The welcome message shown to a user upon the terminal login whether it is via remote SSH login or directly via TTY or terminal is a part of motd also known as “Message Of
The Day” daemon. The motd message can by customized to fit individual needs of each user or administrator by modifying the /etc/motd file or script within the /etc/update-motd.d directory.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to append additional information to
motdmessage - How to modify
motdmessage - How to disable selected parts of
motddaemon - How to completely disable
motdmessage
motd message.Software Requirements and Conventions Used
| Criteria | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver |
| Software | N/A |
| Other | privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command |
| Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
Other Versions of this Tutorial
How to append additional information to motd message
It is possible to append additional information to the default motd message by creating a custom /etc/motd file. For example, let’s append the default message with the Welcome Ubuntu User message.
Open up terminal or TTY console and enter the following linux command:
$ sudo sh -c 'echo "Welcome Ubuntu User" > /etc/motd'
motd text appended to a default Ubuntu’s message.How to modify motd message
Modifying the /etc/motd file is fast and effective way on how to quickly change the welcome message. However, for more elaborate configuration it is recommend to customize the MOTD via scripts located within the /etc/update-motd.d directory.
Message of the day is modular hence split into various scripts executed in order from lowest to highest number value as part of the script’s file name prefix. The following scripts are located within the /etc/update-motd.d directory as part of the default motd daemon configuration:
$ ls /etc/update-motd.d/ 00-header 50-landscape-sysinfo 80-esm 90-updates-available 95-hwe-eol 98-fsck-at-reboot 10-help-text 50-motd-news 80-livepatch 91-release-upgrade 97-overlayroot 98-reboot-required
Each script is assigned with executable permissions. Feel free to modify any of the above scripts to better fit the motd message output into your system environment.
As an exercise, let’s customize the motd message to show general system information, hard disk usage and the weather information. Let’s start by disabling the default scripts.
Depending on your needs you can selectively disable one or more scripts by removing the executable permissions. For our example we will disable all scripts and create a new 01-custom script.
- Disable all current default MOTD’s daemon scripts
- Install prerequisites
- Create a new script, eg.
/etc/update-motd.d/01-customwith the following bash script:#!/bin/sh echo "GENERAL SYSTEM INFORMATION" /usr/bin/screenfetch echo echo "SYSTEM DISK USAGE" export TERM=xterm; inxi -D echo echo "CURRENT WEATHER AT THE LOCATION" # Show weather information. Change the city name to fit your location ansiweather -l bratislava - Make this script executable
$ sudo chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/*
$ sudo apt install inxi screenfetch ansiweather
$ sudo chmod +x /etc/update-motd.d/01-custom
All done. At this stage simply re-login on your Ubuntu 18.04 Server or desktop and confirm the new MOTD information.
How to disable motd message
As already shown previously the system administrator can disable one or more parts of the MOTD message output by removing the executable permissions of each relevant MOTD script. To disable all scripts entirely execute:
$ sudo chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/*
Another option is to disable the MOTD message from appearing as on per user basis by creating a hidden .hushlogin within a user directory. Example:
$ touch $HOME/.hushlogin