Ordinarily, when bash (or any other shell) starts up on a linux machine, all the user gets is a single prompt. If the user wants information about the status of his account, like how many mail messages he has, the user has to specifically ask for that information. Instead, you might want to set it up so that when a user logs in, he sees a message across the top of the screen, displaying that sort of information. Using a dynamically generated banner instead of just a static motd has the advantage that it can display this sort of information. Read the rest of this entry »

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