NAME
motd – file containing message(s) of the day
DESCRIPTION
The file /var/run/motd is normally displayed by login(1) after a user has logged in but before the shell is run. It is generally used for important system-wide announcements. During system startup, a line containing the kernel version string is prepended to /etc/motd.template and the contents are written to /var/run/motd.
/var/run/motd can be updated without a system reboot by manually restarting the motd service after updating /etc/motd.template:
service motd restart
Individual users may suppress the display of this file by creating a file named “.hushlogin” in their home directories or through login.conf(5).
FILES
- /etc/motd
-
Symbolic link to /var/run/motd.
- /etc/motd.template
-
The template file that system administrators can edit.
- /var/run/motd
-
The message of the day.
- $HOME/.hushlogin
-
Suppresses output of /var/run/motd.
EXAMPLES
FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE (GENERIC) #0: Sun Dec 29 03:08:31 PST 2019 /home is full. Please cleanup your directories.
SEE ALSO
HISTORY
Prior to FreeBSD 13.0, motd lived in /etc.