Panix Help System

MOTDs -- Messages of the Day

Panix's system status updates

See current MOTDs

Announcements of system changes are posted through the Message of the Day (MOTD) mechanism. Anyone who uses Panix needs to know how to find these messages, and needs to keep up with them on a regular basis.

Users who login to any of the panix hosts will, by default, see these messages upon login.

Because that is not always convenient, and because dialup-IP customers often do not login directly to Panix hosts, we have set up other means of accessing the messages.

They are available through a mailing list.

To subscribe, send email to [email protected]; Both the subject and the body of this message are irrelevant and may be empty.
A confirmation email will be sent. Reply to the confimation to complete your subscription.

To unsubscribe from the list:
Send email to [email protected]; Both the subject and the body of this message are irrelevant and may be empty. You will be asked to confirm this action.

They are available via finger.

From outside Panix, if you have access to a finger client, type:
finger motd:[email protected]
This gives you the most recent MOTD. (You can leave out "@panix.com" if you're fingering from a Panix user host.)
Note: You need to specify motd:1.

They are available through a newsreader.

The ones affecting the system generally are posted in panix.motd.system.

They are available in two ways upon logging into your shell account

Normal (default) MOTD delivery upon login: Any MOTD posted since the last time you logged in will be displayed on your screen at the beginning of your session.
Delivery by email upon login ("hush" style): If you put a file called .hushlogin into your home directory, you will not see the MOTD displayed, but you will receive via email any MOTD posted since your last login. (If you activate .hushlogin, you don't need to subscribe to the mailing list.)

MOTDs remain on the system for a time (varying with the kind of information they contain and how relevant it remains) and many past MOTDs can be retrieved in at least two ways:

From within the help system (S(system Help) in the Panix menu interface.
From our web site.
From the panix.motd.system newsgroup.
Via the shell command
motd -v
from a UNIX shell prompt on the Panix hosts; this presents them in reverse chronological order; respond y to the subject of any message you want to read, n to the subject of any message you want to skip, and q when you've finished.

There is also a "social" motd for panix events, and a separate mailing list and newsgroup for this list. The newsgroup is panix.motd.social. To join the mailing list, send email to motd-social-join; Content irrelevant.
You will be asked to confirm your subscription.
To leave the mailing list, send email to motd-social-leave; Content irrelevant.
You will be asked to confirm this action.