having some issues with /dev/tty. What binds it to the other ttys? Basically, nothing with pipe is working as a result.

when i type cat test > /dev/tty i get silence.
when i type cat test > /dev/tty x (x being the proper term number) it gives me "test".

im using bash. When it opens up, it gives me the message "bash: no job control in this shell". I have a funny feeling this is related. Google hasnt been anny help-can anyone point me in the right direction to resolve this?

thanks-

/dev/tty is the controlling terminal for the current process, if there is such a terminal. Do ps -a and look for /dev/tty. If it doesn't appear then that process doesn't have a controlling terminal. To find the terminal associated with a particular terminal just write tty in that shell and press return. You should get the device file name as a result. You can get more information about tty via man tty
It is quite normal for there to be no controlling terminal. So if there is no device associated with it then the kernel will just ignore anything you send to that file. It only cares if it has attached a device (possibly pseudo) to that node. If it does care, and echoing is on (which is a possibility), then anything you send to the (special) file will be echoed.

The second part of your question may be related to the login shell. Check in /etc/passwd and make sure that you really do start bash for the user you are logging in as. Using /bin/sh instead is a likely cause. So do
grep username /etc/passwd
and look for the path to the program that is launched at the end of the text line.
If its /bin/sh then you have the wrong shell. What you should have is /bin/bash

sure enough, i do not have a controlly terminal, although tty does return the proper info.

My real reason for asking the q is that pipe doesnt work in the shell. How do i set the controlling terminal? is it in inittab?

thanks!