MOTD(5)

NAME
motd - file containing message(s) of the day

DESCRIPTION
The file /var/run/motd 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 is prepended to /etc/motd.template and the contents are written to /var/run/motd.

/var/run/motd can be updated without a system reboot by manually restarting the motd service after updating /etc/motd.template:
    service motd restart

Individual users may suppress the display of this file by creating a file named “.hushlogin” in their home directories or through login.conf(5).

FILES
/etc/motd.template
    The template file that system administrators can edit.
/var/run/motd
    The message of the day.
$HOME/.hushlogin
    Suppresses output of /var/run/motd.

EXAMPLES

    FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE (GENERIC) #0: Sun Dec 29 03:08:31 PST 2019
    /home is full.  Please cleanup your directories.

SEE ALSO
login(1), login.conf(5)

HISTORY
Prior to FreeBSD 13.0, motd lived in /etc.