Screen locker

[Nicolas George]

Hi.

I need a screen lock mechanism that does not let another user open a new
session (= if you lock to go to the bathroom, you get your place back),
but after a configurable amount of time (= if you lock and go to the
movies, you might not get your place back) has a dialog “this computer
is locked since…” and a button “force logout” (= your processes will not
waste resources until the next reboot).

Is there something like that available in Debian? Or not in Debian?

(We are using lightdm, but since we do not want to let extra sessions,
the solution does not need to cooperate with the display manager, so
that information should not be relevant. It is not an issue if users can
ctrl-alt-F2 to another VT and startx.)

Oh, I forgot: it needs to work with passwd and shadow from NIS, because
it's still the 20th century around here.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George

xdm password display [was: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?]

[tomas]

On Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 07:20:22PM +0100, Brian wrote:
> On Sun 04 Oct 2020 at 14:59:18 +0200, to...@tuxteam.de wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 01:36:45PM +0100, Brian wrote:

[...]

> > > The tradition allows for configuring xdm to show stars when the password
> > > is typed.
> > 
> > That's right, but it's not the default. My advice was just for the
> > case that the OP wasn't "seeing" that things might be working as
> > intended.
> 
> Indeed it's not the default. My advice was for those users of xdm who
> would like some visual feedback when authenticating.

BTW. I looked it up, and the knob for that: set the X resource
xlogin.Login.echoPasswd to 'true' for that (CAVEAT: untested!)
create (or extend, if already present) the file /etc/X11/Xresources/xdm
and add the line

  Xdm*xlogin.Login.echoPasswd: true

Perhaps I come around to testing it tomorrow, then I'll shake
out the five bugs yet in there :)

Cheers
 - t


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Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Brian]

On Sun 04 Oct 2020 at 14:59:18 +0200, to...@tuxteam.de wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 01:36:45PM +0100, Brian wrote:
> > On Sun 04 Oct 2020 at 12:14:01 +0200, to...@tuxteam.de wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
> > > Just a silly shot in the dark: are you sure it isn't taking keypresses?
> > > Note that xdm doesn't display anything when you type into a password
> > > box. No dots, no stars, anything. Good old tradition...
> > 
> > The tradition allows for configuring xdm to show stars when the password
> > is typed.
> 
> That's right, but it's not the default. My advice was just for the
> case that the OP wasn't "seeing" that things might be working as
> intended.

Indeed it's not the default. My advice was for those users of xdm who
would like some visual feedback when authenticating.

-- 
Brian.

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 04 October 2020 06:14:01 to...@tuxteam.de wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 05:46:05AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Except I now have a different initial login screen that does not
> > accept my passwd.  It accepts and displays my username, but it loses
> > the keyboard once it highlights the passwd box
>
> Just a silly shot in the dark: are you sure it isn't taking
> keypresses? Note that xdm doesn't display anything when you type into
> a password box. No dots, no stars, anything. Good old tradition...
>
> Just hack in your password and hit ENTER.

That keyboard has a dirt/swarf cover that makes error free typeing a much 
sought after experience, but if I hammer it one punch at a time, it 
works. That got me in and let me disable the rest of the niggles.  
Obviously I rarely write code on that keyboard.

Thanks Tomas.

> Cheers
>  - t


Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page 

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[tomas]

On Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 01:36:45PM +0100, Brian wrote:
> On Sun 04 Oct 2020 at 12:14:01 +0200, to...@tuxteam.de wrote:

[...]

> > Just a silly shot in the dark: are you sure it isn't taking keypresses?
> > Note that xdm doesn't display anything when you type into a password
> > box. No dots, no stars, anything. Good old tradition...
> 
> The tradition allows for configuring xdm to show stars when the password
> is typed.

That's right, but it's not the default. My advice was just for the
case that the OP wasn't "seeing" that things might be working as
intended.

