Ubuntu Manpage: rungetty - a minimal console getty that can run any process

NAME

       rungetty - a minimal console getty that can run any process

SYNOPSIS

       rungetty  [--noclear]  [--long-hostname]  [-u  username]  [-g  group]  [-w  path] [-n priority] [--prompt
       [=string]] [-d n] [--autologin username] tty [--] [command] [arguments]

DESCRIPTION

       rungetty is a getty for use on virtual consoles which has the  ability  to  run  any  program,  not  just
       login(1).   Like  mingetty(8), on which rungetty is based, rungetty isn't suitable for serial use. Both I
       and the author of mingetty(8) recommend mgetty(8) for that. It is useful, though,  for  keeping  programs
       such as, say, telnet(1), running at all times. When running a program other than login, it is executed as
       the user and group nobody, or the user specified by username and group specified by group.

OPTIONS

--noclear
Do not clear the screen before prompting for the login name (the screen is normally cleared).

--long-hostname
By default the hostname is only printed until the first dot. With this option enabled, the full
text from gethostname() is shown.

-u username
By default, rungetty runs programs as nobody. With this option, it runs as the user username.

-g group
By default, rungetty runs as the group nobody. This option allows you to tell rungetty to run
programs as the group group.

--prompt [=string]
This option causes rungetty to wait until user input (usually an 'Enter') before executing the
program. If string is specified, it will be displayed. Otherwise, a default prompt will be shown.

-n n ´nice´ value of specified program.

-w path
Working directory of specified program.

-d n Specifying -d will make rungetty wait n seconds before running the specified program.

--autologin username
Log the specified user onto the console (normally /dev/tty1) when the system is first booted
without prompting for a username or password.

When the autologin option is supplied, rungetty will check that the controlling terminal is the
console (normally /dev/tty1), that a reasonable username has been supplied, and that this is the
first autologin request since the system has booted. If all of these conditions have been met, a
request for an unauthenticated login is passed to the login program. Otherwise, a normal
interactive login is performed.

The login program may deny the request for an unauthenticated login. Typically this will happen
when the user is root, has a UID of 0, or whenever a normal interactive login would be denied due
to the access restrictions specified in the nologin, usertty, or securetty files.

Only a single autologin request will be issued after a system boot. If the automated login
request is denied, or if the user logs out, rungetty will revert to performing normal interactive
logins for all subsequent login requests.

-- Tells rungetty that there are no more options to parse, useful for passing arguments with a - in
them to the external program.

ARGUMENTS

       tty    Name of the tty to run on.

       command
              Runs specified command.  Searches for command in /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/ucb, /usr/local/bin  if  the
              complete pathname and filename are not given.

       [arguments]
              Command line arguments to pass to command.

ISSUE ESCAPES

       rungetty recognizes the following escape sequences which might be embedded in the /etc/issue file:

       \d     insert current day (localtime),

       \l     insert line on which rungetty is running,

       \m     inserts machine architecture (uname -m),

       \n     inserts machine's network node hostname (uname -n),

       \o     inserts domain name,

       \r     inserts operating system release (uname -r),

       \t     insert current time (localtime),

       \s     inserts operating system name,

       \u resp. \U
              the current number of users which are currently logged in.  \U inserts "n users", where as \u only
              inserts "n".

       \v     inserts operating system version (uname -v).

EXAMPLE

       In /etc/inittab, these lines:
       r1:12345:respawn:/sbin/rungetty tty1
       r2:2345:respawn:/sbin/rungetty tty2 telnet mail.foo.com
       r3:2345:respawn:/sbin/rungetty tty3 -u support top
       r4:2345:respawn:/sbin/rungetty tty4 -n 20 -w /etc rc5des
       Would  run  a  local  login  on  /dev/tty1,a  telnet(1) session to mail.foo.com on /dev/tty2,and top(5)on
       /dev/tty3.  Note that telnet(1) is run as user nobody, while top(5) is run as user support, and start the
       program rc5des(5) at the lowest priority level with a current directory of /etc.

FILES

       /etc/issue, /var/run/utmp, /var/log/autologin.

BUG REPORTS

       Please send all bug reports to jake@nodomainname.net.

BUGS

       There are no known bugs.

AUTHOR

       Copyright © 1999 Jakob Kaivo <jake@nodomainname.net>.

Jakob 'sparky' Kaivo                            04 February 1999                                     RUNGETTY(8)