NAME

ct − spawn getty to a remote terminal

SYNOPSIS

ct [ −wn ] [ −xn ] [ −h ] [ −v ] [ −sspeed ] telno ... 

DESCRIPTION

ct dials the telephone number of a modem that is attached to a terminal, and spawns a getty process to that terminal.  Telno is a telephone number, with equal signs for secondary dial tones and minus signs for delays at appropriate places.  (The set of legal characters for telno is 0 thru 9, -, =, ∗, and #.  The maximum length telno is 31 characters).  If more than one telephone number is specified, ct will try each in succession until one answers; this is useful for specifying alternate dialing paths. 

ct will try each line listed in the file /usr/lib/uucp/Devices until it finds an available line with appropriate attributes or runs out of entries.  If there are no free lines, ct will ask if it should wait for one, and if so, for how many minutes it should wait before it gives up.  ct will continue to try to open the dialers at one-minute intervals until the specified limit is exceeded.  The dialogue may be overridden by specifying the −wn option, where n is the maximum number of minutes that ct is to wait for a line. 

The −xn option is used for debugging; it produces a detailed output of the program execution on stderr.  The debugging level, n, is a single digit; −x9 is the most useful value.

Normally, ct will hang up the current line, so the line can answer the incoming call.  The −h option will prevent this action.  The −h option will also wait for the termination of the specified ct process before returning control to the user’s terminal.  If the −v option is used, ct will send a running narrative to the standard error output stream. 

The data rate may be set with the −s option, where speed is expressed in baud.  The default rate is 1200. 

After the user on the destination terminal logs out, there are two things that could occur depending on what type of getty is on the line (getty or uugetty).  For the first case, ct prompts, Reconnect? If the response begins with the letter n, the line will be dropped; otherwise, getty will be started again and the login: prompt will be printed.  In the second case, there is already a getty (uugetty) on the line, so the login: message will appear. 

To log out properly, the user must type control D. 

Of course, the destination terminal must be attached to a modem that can answer the telephone. 

FILES

/usr/lib/uucp/Devices
/usr/adm/ctlog

SEE ALSO

cu(1C), getty(1M), login(1), uucp(1C).  uugetty(1M). 

BUGS

For a shared port, one used for both dial-in and dial-out, the uugetty program running on the line must have the −r option specified (see uugetty(1M)). 

September 29, 2021