correctly read RSS feeds from a url (#2681)

apps/dashboard/app/models/motd_file.rb

@@ -61,7 +61,17 @@ def exist?
   private
 
   def load(motd_uri)
-    motd_uri ? open(motd_uri).read : nil
+    uri = URI.parse(motd_uri)
+
+    case uri.scheme
+    when 'http', 'https'
+      uri.read
+    when nil
+      File.read(uri.to_s)
+    else
+      Rails.logger.warn("Unknown scheme for #{motd_uri}. No MOTD is loaded")
+      nil
+    end
   rescue Errno::ENOENT
     Rails.logger.warn "MOTD File is missing; it was expected at #{motd_uri}"
     nil

apps/dashboard/test/models/motd_file_test.rb

@@ -40,4 +40,13 @@ class MotdFileTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert_equal '', motd_file.content
   end
 
+  test 'when rss is a remote source' do
+    with_modified_env({ MOTD_PATH: 'https://www.osc.edu/rss.xml', MOTD_FORMAT: 'rss' }) do
+      formatter = MotdFile.new.formatter
+      assert_not_nil(formatter.title)
+      assert_not_nil(formatter.content)
+      assert_not_nil(formatter.content.items)
+    end
+  end
+
 end