Cheers
 - t


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Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Brian]

On Sun 04 Oct 2020 at 12:14:01 +0200, to...@tuxteam.de wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 05:46:05AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
> > Except I now have a different initial login screen that does not accept 
> > my passwd.  It accepts and displays my username, but it loses the 
> > keyboard once it highlights the passwd box
> 
> Just a silly shot in the dark: are you sure it isn't taking keypresses?
> Note that xdm doesn't display anything when you type into a password
> box. No dots, no stars, anything. Good old tradition...

The tradition allows for configuring xdm to show stars when the password
is typed.

-- 
Brian.

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[tomas]

On Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 05:46:05AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:

[...]

> Except I now have a different initial login screen that does not accept 
> my passwd.  It accepts and displays my username, but it loses the 
> keyboard once it highlights the passwd box

Just a silly shot in the dark: are you sure it isn't taking keypresses?
Note that xdm doesn't display anything when you type into a password
box. No dots, no stars, anything. Good old tradition...

Just hack in your password and hit ENTER.

Cheers
 - t


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Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 04 October 2020 04:29:36 Andrei POPESCU wrote:

> On Sb, 03 oct 20, 10:45:13, Gene Heskett wrote:
> > On Saturday 03 October 2020 08:12:56 Dan Ritter wrote:
> > > Gene Heskett wrote:
> > > > The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the
> > > > screen locker kick in, disabling our access to the application
> > > > until we have wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying
> > > > to log back in can be quite dangerous when the machine has a
> > > > runaway. Anything we do with xset is overridden before the 10
> > > > minute timeout is done.
> > > >
> > > > Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable
> > > > lightdm and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn
> > > > off the monitor at the end of the day.
> > >
> > > I would try
> > >
> > > apt remove lightdm light-locker
> >
> > and task-xfce, the meta installer file was also selected
> >
> > > and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
> > > XFCE up when you want it.
> >
> > Which is for me, 100% of the time, so xdm installed.
> >
> > > -dsr
> >
> > did that and installed xdm, reboot is next. But apt claimed there
> > were several hundred packages (353 count) that could be autoremoved.
> >  Is that normal after an iso install and update to 10.6?
>
> It's to be expected when you remove a high level meta-package, like
> task-xfce you mentioned above.
>
> > I did the autoremove, linuxcnc still runs, so I think we are in
> > business.

Except I now have a different initial login screen that does not accept 
my passwd.  It accepts and displays my username, but it loses the 
keyboard once it highlights the passwd box. ssh logins from here work 
just fine, but I am locked out of logging in on its own 
keyboard/mouse/monitor.

How do I fix that?

Thanks.

> For the archives:
>
>   1. Inspect the list carefully, for any package you might need.
>   2. Use 'apt-mark manual ' for the package(s) you need.
>   3. Let 'apt autoremove' (with '--purge' if you prefer) take care of
>   the rest.
>
> Kind regards,
> Andrei


Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Andrei POPESCU]

On Sb, 03 oct 20, 10:45:13, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Saturday 03 October 2020 08:12:56 Dan Ritter wrote:
> 
> > Gene Heskett wrote:
> > > The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the
> > > screen locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until
> > > we have wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back
> > > in can be quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything
> > > we do with xset is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.
> > >
> > > Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable
> > > lightdm and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off
> > > the monitor at the end of the day.
> >
> > I would try
> >
> > apt remove lightdm light-locker
> and task-xfce, the meta installer file was also selected
> > and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
> > XFCE up when you want it.
> 
> Which is for me, 100% of the time, so xdm installed.
> 
> > -dsr
> 
> did that and installed xdm, reboot is next. But apt claimed there were 
> several hundred packages (353 count) that could be autoremoved.  Is 
> that normal after an iso install and update to 10.6?

It's to be expected when you remove a high level meta-package, like 
task-xfce you mentioned above.

> I did the autoremove, linuxcnc still runs, so I think we are in 
> business. 

For the archives:

  1. Inspect the list carefully, for any package you might need.
  2. Use 'apt-mark manual ' for the package(s) you need.
  3. Let 'apt autoremove' (with '--purge' if you prefer) take care of 
  the rest.

