delgh1/Arch-MOTD

 __________________________________
/ MOTD for Arch Linux Systems      \
| This repository is for you Arch  |
\__________________________________/
   \
    \
      .--.
     |o_o |
     |:_/ |
    //   \ \
   (|     | )
  /'\_   _/`\
  \___)=(___/

These scripts look great for your MOTDS on Arch Linux systems.

You can see the Installation Guide in the WIKI session

And also how these MOTD's look

Forked from

Developer / Author: Luis Felipe Sánchez Also inspired by Johnny Mileham

WARNING

[07-Sept-2020] A linux pam update arrived in August 2020: pam-1.4.x and pambase 20200721.x. This update changes the /etc/pam.d/system-login and might cause conflicts with changes by the steps below. This protentially prevents user login (affecting sudo and su too) after update. Make sure you back up the /etc/pam.d/system-login before making changes and check it after the pam 1.4.x update has been applied to your system

Features

Pretty self explanatory. It works for Arch linux on:

x86_64 machines (Intel/AMD based)
ARM based machines (Raspberry Pi)

It will auto detect which architecture your system is and work accordingly.

Currently it can only display temperatures for Raspberry Pi, but using the lm_sensors package this could be done.

Usage

The MOTD is usually displayed when a user logs into the system (via KB and mouse or ssh or other means). The Linux PAM config specifies the when to display the MOTD.

The generate_motd.sh script executes on user login to output to the motd. Then at the "display motd" step of user login the new generated output is displayed. - This is what makes the motd dynamic.

Once installed, log in to your system and the script will update your /etc/motd with system data.

This happens before the user is given a prompt and after successful login.

Setup

Please Note: Editing the PAM configuration can be dangerous and will break your system if done incorrectly. It is recommended to back up before making changes otherwise you may not be able to log into your system again.

Install the update_motd.sh in /usr/bin/ directory
Give the script the same permissions as any other app in /usr/bin (run as root or sudo): chmod 755 /usr/bin/update_motd.sh
Make sure the script has the correct ownership: chown root:root /usr/bin/update_motd.sh
Update the system-login pam config file to execute the script before displaying the motd

Updating the pam file (method 2):

The below changes will affect all logins (local, ssh etc.) If you wish to do just ssh, then do something different. Please understand what changes your are making and their impact before you do it

In the file: /etc/pam.d/system-login add the new line.

Go from this:

session    include    system-auth
session    optional   pam_motd.so          motd=/etc/motd

To this:

session    include    system-auth
session    optional   pam_exec.so          /bin/generate_motd.sh
session    optional   pam_motd.so          motd=/etc/motd

Please Note: Check these settings against the Linux PAM manual and be aware of changes you are making mean for your system.

Information about linux PAM can be found here:

delgh1 / Arch-MOTD