Can someone explain what this service (serial getty) is and why it's everywhere

User Support General
1

Can someone explain what

serial-getty@hvc0.service

running as PID: 520 is doing, is this “normal” for Qubes? Why is it installed in ALL qubes and templates?

I understand that getty is a login service, so this probably facillitates serial communication logins, what needs this? I do tent to develop paranoia, is this worrying?

At very least, do other people see this same thing with:sudo systemctl status in any qube?

serial_getty

1 Like
2

Yes:

$ sudo systemctl status serial*
● serial-getty@hvc0.service - Serial Getty on hvc0
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/serial-getty@.service; enabled-runtime; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/serial-getty@.service.d
             └─30_qubes.conf
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2024-03-02 01:49:23 EST; 19s ago
       Docs: man:agetty(8)
             man:systemd-getty-generator(8)
             https://0pointer.de/blog/projects/serial-console.html
   Main PID: 568 (agetty)
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 374)
     Memory: 288.0K
        CPU: 2ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/system-serial\x2dgetty.slice/serial-getty@hvc0.service
             └─568 /sbin/agetty -o "-f -p -- \\u" --keep-baud 115200,38400,9600 hvc0 vt220

Mar 02 01:49:23 disp1624 systemd[1]: Started serial-getty@hvc0.service - Serial Getty on hvc0.

Maybe see the link for more informations ?

1 Like
3

Cool thank you. I’ve dealt with attackers not too long ago and it was a nightmare. Anything I don’t recognize now makes me skittish.

1 Like
4

It seems necessary for the functionality of qvm-console-dispvm. If stopped, it won’t connect to the qube.

4 Likes