xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/pty.4 (revision a8445737e740901f5f2c8d24c12ef7fc8b00134e)
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32.\"     @(#)pty.4	8.2 (Berkeley) 11/30/93
33.\"	$Id: pty.4,v 1.5 1997/03/07 02:49:33 jmg Exp $
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35.Dd November 30, 1993
36.Dt PTY 4
37.Os BSD 4.2
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm pty
40.Nd pseudo terminal driver
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Cd "pseudo-device pty" Op Ar count
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44The
45.Nm pty
46driver provides support for a device-pair termed a
47.Em pseudo terminal .
48A pseudo terminal is a pair of character devices, a
49.Em master
50device and a
51.Em slave
52device.  The slave device provides to a process
53an interface identical
54to that described in
55.Xr tty 4 .
56However, whereas all other devices which provide the
57interface described in
58.Xr tty 4
59have a hardware device of some sort behind them, the slave
60device has, instead, another process manipulating
61it through the master half of the pseudo terminal.
62That is, anything written on the master device is
63given to the slave device as input and anything written
64on the slave device is presented as input on the master
65device.
66.Pp
67In configuring, if an optional
68.Ar count
69is given in
70the specification, that number of pseudo terminal pairs are configured;
71the default count is 32.
72.Pp
73The following
74.Xr ioctl 2
75calls apply only to pseudo terminals:
76.Bl -tag -width TIOCREMOTE
77.It Dv TIOCSTOP
78Stops output to a terminal (e.g. like typing
79.Ql ^S ) .
80Takes
81no parameter.
82.It Dv TIOCSTART
83Restarts output (stopped by
84.Dv TIOCSTOP
85or by typing
86.Ql ^S ) .
87Takes no parameter.
88.It Dv TIOCPKT
89Enable/disable
90.Em packet
91mode.  Packet mode is enabled by specifying (by reference)
92a nonzero parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference)
93a zero parameter.  When 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
101status information.  In 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.El
141.It Dv TIOCUCNTL
142Enable/disable a mode that allows a small number of simple user
143.Xr ioctl 2
144commands to be passed through the pseudo-terminal,
145using a protocol similar to that of
146.Dv TIOCPKT .
147The
148.Dv TIOCUCNTL
149and
150.Dv TIOCPKT
151modes are mutually exclusive.
152This mode is enabled from the master side of a pseudo terminal
153by specifying (by reference)
154a nonzero parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference)
155a zero parameter.
156Each subsequent
157.Xr read 2
158from the master side will return data written on the slave part of
159the pseudo terminal preceded by a zero byte,
160or a single byte reflecting a user control operation on the slave side.
161A user control command consists of a special
162.Xr ioctl 2
163operation with no data; the command is given as
164.Dv UIOCCMD Ns (n) ,
165where
166.Ar n
167is a number in the range 1-255.
168The operation value
169.Ar n
170will be received as a single byte on the next
171.Xr read 2
172from the master side.
173The
174.Xr ioctl 2
175.Dv UIOCCMD Ns (0)
176is a no-op that may be used to probe for
177the existence of this facility.
178As with
179.Dv TIOCPKT
180mode, command operations may be detected with a
181.Xr select 2
182for exceptional conditions.
183.It Dv TIOCREMOTE
184A mode for the master half of a pseudo terminal, independent
185of
186.Dv TIOCPKT .
187This mode causes input to the pseudo terminal
188to be flow controlled and not input edited (regardless of the
189terminal mode).  Each write to the control terminal produces
190a record boundary for the process reading the terminal.  In
191normal usage, a write of data is like the data typed as a line
192on the terminal; a write of 0 bytes is like typing an end-of-file
193character.
194.Dv TIOCREMOTE
195can be used when doing remote line
196editing in a window manager, or whenever flow controlled input
197is required.
198.El
199.Sh FILES
200.Bl -tag -width /dev/tty[p-sP-S][0-9a-v]x -compact
201.It Pa /dev/pty[p-sP-S][0-9a-v]
202master pseudo terminals
203.It Pa /dev/tty[p-sP-S][0-9a-v]
204slave pseudo terminals
205.El
206.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
207None.
208.Sh SEE ALSO
209.Xr tty 4
210.Sh HISTORY
211The
212.Nm
213driver appeared in
214.Bx 4.2 .
215