xref: /netbsd/share/man/man4/tty.4 (revision bf9ec67e)
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34.\"     @(#)tty.4	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
35.\"
36.Dd August 14, 1992
37.Dt TTY 4
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm tty
41.Nd general terminal interface
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Fd #include \*[Lt]sys/ioctl.h\*[Gt]
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45This section describes the interface to the terminal drivers
46in the system.
47.Ss Terminal Special Files
48Each hardware terminal port on the system usually has two terminal special
49device files associated with it in the directory ``/dev/'' (for
50example, ``/dev/tty03'' and ``/dev/dty03'').
51.Pp
52The ``/dev/ttyXX'' special file is used for dialin modems and terminals.
53When a user logs into
54the system on one of these hardware terminal ports, the system has already
55opened the associated device and prepared the line for normal interactive
56use (see
57.Xr getty 8 . )
58.Pp
59The ``/dev/dtyXX'' special file is a SunOS-compatible dialout device.  Unlike
60the dialin device, opening the dialout device never blocks.  If the
61corresponding dialin device is already opened (not blocked in the open waiting
62for carrier), then the dialout open will fail immediately; otherwise it will
63succeed immediately.  While the dialout device is open, the dialin device may
64not be opened.  If the dialin open is blocking, it will wait until the dialout
65device is closed (and carrier is detected); otherwise it will fail immediately.
66.Pp
67There is also a special case of a terminal file that connects not to
68a hardware terminal port, but to another program on the other side.
69These special terminal devices are called
70.Em ptys
71and provide the mechanism necessary to give users the same interface to the
72system when logging in over a network (using
73.Xr rlogin 1 ,
74or
75.Xr telnet 1
76for example.)  Even in these cases the details of how the terminal
77file was opened and set up is already handled by special software
78in the system.
79Thus, users do not normally need to worry about the details of
80how these lines are opened or used.  Also, these lines are often used
81for dialing out of a system (through an out-calling modem), but again
82the system provides programs that hide the details of accessing
83these terminal special files (see
84.Xr tip 1 ) .
85.Pp
86When an interactive user logs in, the system prepares the line to
87behave in a certain way (called a
88.Em "line discipline" ) ,
89the particular details of which is described in
90.Xr stty 1
91at the command level, and in
92.Xr termios 4
93at the programming level.  A user may be concerned with changing
94settings associated with his particular login terminal and should refer
95to the preceding man pages for the common cases.  The remainder of
96this man page is concerned
97with describing details of using and controlling terminal devices
98at a low level, such as that possibly required by a program wishing
99to provide features similar to those provided by the system.
100.Ss Line disciplines
101A terminal file is used like any other file in the system in that
102it can be opened, read, and written to using standard system
103calls.  For each existing terminal file, there is a software processing module
104called a
105.Em "line discipline"
106is associated with it.  The
107.Em "line discipline"
108essentially glues the low level device driver code with the high
109level generic interface routines (such as
110.Xr read 2
111and
112.Xr write 2 ) ,
113and is responsible for implementing the semantics associated
114with the device.  When a terminal file is first opened by a program,
115the default
116.Em "line discipline"
117called the
118.Dv termios
119line discipline is associated with the file.  This is the primary
120line discipline that is used in most cases and provides the semantics
121that users normally associate with a terminal.  When the
122.Dv termios
123line discipline is in effect, the terminal file behaves and is
124operated according to the rules described in
125.Xr termios 4 .
126Please refer to that man page for a full description of the terminal
127semantics.
128The operations described here
129generally represent features common
130across all
131.Em "line disciplines" ,
132however some of these calls may not
133make sense in conjunction with a line discipline other than
134.Dv termios ,
135and some may not be supported by the underlying
136hardware (or lack thereof, as in the case of ptys).
137.Ss Terminal File Operations
138All of the following operations are invoked using the
139.Xr ioctl 2
140system call.  Refer to that man page for a description of
141the
142.Em request
143and
144.Em argp
145parameters.
146In addition to the ioctl
147.Em requests
148defined here, the specific line discipline
149in effect will define other
150.Em requests
151specific to it (actually
152.Xr termios 4
153defines them as function calls, not ioctl
154.Em requests . )
155The following section lists the available ioctl requests.  The
156name of the request, a description of its purpose, and the typed
157.Em argp
158parameter (if any)
159are listed.  For example, the first entry says
160.Pp
161.D1 Em "TIOCSLINED char name[32]"
162.Pp
163and would be called on the terminal associated with
164file descriptor zero by the following code fragment:
165.Bd -literal
166	ioctl(0, TIOCSLINED, "termios");
167.Ed
168.Ss Terminal File Request Descriptions
169.Bl -tag -width TIOCGWINSZ
170.It Dv TIOCSLINED Fa char name[32]
171Change to the new line discipline called
172.Fa name .
