Ioctl Requests vt(7I)
NAME
vt - Solaris virtual console interface
SYNOPSIS
#include
#include
DESCRIPTION
The virtual console device driver - also known as virtual
terminal (VT) - is a layer of management functions that pro-
vides facilities to support and switch between multiple screen faces on a single physical device. VT's are accessed in the same way as other devices. The open(2) system call is used to open the virtual console and read(2), write(2) and ioctl(2) are used in the normal way and support the functionality of the underlying device. Inaddition, some virtual console-specific ioctls are provided
and described below. The VT provides a link between different screen faces and the device. The active virtual console corresponds to the currently visible screen face. Device input is directed tothe active console and any device-specific modes that change
on a per virtual terminal basis are set to the characteris-
tics associated with the active console. You manage VT's by intercepting keyboard sequences ("hot key"). To maintain consistency with Xserver, the virtualconsole device driver supports the Ctrl, Alt, F# and ARROW
keys.Under text mode, the sequence Alt + F# (where Alt represents
the Alt key and F# represents function keys 1 through 12) is
used to select virtual console 1-12. The sequence AltGraph +
F# (where AltGraph represents the right Alt key and F#
represent function keys 1 through 12) is for virtual console13-24. Alt + F1 chooses the system console (also known as
virtual console 1). The sequence Alt + -> (where ->
represents the right directional arrow) selects the next VTin a circular ring fashion and Alt + <- ( where <-
represents the left directional arrow) changes to the previ-
ous console in a circular fashion. The sequence Alt + ^ (where ^ represents the up directional arrow) is for the last used console.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 16 Jul 2010 1
Ioctl Requests vt(7I)
Under graphics mode like Xorg, the sequence Ctrl-Alt + F#
should be used in place of Alt + F#. And the sequence Alt +
for VT switching don't work under Xorg, because this hotkey has been defined as virtual workspace switching. Virtual console switching can be done automatically (VT_AUTO) on receipt of a hot-key or by the process owning
the VT (VT_PROCESS). When performed automatically, the pro-
cess associated with the virtual console is unaware of the switch. Saving and restoring the device are handled by the underlying device driver and the virtual console manager. Note that automatic switching is the default mode.When a hot-key is sent when in process-controlled switch
mode, the process owning the VT is sent a signal (relsig) it has specified to the virtual console manager (see signal(3C)) requesting the process to release the physical device. At this point, the virtual console manager awaitsthe VT_RELDISP ioctl from the process. If the process
refuses to release the device (meaning the switch does notoccur), it performs a VT_RELDISP ioctl with an argument of 0
(zero). If the process desires to release the device, itsaves the device state (keyboard, display, and I/O regis-
ters) and then performs a VT_RELDISP with an argument of 1
to complete the switch. A ring of VT's can contain intermixed auto mode and process control mode consoles. When an auto mode process becomes active, the underlying device driver and the virtual console manager handle the restoring of the device. Process control mode processes are sent a specified signal (acqsig) when they become the active console. The process then restoresthe device state (keyboard, display, and I/O registers) and
performs VT_RELDISP ioctl with an argument of VT_ACKACQ to
complete the switching protocol.The modify-operations ioctls (VT_SETMODE, VT_RELDISP,
VT_WAITACTIVE, KDSETMODE) check if the VT is the controlling
tty of the calling process. If not, the sys_devices
privilege is enforced. VT_ACTIVATE requires the sys_devices
privilege. Note that there is no controlling tty and privilege check for query/view operations. IOCTLS The following ioctls apply to devices that support virtual consoles:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 16 Jul 2010 2
Ioctl Requests vt(7I)
KDGETMODE Obtains the text/graphics mode associated with the VT.#define KD_TEXT 0
#define KD_GRAPHICS 1
KDSETMODE Sets the text/graphics mode to the VT.KD_TEXT indicates that console text is displayed on the
screen. Normally KD_TEXT is combined with VT_AUTO mode
for text console terminals, so that the console text display automatically is saved and restored on the hot key screen switches.KD_GRAPHICS indicates that the user/application (usually
Xserver) has direct control of the display for this VTin graphics mode. Normally KD_GRAPHICS is combined with
VT_PROCESS mode for this VT indicating direct control of
the display in graphics mode. In this mode, all writes to the VT using the write system call are ignored, and you must save and restore the display on the hot key screen switches.When the mode of the active VT is changed from KD_TEXT