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser


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Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 03 October 2020 11:21:04 Dan Ritter wrote:

> Gene Heskett wrote:
> > On Saturday 03 October 2020 08:12:56 Dan Ritter wrote:
> > > I would try
> > >
> > > apt remove lightdm light-locker
> >
> > and task-xfce, the meta installer file was also selected
> >
> > > and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
> > > XFCE up when you want it.
> >
> > Which is for me, 100% of the time, so xdm installed.
> >
> > > -dsr
> >
> > did that and installed xdm, reboot is next. But apt claimed there
> > were several hundred packages (353 count) that could be autoremoved.
> >  Is that normal after an iso install and update to 10.6? I did the
> > autoremove, linuxcnc still runs, so I think we are in business. 34
> > minutes after the reboot:
>
> Lots of autoremovable packages are normal. I generally keep them
> unless I have a space crunch.

I've no crunch, its a 2T drive, but killed them anyway
> > Screen Saver:
> >   prefer blanking:  noallow exposures:  yes
> >   timeout:  0cycle:  0
> > DPMS (Energy Star):
> >   Standby: 450Suspend: 600Off: 900
> >   DPMS is Disabled
> >
> > I believe thats what we wanted.
>
> Exactly so.
>
On inspection from its own screen, I have an odd problem.
The login I am seeing now has a huge debian logo, so I assume (there's that 
word again, thats from xdm.

I can type and see my username in the usename box, and pressing enter then 
outlnes the passwd box.  But after that, the keyboard is not showing anything 
in the passwd box.  And of course I cannot login from its own keyboard.

So how can I restore that to normal function?

Thanks.

> > The above now shows blanking off, expose on, and DPMS off after the
> > reboot and no one has yet logged in locally, looks good.
> >
> > Thanks a bunch, Dan
>
> Not a problem. Thanks for stating your issue clearly.
>
> -dsr-


Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page 

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 03 October 2020 11:21:04 Dan Ritter wrote:

> Gene Heskett wrote:
> > On Saturday 03 October 2020 08:12:56 Dan Ritter wrote:
> > > I would try
> > >
> > > apt remove lightdm light-locker
> >
> > and task-xfce, the meta installer file was also selected
> >
> > > and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
> > > XFCE up when you want it.
> >
> > Which is for me, 100% of the time, so xdm installed.
> >
> > > -dsr
> >
> > did that and installed xdm, reboot is next. But apt claimed there
> > were several hundred packages (353 count) that could be autoremoved.
> >  Is that normal after an iso install and update to 10.6? I did the
> > autoremove, linuxcnc still runs, so I think we are in business. 34
> > minutes after the reboot:
>
> Lots of autoremovable packages are normal. I generally keep them
> unless I have a space crunch.
>
> > Screen Saver:
> >   prefer blanking:  noallow exposures:  yes
> >   timeout:  0cycle:  0
> > DPMS (Energy Star):
> >   Standby: 450Suspend: 600Off: 900
> >   DPMS is Disabled
> >
> > I believe thats what we wanted.
>
> Exactly so.
>
> > The above now shows blanking off, expose on, and DPMS off after the
> > reboot and no one has yet logged in locally, looks good.
> >
> > Thanks a bunch, Dan
>
> Not a problem. Thanks for stating your issue clearly.
>
> -dsr-
And to you, Dan, you knew exactly what I wanted.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page 

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 03 October 2020 08:56:33 Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:

> On Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 04:27:08AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
> > The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the
> > screen locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until
> > we have wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back
> > in can be quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything
> > we do with xset is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.
>
> Gene,
>
> You've been asking similar questions for years on various of the
> Debian lists - - real time kernel, how to do things on Raspberry Pi,
> generically on ARM ...
>
> Yours is a niche case: not many of us have lathes hooked up to Linux
> boxes.

