Index: etc/rc.d/motd
===================================================================
--- etc/rc.d/motd
+++ etc/rc.d/motd
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 stop_cmd=":"
 
 PERMS="644"
+MOTD_FILE="/etc/motd"
 
 motd_start()
 {
@@ -23,24 +24,23 @@
 	#	to prevent possible race conditions.
 	#
 	check_startmsgs && echo -n 'Updating motd:'
-	if [ ! -f /etc/motd ]; then
-		install -c -o root -g wheel -m ${PERMS} /dev/null /etc/motd
+	if [ ! -f ${MOTD_FILE} ]; then
+		install -c -o root -g wheel -m ${PERMS} /dev/null ${MOTD_FILE}
 	fi
 
-	if [ ! -w /etc/motd ]; then
+	if [ ! -w ${MOTD_FILE} ]; then
 		echo ' /etc/motd is not writable, update failed.'
 		return
 	fi
 
 	T=`mktemp -t motd`
 	uname -v | sed -e 's,^\([^#]*\) #\(.* [1-2][0-9][0-9][0-9]\).*/\([^\]*\) $,\1 (\3) #\2,' > ${T}
-	awk '{if (NR == 1) {if ($1 == "FreeBSD") {next} else {print "\n"$0}} else {print}}' < /etc/motd >> ${T}
+	awk '{if (NR == 1) {if ($1 == "FreeBSD") {next} else {print "\n"$0}} else {print}}' < ${MOTD_FILE} >> ${T}
 
-	cmp -s $T /etc/motd || {
-		cp $T /etc/motd
-		chmod ${PERMS} /etc/motd
-	}
-	rm -f $T
+	if ! cmp -s ${T} ${MOTD_FILE}; then
+		install -c -o root -g wheel -m ${PERMS} ${T} ${MOTD_FILE}
+	fi
+	rm -f ${T}
 
 	check_startmsgs && echo '.'
 }