Ubuntu Manpage: mgetty - smart modem getty

NAME

       mgetty - smart modem getty

SYNOPSIS

       mgetty [options] ttydevice [gettydefs]

DESCRIPTION

       Mgetty  is  a  ``smart''  getty  replacement, designed to be used with hayes compatible data and data/fax
       modems.  Mgetty knows about modem initialization, manual modem answering (so your modem doesn't answer if
       the machine isn't ready), UUCP locking (so you can use the same device for dial-in and dial-out).  Mgetty
       provides very extensive logging facilities.

       This manpage doesn't try to detail mgetty setup in detail, it just lists the most important options.  For
       detailed instructions, see the info file mgetty.info (mgetty.texi).

OPTIONS

-k <space>
Tells mgetty to leave <space> kbytes free on disk when receiving a fax.

-x <debug level>
Use the given level of verbosity for logging - 0 means no logging, 9 is really noisy. The log file
is usually /tmp/log_mg.<device>

-s <speed>
Set the port speed to use, e.g. "-s 19200".

-r Tells mgetty that it is running on a direct line. UUCP locking is done, but no modem
initialization whatsoever.

-p <login prompt>
Use the given string to prompt users for their login names. Various tokens are allowed in this
string. These tokens are: @ for the system name, \n, \r, \g, \b, \v, \f, \t for newline, carriage
return, bell, backspace, vertical tab, form feed, and tab, respectively. \P and \L will expand to
the tty name ("ttyS0"). \Y will give the Caller ID, \I the "CONNECT foobar" string returned by the
modem, and \S will output the port speed. \s, \m, \V, \R represent the operating system, the
hardware name, the OS version, the OS release. \N and \U give the number of users currently
logged in. \C will be changed into the result of ctime(), and \D and \T will output the date and
time, respectively. Finally, \<digit> will use digit as octal/decimal/hexadecimal representation
of the character to follow.

The default prompt is specified at compile time.

-n # Tells mgetty to pick up the phone after the #th RING. Default is 1.

-R <t> Tells mgetty to go into "ringback" (aka "ring-twice") mode. That means: the first call is never
answered, instead the caller has to hang up after the phone RINGs, wait 30 seconds, and then call
again in the next <t> seconds for mgetty to pick up. If no call comes, mgetty will exit.

I do not really recommend using this, better get a second phone line for the modem.

-i <issue file>
Output <issue file> instead of /etc/issue before prompting for the user name. The same token
substitutions as for the the login prompt are done in this file.

-D Tells mgetty that the modem is to be treated as a DATA modem, no fax initalization is attempted.

-F Tells mgetty that DATA calls are not allowed and the modem should be set to Fax-Only.

-C <class>
Tells mgetty how to treat the modem. Possible values for <class> are "auto" (default, try to find
out whether the modem supports fax), "cls2" (use the class 2 fax command set, even if the modem
supports class 2.0), "c2.0" (use the class 2.0 fax command set), "data" (data only, exactly as the
-D switch).

-S <g3 file>
If a call comes in and requests fax polling, mgetty will send the named file. Note: not all fax
modems support poll sending.

-I <fax id>
Use the given fax station ID for fax identification. Not used for data modems.

-b Open the port in blocking mode. Best used in combination with "-r". This is the default if mgetty
is called as getty. You may want to use this if you want to make use of the two-device / kernel-
locking scheme of the Linux and SunOS operating systems (/dev/ttyS.. and /dev/cua..). I do not
recommend it, it's just include for completeness, and to be able to use mgetty as a full-featured
getty replacement.

-a Use autobauding. That is, after a connection is made, mgetty parses the "CONNECT foo" response
code of the modem and sets the port speed to the first integer found after the "CONNECT" string,
"foo" in this example. You need this if your modem insist on changing its DTE speed to match the
line speed. I recommend against using it, better leave the port speed locked at a fixed value. The
feature is included because there exist old modems that cannot use a fixed (locked) port speed.

-m 'expect send ...'
Set the "chat sequence" that is used to initialize the modem. For an empty expect part, use empty
double quotes (""). Since the sequence contains spaces, you have to enclose all of it in single
quotes(''). Example:

mgetty -m '"" ATH0 OK'

FILES

       /etc/mgetty/mgetty.config
              Main configuration file.

       /etc/mgetty/login.config
              controls whether (and when) mgetty should call some  other  program  for  user  login  instead  of
              /bin/login. How this is done is explained in this file.

       /etc/mgetty/dialin.config
              controls  acceptance/denial of incoming calls based on the caller's number.  Available only if you
              have "caller ID" and your modem supports it.

       /etc/nologin.ttyxx
              controls whether mgetty should pick up the phone upon incoming calls. If the  file  exists,  calls
              are  completely ignored. You can use this, for example, to stop mgetty during day time, and let it
              pick up at night only, by creating and removing /etc/nologin.ttyxx via the  cron  program  at  the
              appropriate time.

       /etc/issue
              will be printed after a connection is established, and before the with the '-i' option.

       /var/log/mgetty/mg_ttyxx.log
              Debug log file, see below.

DIAGNOSTICS

       If  mgetty doesn't work the way it should, the main source of diagnostic data is the log file.  It can be
       found in "/var/log/mgetty/mg_ttyxx.log" (for the mgetty process handling "ttyxx").  If it doesn't contain
       enough details, enhance the log level with the '-x' option to mgetty, e.g. "-x 5".

       Many of the common problems and solutions are discussed in the mgetty manual and the FAQ.  Please see the
       WWW page at http://alpha.greenie.net/mgetty/ for both.

BUGS

       Not all of mgetty configuration can be done at run-time yet. Things like flow control and file paths (log
       file / lock file) have to be configured by changing the source and recompiling.

       Users never read manuals...

AUTHOR

       mgetty is Copyright (C) 1993 by Gert Doering, <gert@greenie.muc.de>.