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MOTD(5) 		       File Formats Manual			 MOTD(5)

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
     login(1), login.conf(5)

HISTORY
     Prior to FreeBSD 13.0, motd lived in /etc.

FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly	December 14, 2024			 MOTD(5)

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