CONSOLEFS(4)						     Kernel Interfaces Manual						      CONSOLEFS(4)

NAME

       consolefs, C  - file system for console access

SYNOPSIS

       aux/consolefs name dev [ name dev ...  ]

       C system

DESCRIPTION

       To  ease  administration  of multiple machines one might attach many serial console lines to a single computer.	Consolefs is a file system
       that lets multiple users simultaneously access these console lines.  Each name/dev pair represents the name of a  console  and  the  serial
       line  device associated with it.  Consolefs presents a single level directory with two files per console: name and namectl.  Writes of name
       are equivalent to writes of dev and reads and writes of namectl are equivalent to reads and writes of devctl.   Consolefs  broadcasts  any-
       thing  it reads from dev to all readers of name.  Therefore, many users can con(1) to a name, see all console output, and enter commands to
       the console.

       To keep users from inadvertently interfering with one another, notification is broadcast to all readers whenever a  user  opens	or  closes
       name.  For example, if user boris opens a console that users vlad and barney have already opened, all will read the message:

	    [+boris, vlad, barney]

       If vlad then closes, boris and barney will read:

	    [-vlad, boris, barney]

       Consolefs  posts  the  client  end of its 9P channel in /srv/consolefs; mount (see bind(1)) this file to see the consoles.  An example of 2
       consoles complete with console logging is:

	      % aux/consolefs bootes /dev/eia0 fornax /dev/eia1
	      % mount /srv/consoles /mnt/consoles
	      % ls -p /mnt/consoles
	      bootes
	      bootesctl
	      fornax
	      fornaxctl
	      % cat /mnt/consoles/fornax >> /sys/log/fornax &
	      % cat /mnt/consoles/bootes >> /sys/log/bootes &

       The rc(1) script C automates this procedure.  It uses import(4) to connect to /mnt/consoles on the machine connected to all  the  consoles,
       then uses con(1) to connect to the console of the machine system.  The script must be edited at installation by the local administration to
       identify the system that holds /mnt/consoles.

FILES

       /srv/consoles
	      Client end of pipe to server.

SOURCE

       /sys/src/cmd/aux/consolefs.l
       /rc/bin/C

																      CONSOLEFS(4)