I think you miss-count us, Andrew. There are, I would estimate well over 
1000 world wide users of LinuxCNC, but most are more mechanics than code 
carvers.  They rarely show up on a mailing list, bugging the vendor that 
sold them the package, having bought a software package for a sizeable 
yearly seat fee because it makes them money in their shops. But while 
they may make heavy use of those code generators, they are feeding that 
output into linuxcnc about 25% of the time.  There are of course 
commercial machine control packages, but they can run into the 5th 
digit, and most are frozen in the 1970's for features we've been doing 
better for many years. They are stuck at 4 axises, we've been doing 9 
for decades. At one time it was ITAR software, because it could carve a 
submarine screw that didn't cavitate but Hitachi-America shipped it on a 
machine that found its way to china, and now the whole world knows how 
to machine quiet screws for their submarines.  Horse out of the barn, 
hitachi got a wrist slap, and we were taken off the ITAR list.

> Have you considered not using a desktop environment at all rather than
> trying to expect the rest of us to run through problems we don't
> understand? We're not being collectively unintelligent but this would
> be easier if we could all get to one topic at a time :)

> > Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable
> > lightdm and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off
> > the monitor at the end of the day.
>
> As suggested elsewhere : remove lightdm. Maybe work out just which
> programs you _must_ run and strip down a desktop environment / an X
> environment to just run that stuff. That might  take time - and you
> might not be able to get down to nothing extraneous but it would be a
> start. Pencil, paper and a plan splitting things down to single steps
> or areas of concern might help significantly here and elsewhere.

But that also limits what the machine can otherwise do. I have cat6 to 
every machine and every machine can look up what I need to know on the 
net. I wouldn't have it any other way, but then I am also a hobbyist in 
my dotage.  Retired from a tv Chief Engineer's chair I warmed for 18 
years, and workbench as a CET, but still keeping the local radio station 
on the air.

> All the best
>
> Andy C.

Than you Andy C, and have a virtual near beer with me tomorrow as I 
celebrate the 86th. Diabetics aren't supposed to drink the real stuff.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Dan Ritter]

Gene Heskett wrote: 
> On Saturday 03 October 2020 08:12:56 Dan Ritter wrote:
> >
> > I would try
> >
> > apt remove lightdm light-locker
> and task-xfce, the meta installer file was also selected
> > and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
> > XFCE up when you want it.
> 
> Which is for me, 100% of the time, so xdm installed.
> 
> > -dsr
> 
> did that and installed xdm, reboot is next. But apt claimed there were 
> several hundred packages (353 count) that could be autoremoved.  Is that 
> normal after an iso install and update to 10.6? I did the autoremove, 
> linuxcnc still runs, so I think we are in business. 34 minutes after the 
> reboot:

Lots of autoremovable packages are normal. I generally keep them
unless I have a space crunch.

> Screen Saver:
>   prefer blanking:  noallow exposures:  yes
>   timeout:  0cycle:  0
> DPMS (Energy Star):
>   Standby: 450Suspend: 600Off: 900
>   DPMS is Disabled
> 
> I believe thats what we wanted.

Exactly so.

> The above now shows blanking off, expose on, and DPMS off after the 
> reboot and no one has yet logged in locally, looks good.
> 
> Thanks a bunch, Dan

Not a problem. Thanks for stating your issue clearly.

-dsr-

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[David Wright]

On Sat 03 Oct 2020 at 04:27:08 (-0400), Gene Heskett wrote:
> The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the screen 
> locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until we have 
> wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back in can be 
> quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything we do with xset 
> is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.

Sounds like time for a visit from OSHA, HSE, or whoever.

> Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable lightdm 
> and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off the monitor 
> at the end of the day.

Use a window manager, so you can select the software present
and constrain the display's behaviour.

Cheers,
David.

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Charles Curley]

On Sat, 3 Oct 2020 04:27:08 -0400
Gene Heskett  wrote:

> The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the screen 
> locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until we have 
> wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back in can
> be quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything we do
> with xset is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.
> 
> Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable
> lightdm and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off
> the monitor at the end of the day.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Cheers, Gene Heskett



-- 
Does anybody read signatures any more?

https://charlescurley.com
https://charlescurley.com/blog/

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 03 October 2020 08:12:56 Dan Ritter wrote:

> Gene Heskett wrote:
> > The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the
> > screen locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until
> > we have wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back
> > in can be quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything
> > we do with xset is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.
> >
> > Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable
> > lightdm and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off
> > the monitor at the end of the day.
>
> I would try
>
> apt remove lightdm light-locker
and task-xfce, the meta installer file was also selected
> and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
> XFCE up when you want it.

