This page is about configuring or customizing the message of the day, also known as the MOTD, that is displayed on the interactive shell, when the the user is logged in.
What is the MOTD?
The message of the day on FreeBSD systems were historically used for important system-wide announcements, that were to be displayed. It is also a good place to welcome the user with neat and informative graphics in the interactive shell. Read more for MOTD on FreeBSD Manual Pages.
How does FreeBSD generate MOTD?
The MOTD is based on a template in which the MOTD is written. The template is stored in /etc/motd.template. When the system is started, the MOTD is generated by prepending information about the last login and the version of FreBSD to the MOTD template. The generated MOTD is stored in /var/run/motd. The MOTD service can also be restarted, which will generate the MOTD.
Typically, also random tips are shown below the MOTD. Those are generated by the program fortune. Read more about disabling that on Disabling random tips after login in FreeBSD.
Creating ASCII or ANSI art for MOTD.
In the good old days of bullitin board systems, known as BBSs, users were often welcomed with neat ASCII or ANSI art. This is text based graphics, often highly creative and in colors. The art were created in software, such as TheDraw, which was a user friendly terminal graphics text editor with fonts and mouse drawing capabilities. Read more on ASCII art, ANSI art and TheDraw by Wikipedia.
In the this example, the text foobar has been written in the font Graffiti.
_____ ___.
_/ ____\____ ____\_ |__ _____ _______
\ __\/ _ \ / _ \| __ \\__ \\_ __ \
| | ( <_> | <_> ) \_\ \/ __ \| | \/
|__| \____/ \____/|___ (____ /__|
\/ \/
In this example, the text foobar has been written in the font Bloody.
█████▒▒█████ ▒█████ ▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ██▀███
▓██ ▒▒██▒ ██▒▒██▒ ██▒▓█████▄ ▒████▄ ▓██ ▒ ██▒
▒████ ░▒██░ ██▒▒██░ ██▒▒██▒ ▄██▒██ ▀█▄ ▓██ ░▄█ ▒
░▓█▒ ░▒██ ██░▒██ ██░▒██░█▀ ░██▄▄▄▄██ ▒██▀▀█▄
░▒█░ ░ ████▓▒░░ ████▓▒░░▓█ ▀█▓ ▓█ ▓██▒░██▓ ▒██▒
▒ ░ ░ ▒░▒░▒░ ░ ▒░▒░▒░ ░▒▓███▀▒ ▒▒ ▓▒█░░ ▒▓ ░▒▓░
░ ░ ▒ ▒░ ░ ▒ ▒░ ▒░▒ ░ ▒ ▒▒ ░ ░▒ ░ ▒░
░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ▒ ░ ░ ░ ▒ ░ ░ ░ ▒ ░░ ░
░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░ ░
░
In this example, the text foobar has been written in the font DOS Rebel.
██████ █████ ███░░███ ░░███ ░███ ░░░ ██████ ██████ ░███████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ███░░███ ███░░███ ░███░░███ ░░░░░███ ░░███░░███ ░░░███░ ░███ ░███░███ ░███ ░███ ░███ ███████ ░███ ░░░ ░███ ░███ ░███░███ ░███ ░███ ░███ ███░░███ ░███ █████ ░░██████ ░░██████ ████████ ░░████████ █████ ░░░░░ ░░░░░░ ░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░
In this example, the text foobar has been written in the font Elite.
·▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄· ▄▄▄· ▄▄▄ ▐▄▄·▪ ▪ ▐█ ▀█▪▐█ ▀█ ▀▄ █· ██▪ ▄█▀▄ ▄█▀▄ ▐█▀▀█▄▄█▀▀█ ▐▀▀▄ ██▌.▐█▌.▐▌▐█▌.▐▌██▄▪▐█▐█ ▪▐▌▐█•█▌ ▀▀▀ ▀█▄▀▪ ▀█▄▀▪·▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀ .▀ ▀
In this example, the text foobar has been written in the font Fire Font.
( )
)\ ) ( /( ) (
(()/( ( ( )\()) ( /( )(
/(_)) )\ )\ ((_)\ )(_))(()\
(_) _| ((_) ((_)| |(_)((_)_ ((_)
| _|/ _ \/ _ \| '_ \/ _` || '_|
|_| \___/\___/|_.__/\__,_||_|
Free web based ASCII and ANSI art generators.
ASCII art and ANSI art, with text based fonts for neat looking server names and host names, can be generated by open source software applications or web based generators, such as ASCIIArt text generator and TAAG.
Editing the MOTD on FreeBSD.
Changing or editing the MOTD on FreeBSD is done by editing the MOTD template and either restarting the MOTD service or rebooting the system.
In this example, the MOTD is edited, so it displays ASCII art. The MOTD service is the restarted and the new MOTD is concatenated and displayed.
# nano /etc/motd.template # service motd restart # cat /var/run/motd
More about shells.
Read more about shells on Configuring C shell on FreeBSD and The different shells in FreeBSD.