openvt - start a program on a new virtual terminal (VT).

openvt will find the first available VT, and run on it the given command with the given commandoptions,
       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.

   OPTIONS-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.

openvt can be used to start a shell on the next free VT, by using the command:

       openvtbash

       To start the shell as a login shell, use:

       openvt-lbash

       To get a long listing you must supply the -- separator:

       openvt--ls-l

       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".

       openvt - start a program on a new virtual terminal (VT).

       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.

chvt(1), deallocvt(1), vlock(1), login(1)

kbd                                              24 October 2024                                       OPENVT(1)

openvt [-c vtnumber] [OPTIONS] [--] command