motd: Displaying a Message at Login
Each time a user logs in, the message inside the /etc/motd (message of the day) file is displayed. By default, the /etc/motd file contains a single line displaying the operating system version, as follows:
more /etc/motd <cr> Sun Microsystems Inc. SunOS 5.9 May 2002
This message gets displayed every time a user logs in to a command-line session. It does not get displayed when the user logs in to a CDE session. See Chapter 25, “Administration and Configuration of CDE,” for information on customizing a welcome message in CDE.
The /etc/motd file is a good place to notify users of upcoming system changes or reboots. To create your own message to be displayed at login, edit the /etc/motd file using the vi editor.
Note
Some system administrators create messages in the /etc/motd file and never keep them up-to-date. It doesn’t take users long to start ignoring the message of the day when it is displayed at login, making this form of messaging useless. Make sure you remove old messages and keep your /etc/motd file current.