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  • Committer: Matthew East
  • Date: 2011-05-03 07:11:18 UTC
  • Revision ID: mdke@ubuntu.com-20110503071118-081aatibsr9k2yqy
Add files from ubuntu-docs natty branch, trim to use only those necessary for serverguide

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build/serverguide/C/pam_motd.html
 
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
 
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
 
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
 
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  <head xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
 
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    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
 
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    <title xmlns="">pam_motd</title>
 
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    <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../libs/ubuntu-book.css" type="text/css" />
 
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    <link rel="home" href="index.html" title="Ubuntu Server Guide" />
 
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    <link rel="up" href="other-useful-applications.html" title="Chapter 22. Other Useful Applications" />
 
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    <link rel="prev" href="other-useful-applications.html" title="Chapter 22. Other Useful Applications" />
 
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    <link rel="next" href="etckeeper.html" title="etckeeper" />
 
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    <link rel="copyright" href="legal.html" title="Credits and License" />
 
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  </head>
 
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  <body>
 
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    <div id="round">
 
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      <img id="topcap" alt="" src="https://help.ubuntu.com/htdocs/ubuntunew/img/cap-top.png" />
 
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      <div id="layout" class="container clear-block">
 
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        <script xmlns="" src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
 
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        <script xmlns="" type="text/javascript">
 
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_uacct = "UA-1018242-8";
 
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urchinTracker();
 
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</script>
 
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        <div id="header">
 
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          <div id="logo-floater">
 
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            <h1>
 
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              <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com" title="Ubuntu Documentation">
 
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                <img alt="Ubuntu" id="logo" src="https://help.ubuntu.com/htdocs/ubuntunew/img/logo.png" />
 
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              </a>
 
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            </h1>
 
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          </div>
 
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          <noscript>
 
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            <form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box">
 
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              <div>
 
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                <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="003883529982892832976:e2vwumte3fq" />
 
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                <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" />
 
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                <input type="text" name="q" size="27" />
 
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                <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" />
 
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              </div>
 
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            </form>
 
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          </noscript>
 
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          <script>
 
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 document.write('<form action="https://help.ubuntu.com/search.html" id="cse-search-box">');
 
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 document.write('  <div>');
 
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 document.write('    <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9" />');
 
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 document.write('    <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="003883529982892832976:e2vwumte3fq" />');
 
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 document.write('    <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" />');
 
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 document.write('    <input type="text" name="q" size="27" />');
 
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 document.write('    <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" />');
 
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 document.write('  </div>');
 
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 document.write('</form>');
 
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</script>
 
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          <div id="sitename">
 
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            <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/">
 
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              <img alt="Official Documentation" src="https://help.ubuntu.com/htdocs/ubuntunew/img/help-about.png" />
 
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              <span>Official Documentation</span>
 
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            </a>
 
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          </div>
 
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        </div>
 
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        <div id="page">
 
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          <div id="content">
 
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            <div class="breadcrumbs"><a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu Documentation</a> &gt; <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/11.04">Ubuntu 11.04</a> &gt; <span class="breadcrumb-link"><a href="index.html">Ubuntu Server Guide</a></span> &gt; <span class="breadcrumb-link"><a href="other-useful-applications.html">Other Useful Applications</a></span> &gt; <span class="breadcrumb-node">pam_motd</span></div>
 
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            <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="sect1" title="pam_motd">
 
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              <div class="titlepage">
 
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                <div>
 
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                  <div>
 
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                    <h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="pam_motd"></a>pam_motd</h2>
 
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                  </div>
 
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                </div>
 
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              </div>
 
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              <p>
 
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    When logging into an Ubuntu server you may have noticed the informative Message Of The Day (MOTD).  This information
 
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    is obtained and displayed using a couple of packages:
 
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    </p>
 
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              <div class="itemizedlist">
 
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                <ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc">
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        <span class="emphasis"><em>landscape-common:</em></span> provides the core libraries of <span class="application"><strong>landscape-client</strong></span>,
 
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        which can be used to manage systems using the web based <span class="emphasis"><em>Landscape</em></span> application.  The package includes
 
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        the <span class="application"><strong>/usr/bin/landscape-sysinfo</strong></span> utility which is used to gather the information displayed
 
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        in the MOTD.
 
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        </p>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        <span class="emphasis"><em>update-notifier-common:</em></span> is used to automatically update the MOTD via <span class="application"><strong>pam_motd</strong></span> module.
 
