diff -Nru sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/changelog sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/changelog
--- sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/changelog	2010-09-24 02:48:30.000000000 -0700
+++ sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/changelog	2010-10-28 20:31:02.000000000 -0700
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+sysvinit (2.87dsf-4ubuntu19) maverick-proposed; urgency=low
+
+  * debian/initscripts.postinst (LP: #659738):
+    - do not create motd.tail from motd on systems using update-motd.
+    - clean up incorrectly created motd.tail from upgrade to Maverick.
+
+ -- Kees Cook <kees@ubuntu.com>  Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:30:54 -0700
+
 sysvinit (2.87dsf-4ubuntu18) maverick; urgency=low
 
   * Allocate pidof/killall5 omitpid buffers dynamically.  16 is too small
diff -Nru sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/initscripts.postinst sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/initscripts.postinst
--- sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/initscripts.postinst	2009-10-13 21:15:31.000000000 -0700
+++ sysvinit-2.87dsf/debian/initscripts.postinst	2010-10-28 20:47:23.000000000 -0700
@@ -225,12 +225,21 @@
 #
 # Set up motd stuff, putting variable file in /var/run/
 #
-if [ ! -f /etc/motd.tail ]
+if [ -f /etc/motd.tail ] && \
+   dpkg --compare-versions "$PREV_VER" lt "2.87dsf-4ubuntu19"
 then
-	if [ -f /etc/motd ]
+	# If the standard help-text from update-motd is found in the
+	# /etc/motd.tail file, it has been created from the old /etc/motd
+	# file during the initscripts 2.87dsf-4ubuntu18 postinst script,
+	# so it should be removed. Give up if the help-text template
+	# generator is missing or produces no output.
+	help_text=$(/etc/update-motd.d/10-help-text 2>/dev/null || true)
+	if [ -n "$help_text" ] && grep -q "$help_text" /etc/motd.tail
 	then
-		sed 1d /etc/motd > /etc/motd.tail
-		[ -s /etc/motd.tail ] || rm -f /etc/motd.tail
+		rm -f /etc/motd.tail
+		# Rebuild the motd now that motd.tail has been fixed.
+		run-parts --lsbsysinit /etc/update-motd.d > /var/run/motd.new \
+			&& mv /var/run/motd.new /var/run/motd || true
 	fi
 fi
 if [ ! -f /var/run/motd ]