motd(5)

motd5

Message of the day

Overview

The /etc/motd file 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 replaces all lines up to (but not including) the first blank line of this file. Customised messages can be added to this file after that first blank line.

Individual users may suppress the display of this file by creating a file named .hushlogin in their home directories.

Files

/etc/motd

Examples

OpenBSD 3.0 (GENERIC) #5: Sat Jan 26 20:13:07 MST 2002
Make sure you have a .forward file...
4/17	Machine will be down for backups all day Saturday.

Releases

61 releases since OpenBSD 2.1; the text changed 7 times.

  1. 2.1–2.4
  2. 2.5–2.6
  3. 2.7
  4. 2.8–3.0
  5. 3.1–3.3
  6. 3.4–4.1
  7. 4.2–4.5
  8. 4.6–8.0

From man 8.0-current-20261101 in OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01). Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.