todd@ivucsb.UUCP (Todd Day) (10/06/88)
Not long ago, I asked for help about a problem with my /dev/tty.
Whenever I tried to run 'rn' from the console, I got the following:
can't open /dev/tty
I noticed that 'cpio' would also core dump because of a /dev/tty problem.
Also, 'su' always replied "Sorry" even before I had a chance to type in
a password. This ONLY happened at the console! All of the above programs
run fine on any of the terminals I have hooked up. I have terms on
tty000 and tty002, and a modem on tty001. This problem did not occur
before I added the RS-232 expansion board with tty000 and tty001.
I got all sorts of responses about changing 'rn' to do read/write opens
on /dev/tty. I did not really feel like messing with the news software...
So, I tried some command line hacking. I found that
rn >/dev/window
allowed rn to run. Next, I tried
rn >/dev/w1 </dev/w1
and it totally worked! This looked like a bad botch, so I tried
putting the following in my .kshrc file:
alias rn "windy rn"
Now, rn runs like a champ from the console. Also, I get the added "feature"
of coming back to the screen as it existed before I executed rn.
Any comments on why this works? Best comments get summarized, in case of
tie, a coin will be flipped.
/| Todd Day (805)968-9352 |\ "Hurt me, punish me.
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