console knowledge

[Gordon McNutt <gmcnutt@ridgerun.com>]

This is a little off-topic, so if people complain I can take it offline. But
since this doesn't seem to be (very) common knowledge maybe others would like to
see it, as well.

Ralf Baechle wrote:

> /dev/console (as chardev 5/1) differs from another device in some important
> ways:
>
>  - When opened by a process without controlling tty it will not become a
>    CTTY even if the NOCTTY flag is not set.

What do you mean by "controlling tty"? And why is the distinction noted above
important? I assume it has something to do with keyboard input/screen output, 
but
perhaps you can clarify.

Thanks,

--Gordon