03/11/76   login, l

Function:  The login command is used to gain access to the Multics
system.  First, the user must dial the appropriate number to activate
the terminal and wait until a message is printed by the answering
service.  The login command is actually a request to the answering
service to start the user identification and process creation
procedures.  Therefore, this command can only be issued from a terminal
connected to the answering service; that is, one that has just dialed
up, or one that has been returned to the answering service after a
session terminated with a hello command.


The login command requests a password from the user (and attempts to
ensure either that the password does not appear at all on the user's
terminal or that it is thoroughly hidden in a string of cover-up
characters).  The password is a string of one to eight letters and/or
integers associated with the Person_id.


After the user responds with his password, the Multics system looks up
the Person_id and the password in its tables and verifies that the
Person_id is valid and that the password given matches the registered
password.  If these tests succeed, and if the user is not already
logged in, the load control mechanism is consulted to determine if
allowing the user to log in would overload the system.


Syntax:  login Person_id {-control_args}


where:

1.   Person_id                is the user's registered personal
                              identifier.  This argument must be
                              supplied.


2.   control_args             can be selected from the following:

       -brief, -bf            suppresses messages associated with a
                              successful login.

       -change_password,      changes the user's password to a newly
       -cpw		given one.  Multics asks for the old one
		          before requesting the new.  If the old
			password is correct, the new password
			replaces it for subsequent logins and the
			message "password changed" is printed.
			The user should not type the new password
			as part of the control argument.

       -no_print_off, -npf    overtypes a string of characters to
                              provide a black area for the user to type
                              his password (necessary only for users
                              whose terminals do not have
                              print-suppression capabilities).

       -terminal_type XX,     sets the user's terminal type to XX,
       -ttp XX                where XX is one of the types listed for the
		          corresponding control argument of the
                              set_tty command.

       -modes XX              sets the modes for terminal I/O according
                              to XX.  For a description of this
                              argument, see the corresponding argument
                              of set_tty.


Examples:

In the examples below, the user's password is shown even though in
most cases Multics either prints a string of cover-up characters to
"hide" the password or temporarily turns off the printing mechanism of
the user's terminal.


Probably the most common form of the login request is to specify
just the Person_id and the password as:


!    login Jones
     Password:
!    mypass


To set the tabs and crecho I/O modes so the terminal uses tabs
rather than spaces where appropriate on output and echoes a carriage
return when a line feed is typed, type:


!    login Jones -modes tabs,crecho
     Password:
!    mypass


To change the password from mypass to newpass, type:


!    login Jones -cpw
     Password:
!    mypass
     New Password:
!    newpass
     Password changed.


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Historical Background

This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated
to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. 
as a contribution to computer science knowledge.  
This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL
and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. 
Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970),
renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership
of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture 
for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems 
incorporated Multics principles.
Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., 
as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. .

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Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies
and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining
to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.
    Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by Bull SAS
    All Rights Reserved