Customize the Login and Logout on NetBSD

Last edited on 2025-08-13 • Tagged under #netbsd #bsd #shell

I like to customize the login with a different last login notification and a Daily Dose of Wisdom delivered courtesy of fortune(6) piped to cowsay.

Hush

Quiet the default output after logging into the system by creating an empty .hushlogin file:

$ touch ~/.hushlogin

View the list of all logins, reboots, and shutdowns with the last(1) command:

$ last

Display at login the who/when/duration of the last login by modifying .profile:

$ vi ~/.profile

Add:

# Last user login
last | head -10 > /tmp/recentlogins; \
sed -i.bak '/boot/d;/shutdown/d;/reboot/d;/tmux/d' /tmp/recentlogins; \
cat /tmp/recentlogins | head -2 | tail -1 | \
awk '{ ORS=""; print "Last login: " $1 " on " $2; $1=$2=""; print $0 }'; echo ""

Save changes and exit.

Daily Dose of Wisdom

Install:

# pkgin install fortune cowsay

Command fortune prints an adage chosen at random from database files stored in /usr/pkg/share/games/fortune. Run:

$ fortune
I'll defend to the death your right to say that, but I never said I'd
listen to it!
		-- Tom Galloway with apologies to Voltaire

List the fortune files installed:

$ fortune -f
100.00% /usr/pkg/share/games/fortune
  ...

Now to make my own fortune(s)!

NOTE
Be careful not to duplicate a file name from the above list outputted by fortune -f.

I create a file containing bits of wisdom I collect from all over:

$ vi dailyDoseOfWisdom

Add blocks of text separated by the % percent sign. Sample:

Barn's burnt down / now I can see the moon.
-- Mizuta Masahide
%
To belittle, you have to be little.
-- Kahill Gibran, The Prophet
%
If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get
that you don’t want.
-- Oscar Wilde
%

Save changes and exit.

Convert this file to a format that fortune can use with the strfile(8) command, which generates the necessary *.dat file type:

$ strfile -c % dailyDoseOfWisdom dailyDoseOfWisdom.dat

Copy both files to the fortune data location:

# cp dailyDoseOfWisdom* /usr/pkg/share/games/fortune/

Get your wisdom straight from the cow:

$ fortune dailyDoseOfWisdom | cowsay
 _________________________________________ 
/ If you don’t get everything you want, \
| think of the things you don’t get     |
| that you don’t want.                  |
|                                         |
\ -- Oscar Wilde                          /
 ----------------------------------------- 
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

To display at login my cow-ified fortunes, modify .profile:

$ vi ~/.profile

Add:

# Daily dose of wisdom
myfortune="/usr/pkg/share/games/fortune/dailyDoseOfWisdom"
if command -v fortune 2>&1 >/dev/null
then
  if command -v cowsay 2>&1 >/dev/null && [ -f "$myfortune" ]
  then
    fortune $myfortune | cowsay
  else
    fortune
  fi
fi

Save changes and exit.

Clear Terminal at Logout

Here is a method that works in all modern shells (I'm using ksh).

Add to ~/.profile:

test -f $HOME/.exitrc && trap ". $HOME/.exitrc" EXIT

Create ~/.exitrc with:

echo "type clear >/dev/null 2>&1 && clear" > ~/.exitrc

See: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/12013

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Customize the Login and Logout on NetBSD

Hush

Last Login

Daily Dose of Wisdom

Clear Terminal at Logout