Index: libexec/rc/rc.conf
===================================================================
--- libexec/rc/rc.conf
+++ libexec/rc/rc.conf
@@ -671,7 +671,7 @@
 			# Note that setting securelevel to 0 will result
 			# in the system booting with securelevel set to 1, as
 			# init(8) will raise the level when rc(8) completes.
-update_motd="YES"	# update version info in /etc/motd (or NO)
+update_motd="YES"	# update version info in /var/run/motd (or NO)
 entropy_boot_file="/boot/entropy"	# Set to NO to disable very early
 			# (used at early boot time) entropy caching through reboots.
 entropy_file="/entropy"	# Set to NO to disable late (used when going multi-user)
Index: libexec/rc/rc.d/motd
===================================================================
--- libexec/rc/rc.d/motd
+++ libexec/rc/rc.d/motd
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 
 name="motd"
 desc="Update /var/run/motd"
-rcvar="update_motd"
 start_cmd="motd_start"
 stop_cmd=":"
 
@@ -45,7 +44,9 @@
 	fi
 
 	T=`mktemp -t motd`
-	uname -v | sed -e 's,^\([^#]*\) #\(.* [1-2][0-9][0-9][0-9]\).*/\([^\]*\) $,\1 (\3) #\2,' > ${T}
+	if checkyesno update_motd; then
+		uname -v | sed -e 's,^\([^#]*\) #\(.* [1-2][0-9][0-9][0-9]\).*/\([^\]*\) $,\1 (\3) #\2,' > ${T}
+	fi
 	cat "${TEMPLATE}" >> ${T}
 
 	install -C -o root -g wheel -m "${PERMS}" "$T" "${TARGET}"
Index: share/man/man5/rc.conf.5
===================================================================
--- share/man/man5/rc.conf.5
+++ share/man/man5/rc.conf.5
@@ -2339,12 +2339,12 @@
 .Pq Vt bool
 If set to
 .Dq Li YES ,
-.Pa /etc/motd
+.Pa /var/run/motd
 will be updated at boot time to reflect the kernel release
 being run.
 If set to
 .Dq Li NO ,
-.Pa /etc/motd
+.Pa /var/run/motd
 will not be updated.
 .It Va nfs_client_enable
 .Pq Vt bool