getty

Related articles

• Display manager

A getty is the generic name for a program which manages a terminal line and its connected terminal. Its purpose is to protect the system from unauthorized access. Generally, each getty process is started by systemd and manages a single terminal line.

Installation

agetty is the default getty in Arch Linux, as part of the util-linux package. It modifies the TTY settings while waiting for a login so that the newlines are not translated to CR-LFs. This tends to cause a "staircase effect" for messages printed to the console. Agetty manages virtual consoles and six of these virtual consoles are provided by default in Arch Linux. They are usually accessible by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 through Ctrl+Alt+F6.

Alternatives include:

• mingetty — A minimal getty which allows automatic logins.

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mingetty/ || mingetty^AUR

• fbgetty — A console getty like mingetty, which supports framebuffers.

http://projects.meuh.org/fbgetty/ || fbgetty

• mgetty — A versatile program to handle all aspects of a modem under Unix.

http://mgetty.greenie.net/ || mgetty^AUR

Add additional virtual consoles

Open the file /etc/systemd/logind.conf and set the option NAutoVTs=6 to the number of virtual terminals that you want at boot.

If you wish to start one temporarily, you can start a getty service at the desired TTY by typing:

$ systemctl start getty@ttyN.service

Automatic login to virtual console

Configuration relies on systemd drop-in files to override the default parameters passed to agetty.

Configuration differs for virtual versus serial consoles. In most cases, you want to set up automatic login on a virtual console, (whose device name is ttyN, where N is a number). The configuration of automatic login for serial consoles will be slightly different. Device names of the serial consoles look like ttySN, where N is a number.

Virtual console

Edit the provided unit either manually by creating the following drop-in snippet, or by running systemctl edit getty@tty1 and pasting its content:

/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/override.conf

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/agetty --autologin username --noclear %I $TERM

Tip: The option Type=idle found in the default getty@.service will delay the service startup until all jobs (state change requests to units) are completed in order to avoid polluting the login prompt with boot-up messages. When starting X automatically, it may be useful to start getty@tty1.service immediately by adding Type=simple into the drop-in snippet. Both the init system and startx can be silenced to avoid the interleaving of their messages during boot-up.

If you want to use a tty other than tty1, see systemd FAQ.

Serial console

Create the following file (and leading directories):

/etc/systemd/system/serial-getty@ttyS0.service.d/autologin.conf

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/agetty --autologin username -s %I 115200,38400,9600 vt102

Have boot messages stay on tty1

By default, Arch has the getty@tty1 service enabled. The service file already passes --noclear, which stops agetty from clearing the screen. However systemd clears the screen before starting it. To disable this behavior, create /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/noclear.conf:

/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/noclear.conf

[Service]
TTYVTDisallocate=no

This overrides only TTYVTDisallocate for agetty on TTY1, and leaves the global service file /usr/lib/systemd/system/getty@.service untouched. See Systemd#Editing provided units.

Note:

• Make sure to remove quiet from the kernel parameters.
• Late KMS starting may cause the first few boot messages to clear. See KMS#Early KMS start.

See also

• Systemd#Change_default_target_to_boot_into