xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/pty.4 (revision 5e4c038a45edbc7d63b7c2daa76e29f88b64a4e3)
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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 is initially configured;
70the default count is 16. Additional pseudo terminal pairs are allocated on
71as-needed basis, maximum number of them is controlled via
72.Em kern.maxptys
73sysctl (defaults to 992).
74.Pp
75The following
76.Xr ioctl 2
77calls apply only to pseudo terminals:
78.Bl -tag -width TIOCREMOTE
79.It Dv TIOCSTOP
80Stops output to a terminal (e.g. like typing
81.Ql ^S ) .
82Takes
83no parameter.
84.It Dv TIOCSTART
85Restarts output (stopped by
86.Dv TIOCSTOP
87or by typing
88.Ql ^S ) .
89Takes no parameter.
90.It Dv TIOCPKT
91Enable/disable
92.Em packet
93mode.
94Packet mode is enabled by specifying (by reference) a nonzero
95parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference) a zero parameter.
96When applied to the master side of a pseudo
97terminal, each subsequent
98.Xr read 2
99from the terminal will return data written on the slave part of
100the pseudo terminal preceded by a zero byte (symbolically
101defined as
102.Dv TIOCPKT_DATA ) ,
103or a single byte reflecting control status information.
104In the latter case, the byte is an inclusive-or
105of zero or more of the bits:
106.Bl -tag -width TIOCPKT_FLUSHWRITE
107.It Dv TIOCPKT_FLUSHREAD
108whenever the read queue for the terminal is flushed.
109.It Dv TIOCPKT_FLUSHWRITE
110whenever the write queue for the terminal is flushed.
111.It Dv TIOCPKT_STOP
112whenever output to the terminal is stopped a la
113.Ql ^S .
114.It Dv TIOCPKT_START
115whenever output to the terminal is restarted.
116.It Dv TIOCPKT_DOSTOP
117whenever
118.Em t_stopc
119is
120.Ql ^S
121and
122.Em t_startc
123is
124.Ql ^Q .
125.It Dv TIOCPKT_NOSTOP
126whenever the start and stop characters are not
127.Ql ^S/^Q .
128.Pp
129While this mode is in use, the presence of control status information
130to be read from the master side may be detected by a
131.Xr select 2
132for exceptional conditions.
133.Pp
134This mode is used by
135.Xr rlogin 1
136and
137.Xr rlogind 8
138to implement a remote-echoed, locally
139.Ql ^S/^Q
140flow-controlled
141remote login with proper back-flushing of output; it can be
142used by other similar programs.
143.It Dv TIOCPKT_IOCTL
144When this bit is set, the slave has changed the
145.Xr termios 4
146structure (TTY state), and the remainder of the data read from
147the master side of the
148.Nm
149is a copy of the new
150.Xr termios 4
151structure.
152.Pp
153This is used by
154.Xr telnetd 8
155to implement TELNET "line mode" - it allows the
156.Xr telnetd 8
157to detect
158.Xr tty 4
159state changes by the slave, and negotiate the appropriate TELNET
160protocol equivalents with the remote peer.
161.El
162.It Dv TIOCUCNTL
163Enable/disable a mode that allows a small number of simple user
164.Xr ioctl 2
165commands to be passed through the pseudo-terminal,
166using a protocol similar to that of
167.Dv TIOCPKT .
168The
169.Dv TIOCUCNTL
170and
171.Dv TIOCPKT
172modes are mutually exclusive.
173This mode is enabled from the master side of a pseudo terminal
174by specifying (by reference)
175a nonzero parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference)
176a zero parameter.
177Each subsequent
178.Xr read 2
179from the master side will return data written on the slave part of
180the pseudo terminal preceded by a zero byte,
181or a single byte reflecting a user control operation on the slave side.
182A user control command consists of a special
183.Xr ioctl 2
184operation with no data; the command is given as
185.Dv UIOCCMD Ns (n) ,
186where
187.Ar n
188is a number in the range 1-255.
189The operation value
190.Ar n
191will be received as a single byte on the next
192.Xr read 2
193from the master side.
194The
195.Xr ioctl 2
196.Dv UIOCCMD Ns (0)
197is a no-op that may be used to probe for
198the existence of this facility.
199As with
200.Dv TIOCPKT
201mode, command operations may be detected with a
202.Xr select 2
203for exceptional conditions.
204.It Dv TIOCREMOTE
205A mode for the master half of a pseudo terminal, independent
206of
207.Dv TIOCPKT .
208This mode causes input to the pseudo terminal to be flow controlled
209and not input edited (regardless of the terminal mode).
210Each write to the control terminal produces a record boundary for
211the process reading the terminal.
212In normal usage, a write of data is like the data typed as a line
213on the terminal; a write of 0 bytes is like typing an end-of-file
214character.
215.Dv TIOCREMOTE
216can be used when doing remote line
217editing in a window manager, or whenever flow controlled input
218is required.
219.El
220.Sh FILES
221.Bl -tag -width /dev/tty[p-zP-T][0-9a-zA-Z]x -compact
222.It Pa /dev/pty[p-zP-T][0-9a-zA-Z]
223master pseudo terminals
224.It Pa /dev/tty[p-zP-T][0-9a-zA-Z]
225slave pseudo terminals
226.El
227.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
228None.
229.Sh HISTORY
230The
231.Nm
232driver appeared in
233.Bx 4.2 .
234