DESCRIPTION

On Debian systems, the system message of the day is rebuilt at each startup, in order to display an accurate information. /etc/motd.tail is the file to edit permanent changes to the message of the day.

OVERVIEW

The initiation script /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh prepends a line containing information about the system to /etc/motd.tail and stores the resulting file in /var/run/motd. /etc/motd is a symbolic link to /var/run/motd. This is done to prevent changes to /etc as the system can not assume /etc to be writable.

Changes to /etc/motd effectively end up in a file under /var/run which will be regenerated upon reboot.

A symbolic link to a different file, such as /etc/motd.static disables this behaviour.

FILES

/etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh

The initiation script which builds /var/run/motd

/etc/motd

Symbolic link to the system message of the day at /var/run/motd

/etc/motd.tail

Template for building the system message of the day

/var/run/motd

System message of the day file rebuilt at each computer start