/etc/motd is overwritten now anytime a system administrator edits the file. /etc/motd is currently a sym link to /var/run/motd. Currently way things work, /etc/motd.template is used along with a freebsd header everytime service motd restart is run or a reboot occurs, effectively killing anything added to /etc/motd. A fix would be "rm /etc/motd; ln -s /etc/motd.template /etc/motd" There is no reason for /etc/motd to do a useless symlink to /var/run/motd just for changes to be overwritten, when it would be way better if the link was made to /etc/motd.template instead so the system administrators changes are not lost between reboots etc.
*** Bug 275274 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
How about directly editing /etc/motd.template, to keep the system information updated, or setting update_motd="NO" in /etc/rc.conf and to prevent it getting updated?
Because if you do that and reboot, your /var/run/motd gets wiped out completely. So either symlink needs to be removed or point to motd.template.
on diskless / netbooted machines with RO /etc it will work now. your proposed changes will not.
I'm talking about production system running FreeBSD 14-RELEASE. I just hate to see a sys admin spend hours setting up a system, put all the notes in /etc/motd to have it all wiped out on him/her. People don't think its now /etc/motd.template, they add stuff on linux box to /etc/motd, then whatever OS, then when they get to FreeBSD server do same thing and its all wiped out....not sure why this changed, it was fine for years.