Your message dated Sat, 27 Jan 2007 16:17:29 +0100
with message-id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
and subject line Bug#139121: xfree86-common: [Xsession] use xmessage to display
/etc/motd
has caused the attached Bug report to be marked as done.
This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
(NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what I am
talking about this indicates a serious mail system misconfiguration
somewhere. Please contact me immediately.)
Debian bug tracking system administrator
(administrator, Debian Bugs database)
--- Begin Message ---
Package: xfree86-common
Version: 4.1.0-14
Severity: wishlist
Tags: patch
Hi,
Included below are patches (for documentation as well as functionality!) to
xfree86-common which allow the administrator to enable the automatic display
of the Message of the Day ('/etc/motd') for X logins, in addition to the
standard tty logins (or PAM authentication via ssh, etc.). Also, the
default behavior of the patch is not to change any functionality (it simply
enables easy change via 'no-display-motd'/'display-motd' configuration
option in '/etc/X11/Xsession.options').
What are the advantages of this? It allows communication of the MOTD to
users (most of which now use X-logins). An immediate counter-response might
be that this can more easily already be accomplished using gdm's or kdm's
automatic facility to display the MOTD. The primary problem with such a
setup is that it generally allows users to choose not to display the MOTD
during future logins, and many administrators (myself included) might want
to ensure that users at least had the MOTD displayed to them every time,
whether or not they actually choose to read it.
Obviously, one might reasonably point to 'xmotd' as a Debian package which
already provides this functionality. IMHO, 'xmotd' is non-ideal as its
display looks quite antiquated, and also it generally defaults to a more
complicated (albeit significantly more featureful) setup than the simple
dead-easy default of display of '/etc/motd'.
Further, this also ensures MOTD display will work with non-KDE/Gnome setups.
It has explicitly been succesfully tested (both with MOTD-display and
without MOTD-display default) in all following combinations (20 total):
gnome (sawfish)
kdm kde
gdm ------> windowmaker
xdm blackbox
startx enlightenment
It appears to work fine on the twenty or so public workstations on which I
currently have it configured, and, IMHO, would make a valuable contribution
to the package.
Thanks,
Daniel
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ cat /etc/X11/Xsession.d/95xfree86-common_motd
if grep -qs ^display-motd "$OPTIONFILE"; then
if [ -s "/etc/motd" ]; then
xmessage -center -default okay -timeout 600 -file /etc/motd
fi
fi
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ diff -C2 xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options.orig
xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options
*** xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options.orig Tue Mar 19 18:16:59 2002
--- xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options Wed Feb 20 22:58:03 2002
***************
*** 7,9 ****
allow-user-xsession
use-ssh-agent
- no-display-motd
--- 7,8 ----
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ diff -C2
xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options.5.orig
xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options.5
*** xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options.5.orig Wed Feb 20 22:58:03 2002
--- xfree86-4.1.0/debian/local/Xsession.options.5 Wed Feb 20 23:02:47 2002
***************
*** 62,69 ****
If the
.BR ssh-agent (1)
! program is available no agent process appears to be running already,
the X session will be invoked by exec'ing
.B ssh-agent
with the startup command, instead of the startup command directly.
.PP
Additional options may be supported by the local administrator. See
--- 62,76 ----
If the
.BR ssh-agent (1)
! program is available and no agent process appears to be running already,
the X session will be invoked by exec'ing
.B ssh-agent
with the startup command, instead of the startup command directly.
+ .IP display-motd
+ If the
+ .I /etc/motd
+ file exists and contains information, this 'Message of the Day' is displayed
+ to users upon login and
+ .BR Xsession (5)
+ execution.
.PP
Additional options may be supported by the local administrator. See
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$
-- System Information
Debian Release: 3.0
Architecture: i386
Kernel: Linux ac 2.4.17-686 #2 Sat Dec 22 21:58:49 EST 2001 i686
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C
Versions of packages xfree86-common depends on:
ii debianutils 1.16 Miscellaneous utilities specific t
--
Daniel A. Freedman
Laboratory for Atomic and Solid State Physics
Department of Physics
Cornell University
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Closing since there are very few chances the patch will ever be included
(and any administrator may very easily setup this feature on demand
without requiring anything to be provided by the package).
Brice
--- End Message ---
