Making motd great again
I've been using OpenBSD since version 2.3 (pmax) and I've never felt like the default motd instills in users the appropriate level of confidence in the system. "What, I'm just logging in and they're already telling me how to report and fix bugs? Bummer, man!" We can do better. TREMENDOUSLY better. motd has been reduced to rubble, believe me. How about something like this instead: ''' Welcome to OpenBSD: The proactively secure Unix-like operating system. New users can type "help" for information about using the system. Documentation is contained in the system manual pages. If you are unfamiliar with how to read them, type "man man" at a shell prompt and read the entire thing. Pay specific attention to the "-k" option, which will permit you to find the man page you are looking for more easily. Our developers have spent countless hours improving these man pages so that they are clear and precise so please read them carefully. Additional information is available in the project web pages: https://www.OpenBSD.org/ and particularly the "Frequently Asked Questions" section at: https://www.OpenBSD.org/faq/ ''' -- -Chad
Re: Making motd great again
On 19 Nov 2016, Chad Dougherty wrote: > Our developers have spent countless hours improving these > man pages so that they are clear and precise so please read them > carefully. For what it's worth, I do applaud this pointer to the documentation. There are many questions I've not sent to this list because I went back and looked again through the manpages and suchlike before finally hitting "send". -- Mark
Re: Making motd great again
On 2016-11-19, Chad Dougherty wrote: > I've been using OpenBSD since version 2.3 (pmax) and I've never felt > like the default motd instills in users the appropriate level of > confidence in the system. "What, I'm just logging in and they're > already telling me how to report and fix bugs? Bummer, man!" > > We can do better. TREMENDOUSLY better. motd has been reduced to > rubble, believe me. To even get to the point of reading motd, a new user is going to already need to have found documentation. Filling 2/3 of an 80x24 terminal at login by default seems quite a lot especially when a lot of it says many of the same things mentioned by "help"..
Re: Making motd great again
On 2016-11-19 16:43, Stuart Henderson wrote: To even get to the point of reading motd, a new user is going to already need to have found documentation. I can think of several examples where that's not true. Filling 2/3 of an 80x24 terminal at login by default seems quite a lot especially when a lot of it says many of the same things mentioned by "help".. You're right but I also don't think filling 2/3 of an 80x24 terminal with bug reporting guidance is useful either. How about simply: ''' Welcome to OpenBSD: The proactively secure Unix-like operating system. New users can type "help" for information about using the system. ''' I won't belabor the point the further. -- -Chad
Re: Making motd great again
Filling the terminal isn't really a major issue though is it? Terminals do scroll after all --- âLanie, Iâm going to print more printers. Lots more printers. One for everyone. Thatâs worth going to jail for. Thatâs worth anything.â - Printcrime by Cory Doctrow Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html On Sun, Nov 20, 2016 at 4:28 AM, Chad Dougherty wrote: > On 2016-11-19 16:43, Stuart Henderson wrote: > >> To even get to the point of reading motd, a new user is going to already >> need >> to have found documentation. >> > > I can think of several examples where that's not true. > > Filling 2/3 of an 80x24 terminal at login by default >> seems quite a lot especially when a lot of it says many of the same things >> mentioned by "help".. >> >> > You're right but I also don't think filling 2/3 of an 80x24 terminal with > bug reporting guidance is useful either. How about simply: > ''' > Welcome to OpenBSD: The proactively secure Unix-like operating system. > > New users can type "help" for information about using the system. > > ''' > > I won't belabor the point the further. > > -- > -Chad
Re: Making motd great again
On Sun, Nov 20, 2016 at 1:22 AM, Gareth Nelson wrote: > Filling the terminal isn't really a major issue though is it? > Terminals do scroll after all Framebuffer consoles don't. Although they're a bit larger than 80x24 so it matters less. If a novice user doesn't know about the "help" command, it is also likely that they will either (a) not know that a framebuffer console has no scrollback buffer, or (b) not know the magic keystrokes to scroll a text-mode console (on a PC, it's not simply "PgUp"). I do like the idea of making MOTD shorter. -ken
Re: Making motd great again
On Mon, November 21, 2016 12:07 pm, Kenneth Gober wrote: > > If a novice user doesn't know about the "help" command Who is this MOTD for? The default text seems to be aimed at sysadmins who should already have some knowledge of Unix and how to find man pages and such, but may not know how to submit bug reports as that is a non-standard process. If you want the MOTD to be aimed at users who may not have much Unix knowledge yet, then the sysadmin can change it to whatever makes sense for their environment.
Re: Making motd great again
On Mon, 21 Nov 2016, trondd wrote: > If you want the MOTD to be aimed at users who may not have much Unix > knowledge yet, then the sysadmin can change it to whatever makes sense for > their environment. Consider the first-time user experience for a person that just installed OpenBSD on their own hardware, with no prior Unix experience. The installer does a great job at holding your hand. If you paid attention during installation, you can probably figure out that the username and password that you gave to the installer will let you get past the "login" prompt. But what next? Experienced Unix sysadmins, using OpenBSD for their first time, would probably know what's up once you mention the word "sendbug(1)" - the rest could be moved to the manpage. <3,K.
Re: Making motd great again
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 18:41:10 +0100 Kamil Cholewiński > On Mon, 21 Nov 2016, trondd wrote: > > If you want the MOTD to be aimed at users who may not have much Unix > > knowledge yet, then the sysadmin can change it to whatever makes sense for > > their environment. > > Consider the first-time user experience for a person that just installed > OpenBSD on their own hardware, with no prior Unix experience. Hi misc@, The user that just installed it should have a start point, current message on first log in does that, case sorted. Politics are out. Personally, I found the suggestions worse in any way than current. Keep arguing much on it & the drastic result is to lose arguments. Kind regards, Anton
