Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software
On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:24:28 -0500, Paul Hartman wrote: I think logoutd from sys-apps/shadow can control allowed login windows by day-of-week and time-of-day, by user or group. Not sure if it translates to the X era or only applies to consoles. This is only available on PAMless systems, but thanks for the pointer, I went with using pam_time which does much the same thing and does work with X as well as consoles. -- Neil Bothwick How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire? signature.asc Description: PGP signature
[gentoo-user] OT: parental control software
I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at parental controls. Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in over three years. Any suggestions? -- Neil Bothwick I think not, said Descartes, and promptly disappeared. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software
On 03/20/2013 07:04 AM, Neil Bothwick wrote: I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at parental controls. Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in over three years. Any suggestions? I've been studying Kerberos a great deal lately, and so that's naturally where my mind went when I read this. Take the practicality of the idea with a grain of salt. I also make no claims to know exactly how to implement this for programs not already inherently kerberized. You might use Kerberos to enforce access limits by associating services with each thing you wish to control, giving the auth tickets a short rollover period, and refusing to regrant after a ticket has been rolled over enough times in one day. That easily covers the question of when the child is able to log in, and could also work for enforce the length of login sessions if you're able to use a thin client model, or put the user's profile on a kerberized samba or nfs server. I don't know what mechanisms are available to force clean shutdowns of user sessions, though; anything I can think of risks data loss if apps haven't committed all open data to storage yet. signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software
Am 20.03.2013 12:04, schrieb Neil Bothwick: I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at parental controls. Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in over three years. Any suggestions? limits.conf groups (just add the kid to all the groups it needs - and nothing else) parental supervision. Really. You are ok with your offspring to use a machine connected to the mains - do you let it play with the stove in the kitchen, wall sockets and needles or power tools too? No? Why?
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software
On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:04 AM, Neil Bothwick n...@digimed.co.uk wrote: I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at parental controls. Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in over three years. Any suggestions? I have not tried it, but: Gnome Nanny is an easy way to control what your kids are doing in the computer. You can limit how much time a day each one of them is browsing the web, chatting or doing email. You can also decide at which times of the day the can do this things. Gnome Nanny filters what web pages are seen by each user, so you can block all undesirable webs and have your kids enjoy the internet with ease of mind, no more worries! http://projects.gnome.org/nanny/
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software
On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:00:18 +0100, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote: limits.conf groups (just add the kid to all the groups it needs - and nothing else) parental supervision. Whilst I agree with that in principle, I have been tasked with finding software solutions. And the uses are not limited to children. Really. You are ok with your offspring to use a machine connected to the mains - do you let it play with the stove in the kitchen, wall sockets and needles or power tools too? Have you never heard of netbooks or laptops? Although hiding the PSU is a fairly blunt way of controlling usage :) -- Neil Bothwick Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] OT: parental control software
On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 6:04 AM, Neil Bothwick n...@digimed.co.uk wrote: I'm looking for software that can be used to control a child's usage of the computer (not Internet filtering). At the very least it should be able to control length of login sessions and when the child is able to login. Ideally it would also be able to control access to programs, for example education programs can be used for a couple of hours but games for only 30 mins at a time (net control software can be used to deal with online versions). There are other situations where this sort of thing is useful, so it need not necessarily be a package aimed specifically at parental controls. Timekpr looks the ideal candidate, except it hasn't had a release in over three years. Any suggestions? I think logoutd from sys-apps/shadow can control allowed login windows by day-of-week and time-of-day, by user or group. Not sure if it translates to the X era or only applies to consoles.
