xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/tty.4 (revision d3d381b2b194b4d24853e92eecef55f262688d1a)
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28.\"     @(#)tty.4	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
29.\" $FreeBSD$
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31.Dd January 11, 2017
32.Dt TTY 4
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm tty
36.Nd general terminal interface
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.In sys/ioctl.h
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40This section describes the interface to the terminal drivers
41in the system.
42.Ss Terminal Special Files
43Each hardware terminal port on the system usually has a terminal special device
44file associated with it in the directory ``/dev/'' (for
45example, ``/dev/tty03'').
46When a user logs into
47the system on one of these hardware terminal ports, the system has already
48opened the associated device and prepared the line for normal interactive
49use (see
50.Xr getty 8 . )
51There is also a special case of a terminal file that connects not to
52a hardware terminal port, but to another program on the other side.
53These special terminal devices are called
54.Em ptys
55and provide the mechanism necessary to give users the same interface to the
56system when logging in over a network (using
57.Xr rlogin 1 ,
58or
59.Xr telnet 1
60for example).
61Even in these cases the details of how the terminal
62file was opened and set up is already handled by special software
63in the system.
64Thus, users do not normally need to worry about the details of
65how these lines are opened or used.
66Also, these lines are often used
67for dialing out of a system (through an out-calling modem), but again
68the system provides programs that hide the details of accessing
69these terminal special files (see
70.Xr tip 1 ) .
71.Pp
72When an interactive user logs in, the system prepares the line to
73behave in a certain way (called a
74.Em "line discipline" ) ,
75the particular details of which is described in
76.Xr stty 1
77at the command level, and in
78.Xr termios 4
79at the programming level.
80A user may be concerned with changing
81settings associated with his particular login terminal and should refer
82to the preceding man pages for the common cases.
83The remainder of this man page is concerned
84with describing details of using and controlling terminal devices
85at a low level, such as that possibly required by a program wishing
86to provide features similar to those provided by the system.
87.Ss Terminal File Operations
88All of the following operations are invoked using the
89.Xr ioctl 2
90system call.
91Refer to that man page for a description of the
92.Em request
93and
94.Em argp
95parameters.
96In addition to the ioctl
97.Em requests
98defined here, the specific line discipline
99in effect will define other
100.Em requests
101specific to it (actually
102.Xr termios 4
103defines them as function calls, not ioctl
104.Em requests . )
105The following section lists the available ioctl requests.
106The name of the request, a description of its purpose, and the typed
107.Em argp
108parameter (if any)
109are listed.
110For example, the first entry says
111.Pp
112.D1 Em "TIOCSPGRP int *tpgrp"
113.Pp
114and would be called on the terminal associated with
115file descriptor zero by the following code fragment:
116.Bd -literal
117	int pgrp;
118
119	pgrp = getpgrp();
120	ioctl(0, TIOCSPGRP, &pgrp);
121.Ed
122.Ss Terminal File Request Descriptions
123.Bl -tag -width TIOCGWINSZ
124.It Dv TIOCSETD Fa int *ldisc
125This call is obsolete but left for compatibility.
126Before
127.Fx 8.0 ,
128it would change to the new line discipline pointed to by
129.Fa ldisc .
130.It Dv TIOCGETD Fa int *ldisc
131Return the current line discipline in the integer pointed to by
132.Fa ldisc .
133.It Dv TIOCSBRK Fa void
134Set the terminal hardware into BREAK condition.
135.It Dv TIOCCBRK Fa void
136Clear the terminal hardware BREAK condition.
137.It Dv TIOCSDTR Fa void
138Assert data terminal ready (DTR).
139.It Dv TIOCCDTR Fa void
140Clear data terminal ready (DTR).
141.It Dv TIOCGPGRP Fa int *tpgrp
142Return the current process group with which the terminal is associated
143in the integer pointed to by
144.Fa tpgrp .
145This is the underlying call that implements the
146.Xr termios 4
147.Fn tcgetattr
148call.
149.It Dv TIOCSPGRP Fa int *tpgrp
150Associate the terminal with the process group (as an integer) pointed to by
151.Fa tpgrp .
152This is the underlying call that implements the
153.Xr termios 4
154.Fn tcsetattr
155call.
156.It Dv TIOCGETA Fa struct termios *term
157Place the current value of the termios state associated with the
158device in the termios structure pointed to by
159.Fa term .
160This is the underlying call that implements the
161.Xr termios 4
162.Fn tcgetattr
163call.
164.It Dv TIOCSETA Fa struct termios *term
165Set the termios state associated with the device immediately.
166This is the underlying call that implements the
167.Xr termios 4
168.Fn tcsetattr
169call with the
170.Dv TCSANOW
171option.
172.It Dv TIOCSETAW Fa struct termios *term
173First wait for any output to complete, then set the termios state
174associated with the device.
175This is the underlying call that implements the
176.Xr termios 4
177.Fn tcsetattr
178call with the
179.Dv TCSADRAIN
180option.
181.It Dv TIOCSETAF Fa struct termios *term
182First wait for any output to complete, clear any pending input,
183then set the termios state associated with the device.
184This is the underlying call that implements the
185.Xr termios 4
186.Fn tcsetattr
187call with the
188.Dv TCSAFLUSH
189option.
190.It Dv TIOCOUTQ Fa int *num
191Place the current number of characters in the output queue in the
192integer pointed to by
193.Fa num .
194.It Dv TIOCSTI Fa char *cp
195Simulate typed input.
196Pretend as if the terminal received the character pointed to by
197.Fa cp .
198.It Dv TIOCNOTTY Fa void
199This call is obsolete but left for compatibility.