to KD_GRAPHICS or a VT of KD_GRAPHICS mode is made
active from a previous active VT of KD_TEXT mode, the
virtual console manager initiates a KDSETMODE ioctl withKD_GRAPHICS as the argument to the underlying console
frame buffer device indicating that current display is running into graphics mode. When the mode of the active VT is changed fromKD_GRAPHICS to KD_TEXT or a VT of KD_TEXT mode is
actived from a previous active VT of KD_GRAPHICS mode,
the virtual console manager initiates a KDSETMODE ioctlwith KD_TEXT as the argument to the underlying console
frame buffer device indicating that current display is running into console text mode.VT_ACTIVATE
Makes the VT specified in the argument the active VT (in the same manner as if a hotkey initiated the switch). If the specified VT is not open or does not exist, the call fails and errno is set to ENXIO.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 16 Jul 2010 3
Ioctl Requests vt(7I)
VT_ENABLED
Queries to determine if VT functionality is available on the system. The argument is a pointer to an integer. IfVT functionality is available, the integer is 1, other-
wise it is 0.VT_GETMODE
Determines the VT's current mode, either VT_AUTO or
VT_PROCESS. The argument is the address of the following
structure, as defined in
struct vt_mode {
char mode; /* VT mode */ char waitv; /* not used */ short relsig;/* signal to use for release request */ short acqsig;/* signal to use for display acquired */ short frsig;/* not used */ } /* Virtual console Modes */#define VT_AUTO 0 /* automatic VT switching */
#define VT_PROCESS 1 /* process controls switching */
The structure is filled in with the current value for each field.VT_GET_CONSUSER
Returns the target of /dev/vt/console_user. The argument
is an address of an int variable. The number of the VTdevice which /dev/vt/console_user points to is returned.
If /dev/vt/console_user points to /dev/console, then 0
is returned.VT_GETSTATE
Obtains the active VT number and a list of open VTs. The argument is an address to the following structure:struct vt_stat {
unsigned short v_active, /* number of the active VT */
v_signal, /* not used */
v_state; /* count of open VTs. For every 1 in this
field, there is an open VT */ }SunOS 5.11 Last change: 16 Jul 2010 4
Ioctl Requests vt(7I)
With VT_GETSTATE, the VT manager first gets the number
of the active VT, then determines the number of open VTsin the system and sets a 1 for each open VT in v_state.
Next, the VT manager transfers the information in struc-
ture vt_stat passed by the user process.
VT_OPENQRY
Finds an available VT. The argument is a pointer to an integer. The integer is filled in with the number of the first available console that no other process has open (and hence, is available to be opened). If there are noavailable VT's, -1 is filled in.
VT_RELDISP
Tells the VT manager if the process releases (or refuses to release) the display. An argument of 1 indicates the VT is released. An argument of 0 indicates refusal torelease. The VT_ACKACQ argument indicates if acquisition
of the VT has been completed.VT_SET_CONSUSER
Sets the current VT node (where the ioctl comes from) asthe target of /dev/vt/console_user. The sys_devices
privilege is required for this ioctl.VT_SETMODE
Sets the VT mode. The argument is a pointer to a vt_mode
structure as defined above. The structure should befilled in with the desired mode. If process-control mode
is specified, the signals used to communicate with the process should be specified. If any signals are not specified (value is zero), the signal default is SIGUSR1 (for relsig and acqsig).VT_WAITACTIVE
If the specified VT is currently active, this call returns immediately. Otherwise, it sleeps until the specified VT becomes active, at which point it returns. FILESSunOS 5.11 Last change: 16 Jul 2010 5
Ioctl Requests vt(7I)
/dev/vt/# VT devices.
SEE ALSO
ioctl(2), signal(3C), wscons(7D) NOTES By default, there are only five virtual console instancelogin prompts running on /dev/vt/# (where "#" represents 2
to 6) in addition to the system console running on /dev/console. Normally Xorg uses the seventh virtual console(/dev/vt/7.) To switch from consoles to Xserver (which nor-
mally picks up the first available virtual console), use [ Ctrl + ] Alt + F7 .# svcs | grep login
online 17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:default
online 17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt2
online 17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt3
online 17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt4
online 17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt5
online 17:49:11 svc:/system/console-login:vt6
console-login:default is for the system console, others for
virtual consoles. You can modify properties/disable/enable and remove/add virtual consoles using smf(5):# svccfg -s console-login add vt8
# svccfg -s console-login:vt8 setprop ttymon/device=astring: "/dev/vt/8"
# svcadm enable console-login:vt8
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 16 Jul 2010 6