Re: motd

[Mike Reinehr <cmr@amsent.com>]

On Monday 30 October 2006 11:59, Douglas Tutty wrote:
> I'm running Etch on my new box and getting it set up.
>
> /etc/motd now points to /var/run/motd and there's a file
> /etc/motd.tail
>
> I've tried man motd but it doesn't mention this new setup.  I don't want
> to break whatever this is, but I don't want the default motd and have
> scripts that put reminders into motd (e.g. 2006-10-30 update aptitude)
> so that I have to actually remove the comment once I've done it.  This
> way I don't forget.
>
> What is /etc/motd.tail, why is this like this, and where do I echo my
> reminders?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Doug.

Doug,

Good question. I was curious about this, myself. The answer is 
in /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh:

	# Update motd
	    uname -snrvm > /var/run/motd
	    [ -f /etc/motd.tail ] && cat /etc/motd.tail >> /var/run/motd

From this, it appears that /var/run/motd is overwritten every time we reboot, 
with the output of `uname -snrvm` (haven't checked the meaning of all these 
options, yet). Then, the contents of /etc/motd.tail is appended 
to /var/run/motd.

So, it appears that anything we want to appear in motd more or less 
permanently must be put into motd.tail.

I believe this answers the your What & Where questions, the answer to Why 
probably is buried somewhere in the Debian Policy manual.

Cheers!

cmr
-- 
Debian 'Etch': Registered Linux User #241964
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"More laws, less justice." -- Marcus Tullius Ciceroca, 42 BC
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