openvt - start a program on a new virtual terminal (VT).
openvt [-c vtnumber] [OPTIONS] [--] command
openvt will find the first available VT, and run on it the
given command 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.
- -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 executed.
- -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.
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.
Earlier, openvt was called open. It was written by
Jon Tombs <jon@gtex02.us.es> or <jon@robots.ox.ac.uk>. The
-w idea is from "sam".