Quite frankly, I didn't want to be using mgetty in the first place. It's 10 times too complex when all you need/want is a simple serial console setup, but since you unfortunately have removed the old and trusty getty_ps from the distribution... Inittab says: S0:S123:respawn:/sbin/mgetty ttyS0 mgetty.config says: # Dumb serial connection port ttyS0 debug 3 speed 38400 direct yes data-only yes toggle-dtr yes need-dsr yes port-owner root port-group root port-mode 600 login-prompt @ \P login:\040 login-time 60 term vt102 Output on the serial console is inconsistent: ------------------------------------------------ Red Hat Linux release 7.3 (Valhalla) Kernel 2.4.18-5smp on an i686 Red Hat Linux release 7.3 (Valhalla)ogin: Kernel 2.4.18-5smp on an i686 deeptought.engr.intransa.com ttyS0 login: ------------------------------------------------ What I type doesn't get echoed, but it does go somewhere because validating with enter eventually generates a new prompt and the following errors in the log: (note that a) I have tested the serial console with minicom on both sides and it works fine b) I am using serial console in the kernel, but with getty_ps there was no problem having serial console in the kernel + getty running) 08/07 10:32:51 yS0 mgetty: experimental test release 1.1.28-Jan10 08/07 10:33:03 ##### failed dev=ttyS0, pid=1916, got signal 1, exiting -- 08/07 10:33:03 yS0 mgetty: experimental test release 1.1.28-Jan10 08/07 10:33:04 yS0 TIOCMBIS failed: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:04 yS0 cannot turn off soft carrier: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:04 yS0 tcgetattr failed: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:04 yS0 cannot get TIO: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:04 yS0 mg_init_device failed, trying again 08/07 10:33:05 yS0 TIOCMBIS failed: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:05 yS0 cannot turn off soft carrier: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:05 yS0 tcgetattr failed: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:05 yS0 cannot get TIO: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:05 yS0 mg_init_device failed, exiting: Input/output error 08/07 10:33:05 yS0 cannot get terminal line dev=ttyS0, exiting: Input/output error
Just to confirm that things are working otherwise, I copied over my getty from debian (util-linux) and that worked fine. I also got it to work with getty_ps from RHL 7.0, but you're retired this package...
Just clearing out old bugs here - sorry for the delay in processing this one - it seems to have been "lost" . I've just retested this with mgetty-1.1.31-2 and 1.1.33-1 (mgetty is no longer "experimental"), with the mgetty.config entry: ' port ttyS0 direct y speed 57600 toggle-dtr n ' and with a null modem cable to another computer and the kernel-2.6.11 arguments 'console=ttyS0,57600 console=tty0', and the /etc/inittab line: 'S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/mgetty ttyS0' . The console connection worked flawlessly and let me log-in (as root, when I had added ttyS0 to /etc/securettys). There is also now agetty(8), which along with mgetty and mingetty should be enough to replace getty_ps . So this bug is closed as CURRENTRELEASE, as it appears to be fixed with all current versions of mgetty.