Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 11:02:55 -0700 From: Joshua Oreman <oremanj@get-linux.org> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: motd question Message-ID: <20030825180255.GB8753@webserver> In-Reply-To: <20030825163744.GA61150@keyslapper.org> References: <20030825163744.GA61150@keyslapper.org>
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On Mon, Aug 25, 2003 at 12:37:44PM -0400 or thereabouts, Louis LeBlanc wrote:
> Probably not possible, but I was wondering (and have for some time,
> though I can't find any info on it either way) whether /etc/motd is
> strictly a text in/text out file, or if there is a way to get it to
> execute a command, the output of which is to be included in the text
> output?
You could make it a FIFO and put a Perl script or something at the
other end, if you want dynamically-generated output. For example:
--snip--
#!/usr/bin/env perl
use constant FILE => "/etc/motd";
use POSIX qw/setsid mkfifo/;
# Comment these if you want it to run in foreground:
exit 0 if fork;
setsid;
while (1) {
unless (-p FILE) {
unlink FILE;
mkfifo FILE, 0644;
}
my $fortune_msg;
open FORTUNE, "/usr/bin/env fortune |" or die "Can't open pipe from fortune: $!\n";
$fortune_msg .= $_ while <FORTUNE>;
close FORTUNE;
open FIFO, ">".FILE or die "Can't open ".FILE." for writing: $!\n";
print FIFO $fortune_msg;
close FIFO;
sleep 2;
}
--snip--
would generate a `fortune' message every time someone read motd. Run it like so:
# /path/to/fortunemotd.pl
Note that this script will *DELETE YOUR EXISTING MOTD*... back it up first.
If you want to use this for something else, for example a .signature, change
the `use constant FILE => <<the-file-goes-here-in-quotes>>' line.
If you have two (or more) of these things running, it can produce unexpected results.
Be careful.
-- Josh
>
> TIA
> Lou
> --
> Louis LeBlanc leblanc@keyslapper.org
> Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
> http://www.keyslapper.org ԿԬ
>
> Make it right before you make it faster.
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