Re: GDM, getty and VTs

[Gabor Gombas <gombasg@sztaki.hu>]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 11:07:52AM +0100, Josselin Mouette wrote:

> We remove entirely the getty respawning from /etc/inittab. Instead, a
> new daemon is started by a regular init script. This daemon does the
> following: 
>       * Opens all /dev/tty1 to tty6 and display a d-i-like “press enter
>         to activate this console” in them. 
>       * Provide a very simple interface to reserve a VT, that can be
>         queried by the display manager. 
>       * Whenever you press enter on a VT, reserve it and start a getty
>         process. 
>       * When almost all ttys are allocated, start opening tty7+ and so
>         on. 
>       * If no display manager is started, always run a getty process in
>         tty1.

If you always send a service name in a VT reservation request, then the
daemon can implement policy based on the service name, like "always
assign VTs starting from 7 for gdm". That would allow people to continue
using their existing VT allocation scheme (I'm running the X server on
vt24 for example), while the default config can be debated separately.

Gabor

-- 
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     MTA SZTAKI Computer and Automation Research Institute
                Hungarian Academy of Sciences
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