File: //usr/share/doc/pam/html/sag-pam_motd.html
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><title>6.21. pam_motd - display the motd file</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot"><link rel="home" href="Linux-PAM_SAG.html" title="The Linux-PAM System Administrators' Guide"><link rel="up" href="sag-module-reference.html" title="Chapter 6. A reference guide for available modules"><link rel="prev" href="sag-pam_mkhomedir.html" title="6.20. pam_mkhomedir - create users home directory"><link rel="next" href="sag-pam_namespace.html" title="6.22. pam_namespace - setup a private namespace"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">6.21. pam_motd - display the motd file</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="sag-pam_mkhomedir.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 6. A reference guide for available modules</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="sag-pam_namespace.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="sag-pam_motd"></a>6.21. pam_motd - display the motd file</h2></div></div></div><div class="cmdsynopsis"><p><code class="command">pam_motd.so</code> [
motd=<em class="replaceable"><code>/path/filename</code></em>
]</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="sag-pam_motd-description"></a>6.21.1. DESCRIPTION</h3></div></div></div><p>
pam_motd is a PAM module that can be used to display
arbitrary motd (message of the day) files after a successful
login. By default the <code class="filename">/etc/motd</code> file and
all files from <code class="filename">/etc/motd.d</code> are
shown. The message size is limited to 64KB.
</p><p>
To silence a message,
a symbolic link with target <code class="filename">/dev/null</code>
may be placed in <code class="filename">/etc/motd.d</code> with
the same filename as the message to be silenced. Example:
</p><p>
<span class="command"><strong>ln -sfn /dev/null /etc/motd.d/my_motd</strong></span>
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="sag-pam_motd-options"></a>6.21.2. OPTIONS</h3></div></div></div><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">
<code class="option">motd=<em class="replaceable"><code>/path/filename</code></em></code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
The <code class="filename">/path/filename</code> file is displayed
as message of the day.
</p></dd><dt><span class="term">
<code class="option">motd_dir=<em class="replaceable"><code>/path/dirname.d</code></em></code>
</span></dt><dd><p>
The <code class="filename">/path/dirname.d</code> directory is scanned
and each file contained inside of it is displayed.
</p></dd></dl></div><p>
When no options are given, the default is to display both
<code class="filename">/etc/motd</code> and the contents of
<code class="filename">/etc/motd.d</code>. Specifying either option (or both)
will disable this default behavior.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="sag-pam_motd-types"></a>6.21.3. MODULE TYPES PROVIDED</h3></div></div></div><p>
Only the <code class="option">session</code> module type is provided.
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="sag-pam_motd-return_values"></a>6.21.4. RETURN VALUES</h3></div></div></div><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term">PAM_IGNORE</span></dt><dd><p>
This is the only return value of this module.
</p></dd></dl></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="sag-pam_motd-examples"></a>6.21.5. EXAMPLES</h3></div></div></div><p>
The suggested usage for <code class="filename">/etc/pam.d/login</code> is:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
session optional pam_motd.so
</pre><p>
</p><p>
To use a <code class="filename">motd</code> file from a different location:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
session optional pam_motd.so motd=/elsewhere/motd
</pre><p>
</p><p>
To use a <code class="filename">motd</code> file from elsewhere, along with a
corresponding <code class="filename">.d</code> directory:
</p><pre class="programlisting">
session optional pam_motd.so motd=/elsewhere/motd motd_dir=/elsewhere/motd.d
</pre><p>
</p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="sag-pam_motd-author"></a>6.21.6. AUTHOR</h3></div></div></div><p>
pam_motd was written by Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>.
</p><p>
The <code class="option">motd_dir=</code> option was added by
Allison Karlitskaya <allison.karlitskaya@redhat.com>.
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