grab_vcsa(1) Linux console vcsa grabber grab_vcsa(1)NAMEgrab_vcsa - Linux console vcsa grabber
SYNOPSISgrab_vcsaDESCRIPTION
The Linux console allows text mode video buffer access^. For each tty
device (/dev/tty0..31) there exist two devices (/dev/vcs0..31) and
(/dev/vcsa0..31). These devices are two different representations of
the content of the console.
When you login on the Linux console, your tty device is changed owner
to you, so you can read/write it. When you logout it is takes from you.
This does not happen with the vcs and vcsa devices, i.e. you cannot
access the video buffer of your own tty.
Unfortunately there is a lot of reason to use the text mode video buf‐
fer. For instance, it is not possible to get access to the full 256
characters the VGA adapter can display without using the text mode
video buffer (Linux emulates the vt100 character set which does not
have all VGA characters). This annoyance severely limits the porting
possibilities to Linux of software that was written with a VGA charac‐
ter set in mind.
grab_vcsa is a setuid root program that, when called will change the
owner of the vcs and vcsa devices to you, after a series of security
checks have been performed.
It is not necessary to change the permissions back again (this would be
pointless since a user could kill a imaginary release_vcsa program
before it can do its work). The permissions are automatically reverted
on logout.
grab_vcsa is used by the Free Pascal video unit. The video unit allows
programmers to develop portable programs accross Dos, Linux, FreeBSD,
Windows, OS/2 and other operating systems while they can still assume
being able to use the full VGA character set.
RETURN CODESgrab_vcsa has the following return codes:
0 Success
1 You are not running on the Linux console
2 Error while statting tty.
3 Error while executing chown.
4 Error while executing chmod.
4 You do not own your own tty.
AUTHOR
Daniel Mantione <daniel.mantione@freepascal.org>
Free Pascal 22 jan 2006 grab_vcsa(1)