173.Pp
174.It Dv TIOCGLINED Fa char name[32]
175Return the current line discipline in the string pointed to by
176.Fa name .
177.It Dv TIOCSBRK Fa void
178Set the terminal hardware into BREAK condition.
179.It Dv TIOCCBRK Fa void
180Clear the terminal hardware BREAK condition.
181.It Dv TIOCSDTR Fa void
182Assert data terminal ready (DTR).
183.It Dv TIOCCDTR Fa void
184Clear data terminal ready (DTR).
185.It Dv TIOCGPGRP Fa int *tpgrp
186Return the current process group the terminal is associated
187with in the integer pointed to by
188.Fa tpgrp .
189This is the underlying call that implements the
190.Xr termios 4
191.Fn tcgetattr
192call.
193.It Dv TIOCSPGRP Fa int *tpgrp
194Associate the terminal with the process group (as an integer) pointed to by
195.Fa tpgrp .
196This is the underlying call that implements the
197.Xr termios 4
198.Fn tcsetattr
199call.
200.It Dv TIOCGETA Fa struct termios *term
201Place the current value of the termios state associated with the
202device in the termios structure pointed to by
203.Fa term .
204This is the underlying call that implements the
205.Xr termios 4
206.Fn tcgetattr
207call.
208.It Dv TIOCSETA Fa struct termios *term
209Set the termios state associated with the device immediately.
210This is the underlying call that implements the
211.Xr termios 4
212.Fn tcsetattr
213call with the
214.Dv TCSANOW
215option.
216.It Dv TIOCSETAW Fa struct termios *term
217First wait for any output to complete, then set the termios state
218associated with the device.
219This is the underlying call that implements the
220.Xr termios 4
221.Fn tcsetattr
222call with the
223.Dv TCSADRAIN
224option.
225.It Dv TIOCSETAF Fa struct termios *term
226First wait for any output to complete, clear any pending input,
227then set the termios state associated with the device.
228This is the underlying call that implements the
229.Xr termios 4
230.Fn tcsetattr
231call with the
232.Dv TCSAFLUSH
233option.
234.It Dv TIOCOUTQ Fa int *num
235Place the current number of characters in the output queue in the
236integer pointed to by
237.Fa num .
238.It Dv TIOCSTI Fa char *cp
239Simulate typed input.  Pretend as if the terminal received the
240character pointed to by
241.Fa cp .
242.It Dv TIOCNOTTY Fa void
243This call is obsolete but left for compatibility.  In the past, when
244a process that didn't have a controlling terminal (see
245.Em The Controlling Terminal
246in
247.Xr termios 4 )
248first opened a terminal device, it acquired that terminal as its
249controlling terminal.  For some programs this was a hazard as they
250didn't want a controlling terminal in the first place, and this
251provided a mechanism to disassociate the controlling terminal from
252the calling process.  It
253.Em must
254be called by opening the file
255.Pa /dev/tty
256and calling
257.Dv TIOCNOTTY
258on that file descriptor.
259.Pp
260The current system does not allocate a controlling terminal to
261a process on an
262.Fn open
263call: there is a specific ioctl called
264.Dv TIOCSCTTY
265to make a terminal the controlling
266terminal.
267In addition, a program can
268.Fn fork
269and call the
270.Fn setsid
271system call which will place the process into its own session - which
272has the effect of disassociating it from the controlling terminal.  This
273is the new and preferred method for programs to lose their controlling
274terminal.
275.It Dv TIOCSTOP Fa void
276Stop output on the terminal (like typing ^S at the keyboard).
277.It Dv TIOCSTART Fa void
278Start output on the terminal (like typing ^Q at the keyboard).
279.It Dv TIOCSCTTY Fa void
280Make the terminal the controlling terminal for the process (the process
281must not currently have a controlling terminal).
282.It Dv TIOCDRAIN Fa void
283Wait until all output is drained.
284.It Dv TIOCEXCL Fa void
285Set exclusive use on the terminal.  No further opens are permitted
286except by root.  Of course, this means that programs that are run by
287root (or setuid) will not obey the exclusive setting - which limits
288the usefulness of this feature.
289.It Dv TIOCNXCL Fa void
290Clear exclusive use of the terminal.  Further opens are permitted.
291.It Dv TIOCFLUSH Fa int *what
292If the value of the int pointed to by
293.Fa what
294contains the
295.Dv FREAD
296bit as defined in
297.Pa Aq sys/fcntl.h ,
298then all characters in the input queue are cleared.  If it contains
299the
300.Dv FWRITE
301bit, then all characters in the output queue are cleared.  If the
302value of the integer is zero, then it behaves as if both the
303.Dv FREAD
304and
305.Dv FWRITE
306bits were set (i.e. clears both queues).