Which is for me, 100% of the time, so xdm installed.

> -dsr

did that and installed xdm, reboot is next. But apt claimed there were 
several hundred packages (353 count) that could be autoremoved.  Is that 
normal after an iso install and update to 10.6? I did the autoremove, 
linuxcnc still runs, so I think we are in business. 34 minutes after the 
reboot:

gene@lathe:~$ uptime
 10:42:05 up 34 min,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.16, 0.44
gene@lathe:~$ xset -q
Keyboard Control:
  auto repeat:  onkey click percent:  10LED mask:  0002
  XKB indicators:
00: Caps Lock:   off01: Num Lock:on 02: Scroll Lock: off
03: Compose: off04: Kana:off05: Sleep:   off
06: Suspend: off07: Mute:off08: Misc:off
09: Mail:off10: Charging:off11: Shift Lock:  off
12: Group 2: off13: Mouse Keys:  off
  auto repeat delay:  594repeat rate:  14
  auto repeating keys:  00ffdbbf
fadfffefffed
9fff
fff7
  bell percent:  50bell pitch:  400bell duration:  100
Pointer Control:
  acceleration:  2/1threshold:  4
Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking:  noallow exposures:  yes
  timeout:  0cycle:  0
Colors:
  default colormap:  0x20BlackPixel:  0x0WhitePixel:  0xff
Font Path:
  
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi,/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi,built-ins
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 450Suspend: 600Off: 900
  DPMS is Disabled

I believe thats what we wanted.

The above now shows blanking off, expose on, and DPMS off after the 
reboot and no one has yet logged in locally, looks good.

Thanks a bunch, Dan

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Charles Curley]

On Sat, 3 Oct 2020 04:27:08 -0400
Gene Heskett  wrote:

> Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable
> lightdm and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off
> the monitor at the end of the day.

If you are running XFCE on the beastie in question:

The XFCE power manager may have an entry in the notification area. If
not, install it. Right click on that. Check "Presentation mode". All
done.

Note: I don't know how persistent that is.

-- 
Does anybody read signatures any more?

https://charlescurley.com
https://charlescurley.com/blog/

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[songbird]

Dan Ritter wrote:
...
> I would try
>
> apt remove lightdm light-locker

  i don't even know what the package light-locker is as i
don't see it here and i have lightdm installed (but i'm
running testing and bits of unstable so perhaps it's not
come by yet).

  i have a dislike for screen savers and auto anything that
interferes with my system so i've masked out some power stuff
and screen savers to keep them from getting in the way.

  it's very annoying when other people make assumptions about
how i want to do things.


> and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
> XFCE up when you want it.

  ditto!


  songbird

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 04:27:08AM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
> The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the screen 
> locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until we have 
> wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back in can be 
> quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything we do with xset 
> is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.
> 

Gene,

You've been asking similar questions for years on various of the Debian lists -
- real time kernel, how to do things on Raspberry Pi, generically on ARM ...

Yours is a niche case: not many of us have lathes hooked up to Linux boxes.

Have you considered not using a desktop environment at all rather than trying
to expect the rest of us to run through problems we don't understand? We're
not being collectively unintelligent but this would be easier if we could all 
get to one topic at a time :)

> Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable lightdm 
> and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off the monitor 
> at the end of the day.
> 

As suggested elsewhere : remove lightdm. Maybe work out just which programs 
you _must_ run and strip down a desktop environment / an X environment to 
just run that stuff. That might  take time - and you might not be able to get
 down to nothing extraneous but it would be a start. Pencil, paper and a plan 
splitting things down to single steps or areas of concern might help 
significantly here and elsewhere.

All the best

Andy C.

