NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

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

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       openvt [-c vtnumber] [-s] [-u] [-l] [-v] [--] command command_options

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       openvt  will  find the first available VT, and run on it the given com-
       mand with the given command 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    [Toc]    [Back]
       -c 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.

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

       -u     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     Make  the command a login shell. A - is prepended to the name of
	      the command to be executed.

       -v     Be a bit more verbose.

       -w     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.

       --     end of options to openvt.

NOTE    [Toc]    [Back]

       If openvt is compiled with a POSIX (Gnu) getopt() 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    [Toc]    [Back]

       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

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

       chvt(1), doshell(8), login(1).

AUTHOR    [Toc]    [Back]

       Jon Tombs <jon@gtex02.us.es or jon@robots.ox.ac.uk>
       -w idea from "sam".



Console tools			  19 Jul 1996			     OPENVT(1)