This is the Debian GNU/Linux prepackaged version of the "setserial"
serial interface configuration program. This version of "setserial"
was written by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>.

This package was originally put together by Bruce Perens <Bruce@Pixar.com>
It is now maintained for Debian by Gordon Russell <g.russell@dcs.napier.ac.uk>
I obtain the source from a local ftp site, but the primary site listed
is:

Primary-site:   tsx-11.mit.edu /pub/linux/sources/sbin
                27kB setserial-2.15.tar.gz

Note that the standard setup for this package is such that you never have
to change any of the configuration files. As standard, all configuration
changes made during the on-time of the machine are automatically saved on
shutdown or halt, and automatically reloaded on reboot.

In "/etc/serial.conf", if the first line is "###AUTOSAVE###" then the file
is automatically rebuilt on every shutdown or halt, storing all serial
ports named "/dev/ttyS*" which ARE NOT "unknown port". This may be needed
when the default io ports or irq lines are needed by another hardware device
in your machine, and there exists in /dev ttyS which are not actually present
in your machine (more common than you think).

In "/etc/serial.conf", if the first line is "###AUTOSAVE-FULL###" then the file
is automatically rebuilt on every shutdown or halt, storing all serial
ports named "/dev/ttyS*", EVEN if they ARE "unknown port". Use this one with
caution... it breaks things (like pcmcia configurations), and should only
be needed by the brave!

If the first line is anything else, the file is never changed on a
shutdown or halt. There are few advantages in avoiding autosaves... Why?
Well the idea is now to avoid having to edit any configuration file. You
configure the ports needed using "setserial" directly, and changes you
make are automatically saved on halt or shutdown for use next time. To
ensure a change is saves, all that is required is that the port has its
UART entry set to something other than "unknown". Setting it to "unknown"
will result in the entry being deleted from /etc/serial.conf when the state
is saved. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, if the serial module is
unloaded from the kernel (perhaps because you have not used it for a few minutes
and then it is reloaded), all changes you have made to the serial configuration
are not reloaded by the serial module. Instead, setserial reloads the state
as stored in the serial.conf file when the module reloads. If you have AUTOSAVE,
it will also save the current state of the ports whenever the module is
unloaded.

Aparently setserial will not save some ports properly, and under those
circumstances you must do everything by hand in the serial.conf file. Remember
to delete the AUTOSAVE line completely from the file or all the changes
will be lost when the serial module next unloads or the system is shutdown.

To delete an entry from /etc/serial.conf (say /dev/ttyS3), do
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS3 uart unknown
/etc/init.d/setserial stop

To restore your settings as of the last save, do
/etc/init.d/setserial start
(Note that this will not delete ports you have created which do not appear in
 the /etc/serial.conf file)

For some reason, pcmcia serial-based ports are controlled using pcmcia-cs,
not setserial. Extensive filtering is in setserial to ensure that no
status is ever saved (as of 2.15-7) which belongs to a pcmcia device.
If for some reason pcmcia-based serial configuration is appearing in
/etc/serial.conf (and a good indication of this is that your pcmcia-based
port is changing device names on every reboot until its installation fails)
could you please email me the /etc/serial.conf file, the
contents of /var/run/stab, and the output of "cardctl config", as I cannot
understand why this is still a problem...

If you had a version of 2.15 less than -7 in your system, and you have
pcmcia problems, read the "pcmcia.repair" file.

Changes:
 28-December-1994 Bruce Perens <Bruce@Pixar.com>
Added Debian GNU/Linux package maintenance system files, and
configured for Debian.
 1994-1996        Gordon Russell <g.russell@dcs.napier.ac.uk>
        Bug fixes in the maintenance files.
 5-September-1996 Gordon Russell <g.russell@dcs.napier.ac.uk>
        Brought the Debian maintenance files up to date.
 22-Janurary-1997 Gordon Russell <g.russell@dcs.napier.ac.uk>
        Switched to the new source layout
added tests to make sure their is a serial module driver loaded
 19-Feburary-1997  Gordon Russell <g.russell@dcs.napier.ac.uk>
New upstream version. Note that some of the modifications
which were present in the older debian version of setserial
have been patched into the new revision by me. I may not have
gotten them all however, so use this version with a little care!
 19-May-1999 Gordon Russell <gor@debian.org>
New upstream version. Note that some of the modifications
which were present in the older debian version of setserial
have been patched into the new revision by me. In the future, they
        will be automatically added by the upstream maintainer.

"Setserial is Copyright (C) 1994 by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu> This
file may be redistributed under the terms of the GNU Public License. If
this does not suit you, contact <tytso@mit.edu> and we can talk."

On Debian GNU/Linux systems, the complete text of the GNU General
Public License can be found in `/usr/doc/copyright/GPL'.