OPENPTY(3) Linux Programmer's Manual OPENPTY(3)NAME
openpty, login_tty, forkpty - tty utility functions
SYNOPSIS
#include <pty.h> /* for openpty and forkpty */
#include <utmp.h> /* for login_tty */
int openpty(int *amaster, int *aslave, char *name, struct termios
*termp, struct winsize * winp);
int login_tty(int fd);
pid_t forkpty(int *amaster, char *name, struct termios *termp, struct
winsize *winp);
Link with -lutil.
DESCRIPTION
The openpty() function finds an available pseudo-terminal and returns
file descriptors for the master and slave in amaster and aslave. If
name is not NULL, the filename of the slave is returned in name. If
termp is not NULL, the terminal parameters of the slave will be set to
the values in termp. If winp is not NULL, the window size of the slave
will be set to the values in winp.
The login_tty() function prepares for a login on the tty fd (which may
be a real tty device, or the slave of a pseudo-terminal as returned by
openpty()) by creating a new session, making fd the controlling termi‐
nal for the current process, setting fd to be the standard input, out‐
put, and error streams of the current process, and closing fd.
The forkpty() function combines openpty(), fork(), and login_tty() to
create a new process operating in a pseudo-terminal. The file descrip‐
tor of the master side of the pseudo-terminal is returned in amaster,
and the filename of the slave in name if it is not NULL. The termp and
winp parameters, if not NULL, will determine the terminal attributes
and window size of the slave side of the pseudo-terminal.
RETURN VALUES
If a call to openpty(), login_tty(), or forkpty() is not successful, -1
is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. Otherwise,
openpty(), login_tty(), and the child process of forkpty() return 0,
and the parent process of forkpty() returns the process ID of the child
process.
ERRORSopenpty() will fail if:
ENOENT There are no available ttys.
login_pty() will fail if ioctl() fails to set fd to the controlling
terminal of the current process.
forkpty() will fail if either openpty() or fork() fails.
NOTES
These functions are included in libutil, hence you'll need to add
-lutil to your compiler command line.
In versions of glibc before 2.0.92, openpty() returns file descriptors
for a BSD pseudo-terminal pair; since glibc 2.0.92, it first attempts
to open a Unix 98 pseudo-terminal pair, and falls back to opening a BSD
pseudo-terminal pair if that fails.
CONFORMING TO
These are BSD functions, present in libc5 and glibc2.
BUGS
Nobody knows how much space should be reserved for name. So, calling
openpty() or forkpty() with non-NULL name may not be secure.
SEE ALSOfork(2), pty(7)BSD 2003-07-18 OPENPTY(3)