/etc/motd

| linux | ubuntu |

I have been using Linux for many years, but only recently found out about /etc/motd. When you SSH into a server, it displays a message that varies depending on your Linux distribution. For instance, a stock Debian installation looks like this:

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Wed Sep 14 23:38:34 2016
user@hostname:~#

I never thought to look at where this message comes from, but apparently it lives in /etc/motd. I believe this stands for "message of the day". This means that you can have this message say anything that you would like by editing the contents of /etc/motd. For example, you can use this Text to ASCII generator to put the hostname of your server in stunning ASCII text and make it look like this:
Levs-MacBook-Pro:~ levlaz$  ssh dev.levops.net
     _            _                                        _
  __| | _____   _| | _____   _____  _ __  ___   _ __   ___| |_
 / _` |/ _ \ \ / / |/ _ \ \ / / _ \| '_ \/ __| | '_ \ / _ \ __|
| (_| |  __/\ V /| |  __/\ V / (_) | |_) \__ \_| | | |  __/ |_
 \__,_|\___| \_(_)_|\___| \_/ \___/| .__/|___(_)_| |_|\___|\__|
                                   |_|

dev:~#

This is pretty neat! You can also do some fancy things like Ubuntu does and make this message change depending on various events such as security updates being available or a server restart being required. You can explore the scripts that Ubuntu uses in the /etc/update-motd.d/directory on a standard install.

Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts with me on bluesky, mastodon, or via email.

Check out some more stuff to read down below.

Most popular posts this month

Recent Favorite Blog Posts

This is a collection of the last 8 posts that I bookmarked.

Articles from blogs I follow around the net

Apple’s iPod recreation

Just a week ago, I bemoaned the lack of any good iPod click wheel explainers, and today the news broke about Apple Music hiding a functioning iPod on their 404 page. I am usually not a fan of easter eggs – most of them are poorly made – but this might be t...

via Unsung October 23, 2026

Weeknote #2023

I started on a project I have no idea how to do, museums, and a random smattering of other things

via Robb Knight • Posts • Atom Feed October 23, 2026

"No way to prevent this" say users of only language where this regularly happens

A forlorn businessman resting his head against a wall beside a window. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, via Pexels. In the hours following the release of CVE-2026-89078 for the project Ruby, site reliability workers and systems administrators scrambled to despe...

via Xe Iaso's blog October 23, 2026

Generated by openring