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        </p>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                </ul>
 
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              </div>
 
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              <p>    
 
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    <span class="application"><strong>pam_motd</strong></span> executes the scripts in <code class="filename">/etc/update-motd.d</code> in order based on the number 
 
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    prepended to the script.  The output of the scripts is written to <code class="filename">/var/run/motd</code>, keeping the numerical order, 
 
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    then concatenated with <code class="filename">/etc/motd.tail</code>.
 
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    </p>
 
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              <p>
 
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    You can add your own dynamic information to the MOTD.  For example, to add local weather information:
 
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    </p>
 
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              <div class="itemizedlist">
 
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                <ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc">
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        First, install the <span class="application"><strong>weather-util</strong></span> package:
 
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        </p>
 
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                    <pre class="screen">
 
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<span class="command"><strong>sudo apt-get install weather-util</strong></span>
 
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</pre>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        The <span class="application"><strong>weather</strong></span> utility uses METAR data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
 
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        and forecasts from the National Weather  Service. In order to find local information you will need the 4-character ICAO 
 
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        location indicator. This can be determined by browsing to the 
 
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        <a class="ulink" href="http://www.weather.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml" target="_top">National Weather Service</a> site.
 
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        </p>
 
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                    <p>
 
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        Although the National Weather Service is a United States government agency there are weather stations available world wide.
 
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        However, local weather information for all locations outside the U.S. may not be available.
 
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        </p>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        Create <code class="filename">/usr/local/bin/local-weather</code>, a simple shell script to use 
 
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        <span class="application"><strong>weather</strong></span> with your local ICAO indicator:
 
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        </p>
 
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                    <pre class="programlisting">
 
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#!/bin/sh
 
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#
 
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#
 
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# Prints the local weather information for the MOTD.
 
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#
 
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#
 
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# Replace KINT with your local weather station.
 
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# Local stations can be found here: http://www.weather.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml
 
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echo
 
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weather -i KINT
 
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echo
 
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</pre>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        Make the script executable:
 
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        </p>
 
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                    <pre class="screen">
 
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<span class="command"><strong>sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/local-weather</strong></span>
 
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</pre>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        Next, create a symlink to <code class="filename">/etc/update-motd.d/98-local-weather</code>:
 
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        </p>
 
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                    <pre class="screen">
 
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<span class="command"><strong>sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/local-weather /etc/update-motd.d/98-local-weather</strong></span>
 
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</pre>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                  <li class="listitem">
 
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                    <p>
 
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        Finally, exit the server and re-login to view the new MOTD.
 
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        </p>
 
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                  </li>
 
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                </ul>
 
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              </div>
 
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              <p>
 
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    You should now be greeted with some useful information, and some information about the local weather that may not be
 
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    quite so useful. Hopefully the <span class="application"><strong>local-weather</strong></span> example demonstrates the flexibility of
 
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    <span class="application"><strong>pam_motd</strong></span>.
 
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    </p>
 
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            </div>
 
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          </div>
 
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          <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="navfooter">
 
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            <hr />
 
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            <table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer">
 
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              <tr>
 
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                <td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="other-useful-applications.html"><img src="../../libs/navig/prev.png" alt="Prev" /></a> </td>
 
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                <td width="20%" align="center">
 
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                  <a accesskey="u" href="other-useful-applications.html">
 
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                    <img src="../../libs/navig/up.png" alt="Up" />
 
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                  </a>
 
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                </td>
 
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                <td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="etckeeper.html"><img src="../../libs/navig/next.png" alt="Next" /></a></td>
 
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              </tr>
 
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              <tr>
 
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                <td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter 22. Other Useful Applications </td>
 
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                <td width="20%" align="center">
 
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                  <a accesskey="h" href="index.html">
 
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                    <img src="../../libs/navig/home.png" alt="Home" />
 
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                  </a>
 
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                </td>
 
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                <td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> etckeeper</td>
 
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              </tr>
 
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            </table>
 
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          </div>
 
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          <hr />
 
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          <div id="footer">
 
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            <div id="ubuntulinks">
 
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              <p>The material in this document is available under a free license, see <a href="/legal.html">Legal</a> for details<br />
 
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        For information on contributing see the <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam">Ubuntu Documentation Team wiki page</a>. To report a problem, visit the <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-docs">bug page for Ubuntu Documentation</a></p>
 
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            </div>
 
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          </div>
 
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          <div id="bottomcap">
 
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            <img src="https://help.ubuntu.com/htdocs/ubuntunew/img/cap-bottom.png" alt="" />
 
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          </div>
 
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        </div>
 
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      </div>
 
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    </div>
 
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  </body>
 
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</html>