307.It Dv TIOCGWINSZ Fa struct winsize *ws
308Put the window size information associated with the terminal in the
309.Va winsize
310structure pointed to by
311.Fa ws .
312The window size structure contains the number of rows and columns (and pixels
313if appropriate) of the devices attached to the terminal.  It is set by user software
314and is the means by which most full\&-screen oriented programs determine the
315screen size.  The
316.Va winsize
317structure is defined in
318.Pa Aq sys/ioctl.h .
319.It Dv TIOCSWINSZ Fa struct winsize *ws
320Set the window size associated with the terminal to be the value in
321the
322.Va winsize
323structure pointed to by
324.Fa ws
325(see above).
326.It Dv TIOCCONS Fa int *on
327If
328.Fa on
329points to a non-zero integer, redirect kernel console output (kernel printf's)
330to this terminal.
331If
332.Fa on
333points to a zero integer, redirect kernel console output back to the normal
334console.  This is usually used on workstations to redirect kernel messages
335to a particular window.
336.It Dv TIOCMSET Fa int *state
337The integer pointed to by
338.Fa state
339contains bits that correspond to modem state.  Following is a list
340of defined variables and the modem state they represent:
341.Pp
342.Bl -tag -width TIOCMXCTS -compact
343.It TIOCM_LE
344Line Enable.
345.It TIOCM_DTR
346Data Terminal Ready.
347.It TIOCM_RTS
348Request To Send.
349.It TIOCM_ST
350Secondary Transmit.
351.It TIOCM_SR
352Secondary Receive.
353.It TIOCM_CTS
354Clear To Send.
355.It TIOCM_CAR
356Carrier Detect.
357.It TIOCM_CD
358Carrier Detect (synonym).
359.It TIOCM_RNG
360Ring Indication.
361.It TIOCM_RI
362Ring Indication (synonym).
363.It TIOCM_DSR
364Data Set Ready.
365.El
366.Pp
367This call sets the terminal modem state to that represented by
368.Fa state .
369Not all terminals may support this.
370.It Dv TIOCMGET Fa int *state
371Return the current state of the terminal modem lines as represented
372above in the integer pointed to by
373.Fa state .
374.It Dv TIOCMBIS Fa int *state
375The bits in the integer pointed to by
376.Fa state
377represent modem state as described above, however the state is OR-ed
378in with the current state.
379.It Dv TIOCMBIC Fa int *state
380The bits in the integer pointed to by
381.Fa state
382represent modem state as described above, however each bit which is on
383in
384.Fa state
385is cleared in the terminal.
386.It Dv TIOCSFLAGS Fa int *state
387The bits in the integer pointed to by
388.Fa state
389contain bits that correspond to serial port state. Following is a list
390of defined variables and the serial port state they represent:
391.Pp
392.Bl -tag -width TIOCFLAG_SOFTCAR -compact
393.It TIOCFLAG_SOFTCAR
394Ignore hardware carrier.
395.It TIOCFLAG_CLOCAL
396Set clocal on open.
397.It TIOCFLAG_CRTSCTS
398Set crtscts on open.
399.It TIOCFLAG_MDMBUF
400Set mdmbuf on open.
401.El
402.Pp
403This call sets the serial port state to that represented by
404.Fa state .
405Not all serial ports may support this.
406.It Dv TIOCGFLAGS Fa int *state
407Return the current state of the serial port as represented
408above in the integer pointed to by
409.Fa state .
410.El
411.Sh COMPATIBILITY
412Two ioctls are maintained for backwards compatibility.  They provide
413methods to get and set the current line discipline, but are not
414extensible.
415.Bl -tag -width TIOCGWINSZ
416.It Dv TIOCSETD Fa int *ldisc
417Change to the new line discipline pointed to by
418.Fa ldisc .
419The old list of available line disciplines are listed in
420.Pa Aq sys/ttycom.h
421and are:
422.Pp
423.Bl -tag -width TIOCGWINSZ -compact
424.It TTYDISC
425Termios interactive line discipline.
426.It TABLDISC
427Tablet line discipline.
428.It SLIPDISC
429Serial IP line discipline.
430.It PPPDISC
431Point to Point Protocol line discipline.
432.It STRIPDISC
433Starmode Radio IP line discipline.
434.El
435.Pp
436.It Dv TIOCGETD Fa int *ldisc
437Return the current line discipline in the integer pointed to by
438.Fa ldisc .
439.El
440.Sh SEE ALSO
441.Xr stty 1 ,
442.Xr ioctl 2 ,
443.Xr pty 4 ,
444.Xr termios 4 ,
445.Xr getty 8 ,
446.Xr linedisc 9
447.Sh HISTORY
448Separate dialout device files were implemented in SunOS 4.  They were cloned
449by Charles M. Hannum for
450.Nx 1.4 .
451