> Thank you.
> 
> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> -- 
> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
>  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
>  - Louis D. Brandeis
> Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
> 

Re: How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Dan Ritter]

Gene Heskett wrote: 
> The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the screen 
> locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until we have 
> wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back in can be 
> quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything we do with xset 
> is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.
> 
> Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable lightdm 
> and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off the monitor 
> at the end of the day.

I would try

apt remove lightdm light-locker

and either installing xdm or just using startx to get X11 and
XFCE up when you want it.

-dsr-

How to disable the screen locker on amd64 buster?

[Gene Heskett]

The computer is controlling high powered machinery. Having the screen 
locker kick in, disabling our access to the application until we have 
wasted a minute typing on a poor keyboard trying to log back in can be 
quite dangerous when the machine has a runaway. Anything we do with xset 
is overridden before the 10 minute timeout is done.

Some of us like xfce4, please advise how to permanently disable lightdm 
and its light-locker. _Forever_. We do know how to turn off the monitor 
at the end of the day.

Thank you.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
 - Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

Re: Crazy (?) idea: screen locker with simpler password

[Bob Proulx]

Karl Vogel wrote:
>If you don't add or delete a lot of accounts or modify /etc/passwd
>frequently, could you change your password to the high-security one,
>copy /etc/shadow to /etc/shadow.hi, then change it back and copy
>/etc/shadow to /etc/shadow.lo?  Then your password-changer could be:
> 
>  alias hisec='sudo cp -p /etc/shadow.hi /etc/shadow'
>  alias losec='sudo cp -p /etc/shadow.lo /etc/shadow'

An even simpler solution than mine of editing the file.  I like it. :-)

Very minor comment: I wouldn't think the -p would be necessary.  By
default the permissions will be preserved.  (shrug)  Just make sure
the source files have the proper permissions.

Add an application launcher widget to your desktop system tray using
the cp command above, one for each of two buttons, and then you can
switch between the two with a click of the mouse on one button control
or the other button control.

Bob


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Re: Crazy (?) idea: screen locker with simpler password

[Karl Vogel]

>> On Mon, 7 Nov 2011 23:40:24 -0700, 
>> Bob Proulx  said:

B> I would create a script that edited the /etc/shadow file directly and
B> manipulated the encrypted passwords.  Then the clear text would never
B> need to exist in any form.  Only the encrypted form of the password is
B> needed.  Use a script to swap between two different encrypted forms.

   If you don't add or delete a lot of accounts or modify /etc/passwd
   frequently, could you change your password to the high-security one,
   copy /etc/shadow to /etc/shadow.hi, then change it back and copy
   /etc/shadow to /etc/shadow.lo?  Then your password-changer could be:

 alias hisec='sudo cp -p /etc/shadow.hi /etc/shadow'
 alias losec='sudo cp -p /etc/shadow.lo /etc/shadow'

-- 
Karl Vogel  I don't speak for the USAF or my company

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
--item for a lull in conversation


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Re: Crazy (?) idea: screen locker with simpler password

[Arnt Karlsen]

On Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:22:06 +0100, Wojtek wrote in message 
<4eb85a0e.7080...@elka.pw.edu.pl>:

> Hi,
> 
> I often have to leave my students with my laptop and e.g. go to scan
> some documents or to receive printed papers from the printer room.
> Then I have to lock the console when leaving, and unlock it when
> coming back. As my login password is quite long, it is uncomfortable
> to enter it (especially with my students watching my keyboard ;-) )
> after every return. I think it could be nice to have a possibility to
> use a special configuration of screen-locker, using another, shorter
> and simpler password...
> 
> Well I have a quick&dirty workaround - I have a special account with
> minimal privileges (e.g. with access to networked blocked in
> iptables) and really simple password. I have this user logged in in
> one text console. So when leaving, I can switch to this console (with
> Alt+Ctrl+F1) and run "vlock -a". This is not very elegant, but
> working...
> 
> Unfortunately my VFS5011 fingerprint scanner is not supported in
> Linux :-(.
> 

..no, but webcams are, many laptops have them and can use: ... 
http://info.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/Z.Kalal/tld.html
...to control hands-off locking and unlocking. ;o)

..failing that, use wifi or bluetooth to chk your cell phone's 
signal strength which will depend on your presence, to control 
hands-off locking and unlocking.

