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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :) > http://www.keyslapper.org ԿԬ > > Make it right before you make it faster. > _______________________________________________ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" _______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"