PTY(4) | Device Drivers Manual | PTY(4)

# NAME

`pty` — pseudo terminal driver

# SYNOPSIS

`pseudo-device pty`

# DESCRIPTION

The `pty` driver provides support for a device-pair termed a pseudo terminal. A pseudo terminal is a pair of character devices, a master device and a slave device. The slave device provides to a process an interface identical to that described in tty(4). However, whereas all other devices which provide the interface described in tty(4) have a hardware device of some sort behind them, the slave device has, instead, another process manipulating it through the master half of the pseudo terminal. That is, anything written on the master device is given to the slave device as input and anything written on the slave device is presented as input on the master device.

Pseudo terminal pairs are allocated on as-needed basis, maximum number of them is controlled via kern.maxptys sysctl (defaults to 992).

The following ioctl(2) calls apply only to pseudo terminals:

`TIOCEXT`
  Enable/disable “external processing”. This affects delivery of `TIOCPKT_IOCTL` packets. External processing is enabled by specifying (by reference) a nonzero int parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference) a zero int parameter.

  `TIOCEXT` is reset to its default (disabled) when the slave closes the `pty`.

`TIOCSTOP`
  Stops output to a terminal (e.g. like typing ‘`^S`’). Takes no parameter.
`TIOCSTART`
  Restarts output (stopped by `TIOCSTOP` or by typing ‘`^S`’). Takes no parameter.
`TIOCPKT`
  Enable/disable packet mode. Packet mode is enabled by specifying (by reference) a nonzero int parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference) a zero int parameter. When applied to the master side of a pseudo terminal, each subsequent read(2) from the terminal will return data written on the slave part of the pseudo terminal preceded by a zero byte (symbolically defined as `TIOCPKT_DATA`), or a single byte reflecting control status information. In the latter case, the byte is an inclusive-or of zero or more of the bits:
  `TIOCPKT_FLUSHREAD`
    whenever the read queue for the terminal is flushed.
  `TIOCPKT_FLUSHWRITE`
    whenever the write queue for the terminal is flushed.
  `TIOCPKT_STOP`
    whenever output to the terminal is stopped a la ‘`^S`’.
  `TIOCPKT_START`
    whenever output to the terminal is restarted.
  `TIOCPKT_DOSTOP`
    whenever t_stopc is ‘`^S`’ and t_startc is ‘`^Q`’.
  `TIOCPKT_NOSTOP`
    whenever the start and stop characters are not ‘`^S/^Q`’.

    While this mode is in use, the presence of control status information to be read from the master side may be detected by a select(2) for exceptional conditions.

    This mode is used by rlogin(1) and rlogind(8) to implement a remote-echoed, locally ‘`^S/^Q`’ flow-controlled remote login with proper back-flushing of output; it can be used by other similar programs.

  `TIOCPKT_IOCTL`
    When this bit is set, the slave has changed the termios(4) structure (TTY state), and the remainder of the data read from the master side of the `pty` is the new termios(4) structure. The master side of the `pty` can also use tcgetattr(3) to read the new termios(4) structure.

    The master will not read packets with the bit `TIOCPKT_IOCTL` set until it has activated “external processing” using `TIOCEXT`.

    This is used by telnetd(8) to implement TELNET "line mode" - it allows the telnetd(8) to detect tty(4) state changes by the slave, and negotiate the appropriate TELNET protocol equivalents with the remote peer.

`TIOCUCNTL`
  Enable/disable a mode that allows a small number of simple user ioctl(2) commands to be passed through the pseudo-terminal, using a protocol similar to that of `TIOCPKT`. The `TIOCUCNTL` and `TIOCPKT` modes are mutually exclusive. This mode is enabled from the master side of a pseudo terminal by specifying (by reference) a nonzero int parameter and disabled by specifying (by reference) a zero int parameter. Each subsequent read(2) from the master side will return data written on the slave part of the pseudo terminal preceded by a zero byte, or a single byte reflecting a user control operation on the slave side. A user control command consists of a special ioctl(2) operation with no data; the command is given as `UIOCCMD`(n), where n is a number in the range 1-255. The operation value n will be received as a single byte on the next read(2) from the master side. The ioctl(2) `UIOCCMD`(0) is a no-op that may be used to probe for the existence of this facility. As with `TIOCPKT` mode, command operations may be detected with a select(2) for exceptional conditions.
`TIOCREMOTE`
  A mode for the master half of a pseudo terminal, independent of `TIOCPKT`. This mode causes input to the pseudo terminal to be flow controlled and not input edited (regardless of the terminal mode). Each write to the control terminal produces a record boundary for the process reading the terminal. In normal usage, a write of data is like the data typed as a line on the terminal; a write of 0 bytes is like typing an end-of-file character. `TIOCREMOTE` can be used when doing remote line editing in a window manager, or whenever flow controlled input is required.

# FILES

/dev/pty[p-zP-T][0-9a-zA-Z]
  master pseudo terminals
/dev/tty[p-zP-T][0-9a-zA-Z]
  slave pseudo terminals

# DIAGNOSTICS

None.

# SEE ALSO

ioctl(2), read(2), select(2), write(2), openpty(3), tty(4)

# HISTORY

The `pty` driver appeared in 4.2BSD.

November 30, 2013 | NetBSD 11.0