.\" Copyright, The contributors to the Linux man-pages project .\" .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later .\" .TH motd 5 2025-05-06 "Linux man-pages 6.14" .SH NAME motd \- message of the day .SH DESCRIPTION The contents of .I /etc/motd are displayed by .BR login (1) after a successful login but just before it executes the login shell. .P The abbreviation "motd" stands for "message of the day", and this file has been traditionally used for exactly that (it requires much less disk space than mail to all users). .SH FILES .I /etc/motd .SH SEE ALSO .BR login (1), .BR issue (5)