/etc/issue vs /etc/issue.net

[Trevor]

I'm on a RHEL 9.5 system, that has the files:

-   /etc/issue

and 

-   /etc/issue.net

Both of these files have identical content:

\S
Kernel \r on an \m

Do these files have a different purpose?  If so, what's that difference?

[TM]

Hi @Trevor ,

In my RHEL 9.7 the file /etc/issue seems to have an extra blank line at the end compared to /etc/issue.net.
Both files come from the package redhat-release.

Regards,

Tshimanga

[Travis]

@Trevor -

They are usually the same file. /etc/issue is for local terminal logins while /etc/issue.net is for remote logins like Telnet/SSH. As @TM pointed out above, one seems to have an extra blank line (most likely special characters you aren't seeing on the screen) as the local terminal logins support special codes and escape characters while remote logins don't.

There are times where the messages are different as this would be a BANNER message for someone accessing the system and generally the one for remote access has additional legal warnings.