"> /dev/tty$i" commands in /etc/rc.sysinit?

[Robert P. J. Day]

  just perusing the code from /etc/rc.sysinit, and i'm curious about
the function of the lines:

  > /dev/tty$i

for values of "i" gleaned from the mingetty lines from /etc/inittab (1
thru 6 by default). what does that redirection accomplish?  i vaguely
recall it initializes the initial virtual consoles but i don't
remember in what way.

  also, just after that, there's the code:

  if [ $last -gt 0 ]; then
       > /dev/tty$((last+1))
       > /dev/tty$((last+2))
  fi

and this does *what* for the next couple virtual consoles?  and why
only two of them?  i'm guessing it has something to do with
initializing the next two VCs to handle an X session, but does that
mean you can't have more than two X sessions unless you change this?

rday