getty(8)

NAME
     getty - system login banner

SYNOPSIS
     getty [banner ...]

DESCRIPTION
     Getty displays a system identification banner, reads  a  user  name  from
     standard input and executes login with that name as argument.

     Getty uses its arguments separated by spaces  as  a  login  banner.   The
     character  sequences \n, \s and \t are printed as newline, space and tab.
     Any other \x prints that x.  The character sequences %s, %n, etc. produce
     the same output as uname -s, uname -n, etc.  The default banner is

          %s\s\sRelease\s%r\sVersion\s%v\n\n%n\slogin:\s

     The only other useful functionality offered by getty is that  it  can  be
     suspended  by  signal  SIGUSR1  and  restarted by SIGUSR2.  This allows a
     program such as modem(1) to temporarily claim a dialin line for dialout.

SEE ALSO
     modem(1), ttytab(5), init(8).

BUGS
     Getty should be taught about modems and modem lines.  The signal trick is
     an awful hack.

AUTHOR
     Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)