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From: dce@mips.UUCP (David Elliott)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Suppressing the message of the day.
Message-ID: <386@quacky.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-May-87 10:31:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: quacky.386
Posted: Wed May 13 10:31:40 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 16-May-87 04:25:52 EDT
References: <15452@brunix.UUCP>
Reply-To: dce@quacky.UUCP (David Elliott)
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 68

In article <15452@brunix.UUCP> kbb@brunix.UUCP (Karl Berry.) writes:
>Is it possible to suppress the printing of the message of the day at
>login? (Aside from changing login.c, that is.) I'm on 4.2/4.3 bsd.
>Please respond via mail.

This request piqued my interest. I looked to see if there was a manual
page for motd, and there wasn't (the information was in login(5)), so
I thought I'd write one. This manual page also includes a neat idea
that someone gave me a few years ago.

This manual page is hereby placed in the public domain.

-------------------------------------------------------
.TH MOTD 5
.SH NAME
motd \- Message of the day
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B /etc/motd
.SH DESCRIPTION
The file \fB/etc/motd\fP is set up to contain information about the system.
Some of the information is generated automatically.
Specifically, the system identification line (the first line of the file)
is generated at system startup time by commands in \fB/etc/rc.local\fP.
Other information is provided by the systems staff, and includes items
such as scheduled down time, information about new software and hardware,
and other timely announcements.
.PP
When a user logs in to the system via \fIlogin(1)\fP, the contents of
\fB/etc/motd\fP is printed, unless the file \fB.hushlogin\fP
exists in their home directory.
The presence of \fB.hushlogin\fP will also suppress the ``Last login...''
message (there is no way to just suppress one or the other).
.PP
Though intended for accounts such as \fIuucp\fP, for which the information
is of no value, the \fB.hushlogin\fP file can be useful.
For example, users with terminals that clear the screen upon initialization
can create \fB.hushlogin\fP and change their startup files to print the
contents of the file after terminal initialization has been done.
.PP
Another interesting idea is to create the files \fB.hushlogin\fP
and \fB.motd\fP in your home directory and place the following command
lines in the startup files
(\fB.login\fP for \fIcsh(1)\fP users, \fB.profile\fP for \fIsh(1)\fP users):
.IP
.nf
find /etc/motd -newer $HOME/.motd -exec cat {} \;
touch $HOME/.motd
.fi
.PP
This will cause the contents of the message of the day file to be printed
only when \fB/etc/motd\fP is modified.
.SH FILES
.TP 25
.I /etc/motd
The message of the day file
.TP 25
.I /etc/rc.local
System startup file
.TP 25
.I $HOME/.hushlogin
File to suppress printing of message of the day
.SH "SEE ALSO"
csh(1),
find(1),
login(1),
sh(1).
-- 
David Elliott		{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!mips!dce