phpman > man > OPENVT(1)

OPENVT(1)                              General Commands Manual                             OPENVT(1)



NAME
       openvt - start a program on a new virtual terminal (VT).

SYNOPSIS
       openvt [-c vtnumber] [OPTIONS] [--] command

DESCRIPTION
       openvt  will find the first available VT, and run on it the given command with the given com‐‐
       mand options , standard input, output and error are directed to that  terminal.  The  current
       search  path  ($PATH)  is used to find the requested command. If no command is specified then
       the environment variable $SHELL is used.

   OPTIONS
       -c, --console=VTNUMBER
              Use the given VT number and not the first available. Note you must have  write  access
              to the supplied VT for this to work.

       -f, --force
              Force opening a VT without checking whether it is already in use.

       -e, --exec
              Directly  execute the given command, without forking.  This option is meant for use in
              /etc/inittab.  If you want to use this feature  in  another  context,  be  aware  that
              openvt has to be a session leader in order for -e to work.  See setsid(2) or setsid(1)
              on how to achieve this.

       -s, --switch
              Switch to the new VT when starting the command. The VT of the new command will be made
              the new current VT.

       -u, --user
              Figure  out  the  owner of the current VT, and run login as that user.  Suitable to be
              called by init. Shouldn't be used with -c or -l.

       -l, --login
              Make the command a login shell. A - is prepended to the name of the command to be exe‐
              cuted.

       -v, --verbose
              Be a bit more verbose.

       -w, --wait
              wait  for  command to complete. If -w and -s are used together then openvt will switch
              back to the controlling terminal when the command completes.

       -V, --version
              print program version and exit.

       -h, --help
              show this text and exit.

       --     end of options to openvt.

NOTE
       If openvt is compiled with a getopt_long() and you wish to set options to the command  to  be
       run, then you must supply the end of options -- flag before the command.

EXAMPLES
       openvt can be used to start a shell on the next free VT, by using the command:

       openvt bash


       To start the shell as a login shell, use:

       openvt -l bash


       To get a long listing you must supply the -- separator:

       openvt -- ls -l

HISTORY
       Earlier,  openvt was called open.  It was written by Jon Tombs <jon AT gtex02.es> or <jon@ro‐
       bots.ox.ac.uk>.  The -w idea is from "sam".


SEE ALSO
       chvt(1), doshell(8), login(1)



kbd                                          19 Jul 1996                                   OPENVT(1)