openssh unix dev - Jun 2006 - Possible to print message(s) before login?

Hi,

Is there a way to print a message before the login prompt or after the 
login prompt but before the password prompt? This way unauthenticated 
users can see a small message (like "Hello!").

I looked through the source for version 4.2 and couldn't find where the 
login strings are constructed and sent (except in the client software 
portion). Maybe all strings (like "login: ", where users enter
username)
are generated and encrypted in the client software in response to server 
packets (non-strings)? So is there even a way to send strings before 
successful authentication?

Maybe this would violate the design of openssh?

Thanks,
Derek Frye

I'm curious as to why you'd want to do this. Not that there is never any
reasons to do this but I'm wondering why.


Derek Frye wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Is there a way to print a message before the login prompt or after the 
> login prompt but before the password prompt? This way unauthenticated 
> users can see a small message (like "Hello!").
> 
> I looked through the source for version 4.2 and couldn't find where the
> login strings are constructed and sent (except in the client software 
> portion). Maybe all strings (like "login: ", where users enter
username)
> are generated and encrypted in the client software in response to server 
> packets (non-strings)? So is there even a way to send strings before 
> successful authentication?
> 
> Maybe this would violate the design of openssh?

Sometime ago, Derek Frye wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Is there a way to print a message before the login prompt or after the 
> login prompt but before the password prompt? This way unauthenticated 
> users can see a small message (like "Hello!").
> 
> I looked through the source for version 4.2 and couldn't find where the
> login strings are constructed and sent (except in the client software 
> portion). Maybe all strings (like "login: ", where users enter
username)
> are generated and encrypted in the client software in response to server 
> packets (non-strings)? So is there even a way to send strings before 
> successful authentication?
> 
> Maybe this would violate the design of openssh?
> 
> Thanks,
> Derek Frye
> 
Before digging through the source code, you might want to read the man
pages first. :-) The Banner option in the sshd_config(5) man page sounds
like what you're looking for.

--
Iain Morgan