ninit-+-ngetty-+-bash | |-bash | `-bash | ............. If the login application forks pstree looks like: ninit-+-ngetty-+-login.fork---bash | |-login.fork---bash | `-login.fork---bash | ............. In avove examples I strated: ngetty 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 and loged on tty1 tty2 tty3 terminals.