pty problems under glibc 2.0.98

[Trevor Johnson]

> directory I get an interesting error about no free ptys.

It could be the problem described in the linux/Documentation/Changes file
that comes with the source for the Linux kernel: 

      As of 2.1.115, Unix98 pty support was added as an option, and
   support for the deprecated major 4 /dev/ttyp* devices was removed.  If
   necessary (eg, you get "out of pty" error messages when you obviously
   are not out of pty's), create major 3 /dev/tty* and major 2 /dev/pty*
   devices (see Documentation/devices.txt for more information).
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Trevor Johnson