-- 
..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt Karlsen
...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
  Scenarios always come in sets of three: 
  best case, worst case, and just in case.


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Re: Crazy (?) idea: screen locker with simpler password

[Bob Proulx]

Wojtek Zabolotny wrote:
> I often have to leave my students with my laptop and e.g. go to scan
> some documents or to receive printed papers from the printer room.
> Then I have to lock the console when leaving, and unlock it when
> coming back.
>
> As my login password is quite long, it is uncomfortable to enter it
> (especially with my students watching my keyboard ;-) ) after every
> return.
>
> I think it could be nice to have a possibility to use a special
> configuration of screen-locker, using another, shorter and simpler
> password...

Here is an idea.  If you wish to have two passwords that you can
switch between then you could create a small script that will switch
between high security passwords when your machine is traveling through
low security areas and a low security password when your machine is
already in a higher security area.  It would be a complete password
switch from one to the other when you do the switch.  But if you are
okay doing that then that is what I would suggest.

There are two ways that I would think about going about it.  One is to
use an 'expect'[1] script to run the passwd command to change your
password in a script.  There are some security concerns though as your
password would need to be known by the script in clear text.  So
because of that I wouldn't do it that way.  Not a bad way per se but
not great and we can do better.

The /etc/shadow file isn't that difficult to edit.  As long as some
care is taken you can do so without problem.  Especially since this is
a solution for you personally on your private laptop.  I would create
a script that edited the /etc/shadow file directly and manipulated the
encrypted passwords.  Then the clear text would never need to exist in
any form.  Only the encrypted form of the password is needed.  Use a
script to swap between two different encrypted forms.

If you are a GUI user then you could tie the actions to a couple of
custom button actions.  Switch to low security passwords during the
day and then back to high security passwords when leaving for the
day.  Or whatever schedule you desire.

The reason for passwords being in the shadow file are to prevent them
being cracked offline by a personal supercomputer.  But if that is
unlikely to happen without your knowledge (you can always change your
password if you think it has been compromised) then the security risk
is small if the encrypted forms are exposed.  Since you would be
handling them outside of the root protected file you have to consider
the risk of exposing the encrypted forms of your password.  In the old
days the encrypted forms were always available to everyone in the
/etc/passwd file.  With the larger encryption available today I think
the risk is minimal on your private laptop.

The format of the /etc/shadow file is documented in the shadow man
page.  The 'mkpasswd' utility is also useful in this context.

  man shadow

  man mkpasswd

If it weren't almost midnight my time I would consider tinkering
something together for you tonight.  Because it is really quite an
easy task. :-)

> Well I have a quick&dirty workaround - I have a special account with
> minimal privileges (e.g. with access to networked blocked in
> iptables) and really simple password.
>
> I have this user logged in in one text console. So when leaving, I
> can switch to this console (with Alt+Ctrl+F1) and run "vlock
> -a". This is not very elegant, but working...

Clever.

Bob

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expect


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Crazy (?) idea: screen locker with simpler password

[Wojtek Zabolotny]

Hi,

I often have to leave my students with my laptop and e.g. go to scan some documents or to receive printed papers from the printer room. Then I have to lock the console when leaving, and unlock it when 
coming back.

As my login password is quite long, it is uncomfortable to enter it (especially 
with my students watching my keyboard ;-) ) after every return.
I think it could be nice to have a possibility to use a special configuration 
of screen-locker, using another, shorter and simpler password...

Well I have a quick&dirty workaround - I have a special account with minimal 
privileges (e.g. with access to networked blocked in iptables) and really simple 
password.
I have this user logged in in one text console. So when leaving, I can switch to this 
console (with Alt+Ctrl+F1) and run "vlock -a". This is not very elegant, but 
working...

Unfortunately my VFS5011 fingerprint scanner is not supported in Linux :-(.

--
Regards,
Wojtek


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