Linux Kernel in a Nutshell

Name

VT_CONSOLE — Support for console on virtual terminal

The system console is the device that receives all kernel messages and warnings and allows logins in single user mode. If you answer yes here, a virtual terminal (the device used to interact with a physical terminal) can be used as system console. This is the most common mode of operations, so you should say yes unless you want the kernel messages be output only to a serial port (in which case you should also enable the Console on 8250/16550 and compatible serial port option).

If you say yes here, by default, the currently visible virtual terminal (/dev/tty0) will be used as system console. You can change that with a kernel command line option such as console=tty3, which specified the third virtual terminal as the system console. (See Chapter 9 for details about how to pass options to the kernel at boot time, and what options available.)