gibbs.update_motd

Ansible Role: Update MOTD

Description

Manage dynamic MOTD (Message of the Day) scripts on Ubuntu and Debian systems.

Installation

Ansible Galaxy

To install the role from Ansible Galaxy, use:

$ ansible-galaxy install gibbs.update_motd

Example

Playbook

Here’s an example of how to use this role in your playbook:

- hosts: all
  roles:
    - gibbs.update_motd

Disable MOTD Scripts

You can disable specific MOTD scripts by providing their filenames in update_motd_disable_scripts. All other scripts in /etc/update-motd.d/ remain active.

- hosts: all
  roles:
    - gibbs.update_motd
  vars:
    update_motd_disable_scripts:
      - 88-esm-announce
      - 91-release-upgrade
      - 91-contract-ua-esm-status

Adding Custom MOTD Scripts

This role will automatically enable any scripts in /etc/update-motd.d/ that are not explicitly disabled. You can add new scripts like this:

- hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: Copy my MOTD script
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        src: files/my-script.sh
        dest: /etc/update-motd.d/50-my-script
      notify: "Update dynamic MOTD"

Role Variables

You can override the following role variables, which are listed in defaults/main.yml:

Name	Default Value	Description
`update_motd_remove_motd_directory`	false	Remove `/etc/motd` if it exists
`update_motd_package_name`	update-motd	Name of the `update-motd` package (Ubuntu only)
`update_motd_package_state`	present	Desired state of the `update-motd` package (Ubuntu only)
`update_motd_service_state`	start	Desired state of the `update-motd` service (Ubuntu only)
`update_motd_service_enabled`	true	Enable the `update-motd` service (Ubuntu only)
`update_motd_landscape_state`	present	State of the `landscape-common` package (Ubuntu only)
`update_motd_disable_motd_service`	true	Disable the MOTD service (if present)
`update_motd_disable_scripts`	98-cloudguest	List of filenames for MOTD scripts to disable

Default MOTD Scripts

Here is a list of default MOTD script names often found in Debian and Ubuntu.

Filename	Releases
`00-header`	Ubuntu 14, 16, 18, 20
`10-help-text`	Ubuntu 14, 16, 18, 20
`10-uname`	Debian 9, 10
`50-landscape-sysinfo`	Ubuntu 14, 18, 20
`50-motd-news`	Ubuntu 16, 18, 20
`85-fwupd`	Ubuntu 20
`88-esm-announce`	Ubuntu 16, 18, 20
`90-updates-available`	Ubuntu 14, 16, 18
`91-contract-ua-esm-status`	Ubuntu 16, 18, 20
`91-release-upgrade`	Ubuntu 14, 16, 18, 20
`92-unattended-upgrades`	Ubuntu 16, 18, 20
`95-hwe-eol`	Ubuntu 14, 18, 20
`97-overlayroot`	Ubuntu 14, 16, 18, 20
`98-cloudguest`	Ubuntu 14
`98-fsck-at-reboot`	Ubuntu 14, 16, 18, 20
`98-reboot-required`	Ubuntu 14, 16, 18, 20