOCSTOP , +.BR TIOCSTART , +.BR TIOCUCNTL , +and +.B TIOCREMOTE +have not been implemented under Linux. +.SH SEE ALSO +.BR ioctl_tty (2), +.BR select (2), +.BR setsid (2), +.BR forkpty (3), +.BR openpty (3), +.BR termios (3), +.BR pts (4), +.BR tty (4) |