Xref: utzoo unix-pc.general:2403 comp.sys.att:5748
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!rutgers!cbmvax!ditto
From: ditto@cbmvax.UUCP (Michael "Ford" Ditto)
Newsgroups: unix-pc.general,comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: Misc. 3b1/7300 Questions
Summary: Don't start inittab lines with ':' or ' '.
Keywords: unixpc multiple window getty
Message-ID: <6144@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 6 Mar 89 05:23:47 GMT
References: <7198@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <449@amanue.UUCP>
Reply-To: ditto@cbmvax.UUCP (Michael "Ford" Ditto)
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 19

In article <449@amanue.UUCP> jr@amanue.UUCP (Jim Rosenberg) writes:
 [ about adding window gettys to /etc/inittab ]
>(2) Make sure the new lines you create have either ' ' or ':' in the first
>column and that the first field is unique.

I think I would advise just the opposite.  The ' ' or ':' convention relies
on undocumented behavior by /etc/init, breaks some programs which parse
inittab, and makes those lines subject to being geferked with by programs
which run setgetty.  The ONLY reason to use the ' '/':' convention is so
that uucico or cu can turn off that getty when it dials out on that line
(and hopefully you don't do uucp through a window!).  The correct way to
disable a getty is to change its "respawn" field to "off".
-- 
					-=] Ford [=-

"The number of Unix installations	(In Real Life:  Mike Ditto)
has grown to 10, with more expected."	ford@kenobi.cts.com
- The Unix Programmer's Manual,		...!sdcsvax!crash!kenobi!ford
  2nd Edition, June, 1972.		ditto@cbmvax.commodore.com