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:

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

login(1), login.conf(5)

HISTORY

Prior to FreeBSD 13.0, motd lived in /etc.