xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/pty.4 (revision 481fca6e59249d8ffcf24fef7cfbe7b131bfb080)
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34.\"     @(#)pty.4	8.2 (Berkeley) 11/30/93
35.\"
36.Dd November 30, 1993
37.Dt PTY 4
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm pty
41.Nd pseudo terminal driver
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Cd pseudo-device pty Op Ar count
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm
47driver provides support for a device-pair termed a
48.Em pseudo terminal .
49A pseudo terminal is a pair of character devices, a
50.Em master
51device and a
52.Em slave
53device.
54The slave device provides to a process an interface identical to
55that described in
56.Xr tty 4 .
57However, whereas all other devices which provide the interface described in
58.Xr tty 4
59have a hardware device of some sort behind them, the slave device
60has, instead, another process manipulating it through the master
61half of the pseudo terminal.
62That is, anything written on the master device is given to the
63slave device as input and anything written on the slave device is
64presented as input on the master device.
65.Pp
66In configuring, if an optional
67.Ar count
68is given in
69the specification, that number of pseudo terminal pairs are configured;
70the default count is 32.
71.Pp
72The following
73.Xr ioctl 2
74calls apply only to pseudo terminals:
75.Bl -tag -width TIOCREMOTE
76.It Dv TIOCSTOP
77Stops output to a terminal (e.g. like typing
78.Ql ^S ) .
79Takes
80no parameter.
81.It Dv TIOCSTART
82Restarts output (stopped by
83.Dv TIOCSTOP
84or by typing
85.Ql ^S ) .
86Takes no parameter.
87.It Dv TIOCPKT
88Enable/disable
89.Em packet
90mode.
91Packet mode is enabled by specifying (by reference) a nonzero
92parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference) a zero parameter.
93When applied to the master side of a pseudo
94terminal, each subsequent
95.Xr read 2
96from the terminal will return data written on the slave part of
97the pseudo terminal preceded by a zero byte (symbolically
98defined as
99.Dv TIOCPKT_DATA ) ,
100or a single byte reflecting control status information.
101In the latter case, the byte is an inclusive-or
102of zero or more of the bits:
103.Bl -tag -width TIOCPKT_FLUSHWRITE
104.It Dv TIOCPKT_FLUSHREAD
105whenever the read queue for the terminal is flushed.
106.It Dv TIOCPKT_FLUSHWRITE
107whenever the write queue for the terminal is flushed.
108.It Dv TIOCPKT_STOP
109whenever output to the terminal is stopped a la
110.Ql ^S .
111.It Dv TIOCPKT_START
112whenever output to the terminal is restarted.
113.It Dv TIOCPKT_DOSTOP
114whenever
115.Em t_stopc
116is
117.Ql ^S
118and
119.Em t_startc
120is
121.Ql ^Q .
122.It Dv TIOCPKT_NOSTOP
123whenever the start and stop characters are not
124.Ql ^S/^Q .
125.Pp
126While this mode is in use, the presence of control status information
127to be read from the master side may be detected by a
128.Xr select 2
129for exceptional conditions.
130.Pp
131This mode is used by
132.Xr rlogin 1
133and
134.Xr rlogind 8
135to implement a remote-echoed, locally
136.Ql ^S/^Q
137flow-controlled
138remote login with proper back-flushing of output; it can be
139used by other similar programs.
140.It Dv TIOCPKT_IOCTL
141When this bit is set, the slave has changed the
142.Xr termios 4
143structure (TTY state), and the remainder of the data read from
144the master side of the
145.Nm
146is a copy of the new
147.Xr termios 4
148structure.
149.Pp
150This is used by
151.Xr telnetd 8
152to implement TELNET "line mode" - it allows the
153.Xr telnetd 8
154to detect
155.Xr tty 4
156state changes by the slave, and negotiate the appropriate TELNET
157protocol equivalents with the remote peer.
158.El
159.It Dv TIOCUCNTL
160Enable/disable a mode that allows a small number of simple user
161.Xr ioctl 2
162commands to be passed through the pseudo-terminal,
163using a protocol similar to that of
164.Dv TIOCPKT .
165The
166.Dv TIOCUCNTL
167and
168.Dv TIOCPKT
169modes are mutually exclusive.
170This mode is enabled from the master side of a pseudo terminal
171by specifying (by reference)
172a nonzero parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference)
173a zero parameter.
174Each subsequent
175.Xr read 2
176from the master side will return data written on the slave part of
177the pseudo terminal preceded by a zero byte,
178or a single byte reflecting a user control operation on the slave side.
179A user control command consists of a special
180.Xr ioctl 2
181operation with no data; the command is given as
182.Dv UIOCCMD Ns (n) ,
183where
184.Ar n
185is a number in the range 1-255.
186The operation value
187.Ar n
188will be received as a single byte on the next
189.Xr read 2
190from the master side.
191The
192.Xr ioctl 2
193.Dv UIOCCMD Ns (0)
194is a no-op that may be used to probe for
195the existence of this facility.
196As with
197.Dv TIOCPKT
198mode, command operations may be detected with a
199.Xr select 2
200for exceptional conditions.
201.It Dv TIOCREMOTE
202A mode for the master half of a pseudo terminal, independent
203of
204.Dv TIOCPKT .
205This mode causes input to the pseudo terminal to be flow controlled
206and not input edited (regardless of the terminal mode).
207Each write to the control terminal produces a record boundary for
208the process reading the terminal.
209In normal usage, a write of data is like the data typed as a line
210on the terminal; a write of 0 bytes is like typing an end-of-file
211character.
212.Dv TIOCREMOTE
213can be used when doing remote line
214editing in a window manager, or whenever flow controlled input
215is required.
216.El
217.Sh FILES
218.Bl -tag -width /dev/tty[p-r][0-9a-f]x -compact
219.It Pa /dev/pty[p-r][0-9a-f]
220master pseudo terminals
221.It Pa /dev/tty[p-r][0-9a-f]
222slave pseudo terminals
223.El
224.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
225None.
226.Sh HISTORY
227The
228.Nm
229driver appeared in
230.Bx 4.2 .
231