diff --git a/etc/rc.d/motd b/etc/rc.d/motd
index 8368e7c84468..a77b21859969 100755
--- a/etc/rc.d/motd
+++ b/etc/rc.d/motd
@@ -16,14 +16,7 @@ rcvar="update_motd"
 start_cmd="motd_start"
 stop_cmd=":"
 
-case ${OSTYPE} in
-FreeBSD)
-	PERMS="644"
-	;;
-NetBSD)
-	PERMS="664"
-	;;
-esac
+PERMS="644"
 
 motd_start()
 {
@@ -31,28 +24,27 @@ motd_start()
 	#	Must be done *before* interactive logins are possible
 	#	to prevent possible race conditions.
 	#
-	echo "Updating motd."
+	echo -n 'Updating motd'
 	if [ ! -f /etc/motd ]; then
 		install -c -o root -g wheel -m ${PERMS} /dev/null /etc/motd
 	fi
 
-	case ${OSTYPE} in
-	FreeBSD)
-		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}
-		;;
-	NetBSD)
-		T='/etc/_motd'
-		sysctl -n kern.version | while read i; do echo $i; break; done > $T
-		sed '1{/^NetBSD.*/{d;};};' < /etc/motd >> $T
-		;;
-	esac
+	if [ ! -w /etc/motd ]; 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}
+
 	cmp -s $T /etc/motd || {
 		cp $T /etc/motd
 		chmod ${PERMS} /etc/motd
 	}
 	rm -f $T
+
+	echo .
 }
 
 load_rc_config $name