.\" As its sole author, I explicitly place this file in the public domain.
.\" It may be used by anyone in any way for any purpose, though I would
.\" appreciate credit where it's due.
.\"		der Mouse, mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca, 2002-03-29
.Dd March 29, 2002
.Dt CONSOLED 8
.Os NetBSD 1.4
.Sh NAME
.Nm consoled
.Nd console daemon
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl bg
.Op Fl fg
.Op Fl dummy
.Op Fl real
.Op Fl nodefault
.Op Fl ip Ar address Op :port
.Op Fl local Ar path
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a daemon designed to simplify console access.  It should be started
at boot time.  It listens for client connections in various ways (see
below); when it has any, it copies console output to them, releasing
the console when it no longer has any client connections.
.Pp
Flags understood:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl bg
Causes
.Nm
to background itself once its startup actions are complete.  This is
the default.
.It Fl fg
Causes
.Nm
to
.Em not
background itself.
.It Fl dummy
Listens for clients as normal, but never takes the console and never
generates any output to its clients.
.It Fl real
Opposite of
.Fl dummy ;
operates as normal.  This is the default.
.It Fl nodefault
Suppresses the listening on the default places, listening only on
places specified on the command line.
.It Fl ip Ar address Op :port
Causes
.Nm
to listen on an IPv4 socket with address
.Ar address ,
port
.Ar port
(if no
.Ar :port
is specified, a default port compiled into the code is used; at this
writing, the default port is 6).
.Ar address
can be a hostname, which causes
.Nm
to listen on all addresses that name resolves to, or a dotted-quad,
which uses that address directly.
.It Fl local Ar path
Causes
.Nm
to listen on an
.Dv AF_LOCAL
socket bound to
.Ar path .
.El
.Pp
By default,
.Nm
listens to the default port on 127.0.0.1 and nowhere else.  This
default can be suppressed with
.Fl nodefault ;
the code can also be compiled with no default port defined, in which
case
.Nm
does not listen anywhere by default, and the optional
.Ar :port
specification for
.Fl ip
arguments is not optional.
.Pp
If conflicting flags, such as
.Fl fg
and
.Fl bg ,
are given, whichever one occurs last on the command line wins.  Note
that listening specifications never conflict; they simply add to the
list of places
.Nm
listens for client connections.
.Sh AUTHOR
der Mouse,
.Aq mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca .