How to disable message of the day (motd) HedgeDoc 2

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1

I am starting to learn about HedgeDoc 2 by experimenting in a local Docker Compose deployment based on the Compose config in the docs. There is already great documentation available for configuring the deployment so that I can, for example, log in via my existing OIDC identity provider. I could not find documentation about how to disable the message of the day (motd). Simply deleting the motd.md file appears to have done the trick, but is there another recommended way?

For reference, my Compose file and environment file (first iteration) diverged from the examples, and it might help others so it’s pasted below. The frontend and backend images were built locally following the instructions exactly. My local host machine is running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. The web app is served at http://localhost:8888

docker-compose.yaml file:

services:
  backend:
    image: hedgedoc-backend:2.0.0-alpha.3
    volumes:
      - ./.env:/usr/src/app/backend/.env
      - hedgedoc_uploads:/usr/src/app/backend/uploads
      - ../../../../backend/public:/usr/src/app/backend/public:ro

  volumes-permissions:
    image: hedgedoc-backend:2.0.0-alpha.3
    user: root
    command: chown -R 1000:1000 /usr/src/app/backend/uploads
    volumes:
      - hedgedoc_uploads:/usr/src/app/backend/uploads

  frontend:
    image: hedgedoc-frontend:2.0.0-alpha.3
    environment:
      HD_BASE_URL: "${HD_BASE_URL}"
      HD_INTERNAL_API_URL: http://backend:3000

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: "${HD_DATABASE_USER}"
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "${HD_DATABASE_PASS}"
      POSTGRES_DB: "${HD_DATABASE_NAME}"
    volumes:
      - hedgedoc_postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  proxy:
    image: caddy:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      HD_URL_AUTHORITY: "${HD_URL_AUTHORITY}"
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:8888:8888"
      - "127.0.0.1:4443:4443"
      - "127.0.0.1:4443:4443/udp"
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile
      - caddy_data:/data

volumes:
  caddy_data:
  hedgedoc_uploads:
  hedgedoc_postgres:

.env file:

# General settings
HD_URL_AUTHORITY="localhost:8888"
HD_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8888"
HD_SESSION_SECRET="secret"

# Database settings
HD_DATABASE_TYPE="postgres"
HD_DATABASE_HOST="db"
HD_DATABASE_PORT="5432"
HD_DATABASE_NAME="hedgedoc"
HD_DATABASE_USER="hedgedoc"
HD_DATABASE_PASS="secret"

# Uploads
HD_MEDIA_BACKEND="filesystem"
HD_MEDIA_BACKEND_FILESYSTEM_UPLOAD_PATH="uploads/"

# Auth
HD_AUTH_LOCAL_ENABLE_LOGIN="false"
HD_AUTH_LOCAL_ENABLE_REGISTER="false"

HD_AUTH_OIDC_SERVERS="CILogon"
HD_AUTH_OIDC_CILOGON_PROVIDER_NAME="MUSES Account"
HD_AUTH_OIDC_CILOGON_ISSUER="https://keycloak.example.com/realms/MUSES"
HD_AUTH_OIDC_CILOGON_CLIENT_ID="example"
HD_AUTH_OIDC_CILOGON_CLIENT_SECRET="secret"
# OIDC profile
HD_AUTH_SYNC_SOURCE="true"
HD_AUTH_ALLOW_CHOOSE_USERNAME="false"
HD_AUTH_ALLOW_PROFILE_EDITS="false"

# Notes
HD_MAX_DOCUMENT_LENGTH=1000000
2

Hi @manning-ncsa,

you’re right, the docs are not finished for that part yet.

Currently, deleting or modifying the motd.md file is the intended way of removing or changing that message. There might come a web-based configuration option later, once we’re tackling the Admin interface.

3

Thanks for the explanation. And this answers another question I had about admin settings. As someone who deploys many services in Kubernetes, I prefer reproducible, declarative configuration options; but web interfaces are very helpful for admin actions that manage the service and users.