/etc/issue

[Brandon S. Allbery]

As quoted from <222 at dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> by stailey at iris613.gsfc.nasa.gov (Ken Stailey):
+---------------
| "The file /etc/issue contains the _issue_ or project identifcation to be
|  printed as a login prompt.  This is an ASCII file which is read by [the]
|  program _getty_ and then written to any terminal spawned or respawed from
|  the _lines_ file."
| 
| The trouble is it doesn't work as advertised, and there's no docs for the 
| mysterious "lines" file.
+---------------

The so-called "lines" file should be shown as /etc/inittab.  It is in our
manuals.  I've used /etc/issue on many systems; it works fine.  Note,
however, that it is *not* a "login prompt" (who wrote that manual, anyway?);
it is a banner displayed BEFORE the login prompt:

	FooBar, Incorporated UNIX (foobar)

	login: _

The first two lines (yes, the blank line as well) come from /etc/issue; the
last line is from /etc/gettydefs.

If you're using SCO Xenix, all bets are off:  in its infinite wisdom, SCO
decided that inittab wasn't the way to go, and kept the old-fashioned init
and getty.  Unless you have a *very* recent version of SCO Xenix 386, you're
out of ck.
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery, moderator of comp.sources.misc	     allbery at ncoast.org
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