Why 4BSD 'stty' uses stdout instead of stdin

[gwyn at brl-tgr.UUCP]

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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site brl-tgr.ARPA
Message-ID: <3954 at brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 14-Aug-84 12:24:30 EDT
Date-Received: Mon, 20-Aug-84 15:28:50 EDT

tty' uses stdout instead of stdin
Organization: Ballistics Research Lab
Lines: 8

So long as ioctl requires a file descriptor, the normal access
permissions on a terminal special file suffice for protection.
At BRL, general terminals do not have write permission enabled;
rather, the execute bit indicates whether a "write" or "talk"
connection is permitted, and the utilities dealing with this
have all been changed to understand the convention.  This pretty
much solves the problem of obnoxious users messing around with
your terminal from elsewhere.