200In the past, when a process that did not have a controlling terminal (see
201.Em The Controlling Terminal
202in
203.Xr termios 4 )
204first opened a terminal device, it acquired that terminal as its
205controlling terminal.
206For some programs this was a hazard as they
207did not want a controlling terminal in the first place, and this
208provided a mechanism to disassociate the controlling terminal from
209the calling process.
210It
211.Em must
212be called by opening the file
213.Pa /dev/tty
214and calling
215.Dv TIOCNOTTY
216on that file descriptor.
217.Pp
218The current system does not allocate a controlling terminal to
219a process on an
220.Fn open
221call: there is a specific ioctl called
222.Dv TIOCSCTTY
223to make a terminal the controlling
224terminal.
225In addition, a program can
226.Fn fork
227and call the
228.Fn setsid
229system call which will place the process into its own session - which
230has the effect of disassociating it from the controlling terminal.
231This is the new and preferred method for programs to lose their controlling
232terminal.
233.It Dv TIOCSTOP Fa void
234Stop output on the terminal (like typing ^S at the keyboard).
235.It Dv TIOCSTART Fa void
236Start output on the terminal (like typing ^Q at the keyboard).
237.It Dv TIOCSCTTY Fa void
238Make the terminal the controlling terminal for the process (the process
239must not currently have a controlling terminal).
240.It Dv TIOCDRAIN Fa void
241Wait until all output is drained, or until the drain wait timeout expires.
242.It Dv TIOCGDRAINWAIT Fa int *timeout
243Return the current drain wait timeout in seconds.
244.It Dv TIOCSDRAINWAIT Fa int *timeout
245Set the drain wait timeout in seconds.
246A value of zero disables timeouts.
247The default drain wait timeout is controlled by the tunable
248.Xr sysctl 8
249OID
250.Va kern.tty_drainwait .
251.It Dv TIOCEXCL Fa void
252Set exclusive use on the terminal.
253No further opens are permitted except by root.
254Of course, this means that programs that are run by
255root (or setuid) will not obey the exclusive setting - which limits
256the usefulness of this feature.
257.It Dv TIOCNXCL Fa void
258Clear exclusive use of the terminal.
259Further opens are permitted.
260.It Dv TIOCFLUSH Fa int *what
261If the value of the int pointed to by
262.Fa what
263contains the
264.Dv FREAD
265bit as defined in
266.In sys/file.h ,
267then all characters in the input queue are cleared.
268If it contains the
269.Dv FWRITE
270bit, then all characters in the output queue are cleared.
271If the value of the integer is zero, then it behaves as if both the
272.Dv FREAD
273and
274.Dv FWRITE
275bits were set (i.e., clears both queues).
276.It Dv TIOCGWINSZ Fa struct winsize *ws
277Put the window size information associated with the terminal in the
278.Va winsize
279structure pointed to by
280.Fa ws .
281The window size structure contains the number of rows and columns (and pixels
282if appropriate) of the devices attached to the terminal.
283It is set by user software
284and is the means by which most full\&-screen oriented programs determine the
285screen size.
286The
287.Va winsize
288structure is defined in
289.In sys/ioctl.h .
290.It Dv TIOCSWINSZ Fa struct winsize *ws
291Set the window size associated with the terminal to be the value in
292the
293.Va winsize
294structure pointed to by
295.Fa ws
296(see above).
297.It Dv TIOCCONS Fa int *on
298If
299.Fa on
300points to a non-zero integer, redirect kernel console output (kernel printf's)
301to this terminal.
302If
303.Fa on
304points to a zero integer, redirect kernel console output back to the normal
305console.
306This is usually used on workstations to redirect kernel messages
307to a particular window.
308.It Dv TIOCMSET Fa int *state
309The integer pointed to by
310.Fa state
311contains bits that correspond to modem state.
312Following is a list of defined variables and the modem state they represent:
313.Pp
314.Bl -tag -width TIOCMXCTS -compact
315.It TIOCM_LE
316Line Enable.
317.It TIOCM_DTR
318Data Terminal Ready.
319.It TIOCM_RTS
320Request To Send.
321.It TIOCM_ST
322Secondary Transmit.
323.It TIOCM_SR
324Secondary Receive.
325.It TIOCM_CTS
326Clear To Send.
327.It TIOCM_CAR
328Carrier Detect.
329.It TIOCM_CD
330Carrier Detect (synonym).
331.It TIOCM_RNG
332Ring Indication.
333.It TIOCM_RI
334Ring Indication (synonym).
335.It TIOCM_DSR
336Data Set Ready.
337.El
338.Pp
339This call sets the terminal modem state to that represented by
340.Fa state .
341Not all terminals may support this.
342.It Dv TIOCMGET Fa int *state
343Return the current state of the terminal modem lines as represented
344above in the integer pointed to by
345.Fa state .
346.It Dv TIOCMBIS Fa int *state
347The bits in the integer pointed to by
348.Fa state
349represent modem state as described above, however the state is OR-ed
350in with the current state.
351.It Dv TIOCMBIC Fa int *state
352The bits in the integer pointed to by
353.Fa state
354represent modem state as described above, however each bit which is on
355in
356.Fa state
357is cleared in the terminal.
358.El
359.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
360The total number of input and output bytes
361through all terminal devices
362are available via the
363.Va kern.tty_nin
364and
365.Va kern.tty_nout
366read-only
367.Xr sysctl 8
368variables.
369.Sh SEE ALSO
370.Xr stty 1 ,
371.Xr ioctl 2 ,
372.Xr ng_tty 4 ,
373.Xr pty 4 ,
374.Xr termios 4 ,
375.Xr getty 8
376