Hello,
I have a bunch of Debian Wheezy servers set up with the console available via the serial port. Generally, I just add this line to /etc/inittab:
co:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt102
And then run "kill -HUP 1" and the serial console works (I could also use "telinit q" or "init q" instead of kill -HUP"). I just did this on a Wheezy server to make sure, and checked the getty processes prior to making the change:
# ps -ef | grep getty
root 2660 1 0 Jul24 tty1 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
root 2661 1 0 Jul24 tty2 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
root 2662 1 0 Jul24 tty3 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
root 2663 1 0 Jul24 tty4 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
root 2664 1 0 Jul24 tty5 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
root 2665 1 0 Jul24 tty6 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
And then after:
# ps -ef | grep getty
root 2660 1 0 Jul24 tty1 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
root 2661 1 0 Jul24 tty2 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2
root 2662 1 0 Jul24 tty3 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3
root 2663 1 0 Jul24 tty4 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4
root 2664 1 0 Jul24 tty5 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5
root 2665 1 0 Jul24 tty6 00:00:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6
root 31705 1 0 11:33 ttyS0 00:00:00 /sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt102
And there's the getty on ttyS0 as expected.
That's all fine and good, but when I try to do this on my desktop PC running Jessie, it doesn't work. My PC is running an X server, Gnome, etc., whereas the servers are not. Also, on Wheezy, /sbin/getty and /sbin/agetty seem to be two copies of the same file, wheras on Jessie, /sbin/getty is a symlink to /sbin/agetty.
The PC is using the default /etc/inittab file. When I check the list of getty processes after a clean reboot, there's only this:
# ps -ef | grep getty
root 2092 1 0 11:50 tty1 00:00:00 /sbin/agetty --noclear tty1 linux
If I access the virtual consoles via CTRL-ALT-F1, etc., they show up in the process list only after they have been accessed:
# ps -ef | grep getty
root 2092 1 0 11:50 tty1 00:00:00 /sbin/agetty --noclear tty1 linux
root 2998 1 0 11:56 tty2 00:00:00 /sbin/agetty --noclear tty2 linux
root 3001 1 0 11:56 tty3 00:00:00 /sbin/agetty --noclear tty3 linux
And still not in the same way that they appear on Wheezy ("/sbin/getty 38400 tty1", etc.). If I add the line for the serial console to /etc/inittab and reload the init deamon, or even reboot the PC, it simply does nothing. No getty process shows up on ttyS0, and no serial console is available.
I know the serial port itself works, because I can connect to it from my laptop, then do "screen /dev/ttyS0 9600" on the PC and see characters in the screen session as I type them on the laptop. So the serial port works, and I/O seems to work, but I can't seem to start a persistent getty process on that port and access the console through it.
Any ideas or suggestions are very much appreciated.
Thanks!
Dave
--
Dave Parker
Systems Administrator
Utica College
Integrated Information Technology Services
(315) 792-3229Registered Linux User #408177