[Techtalk] Protecting spouse, kids from each other and limiting access

[Jeff Dike]

Have you considered dumping the munchkins into virtual machines?  Stick
them in there, and they only have access to what you explicitly give them.

This would effectively decouple class 1 from the other 3, which should
simplify the problem somewhat.

As for what to use for a VM, see http://user-mode-linux.sf.net

agoats at compuserve.com said:
> 1) kids: need access to /home/username only; can't view anybody else's
> directories, do NOT have access to ppp/chat, are blocked from certain
> directories/devices. These are my munchkins ages 6 and 8. Internet
> access supervised. I plan on kde for their desktop.

Virtual machines for these guys.

> 2) users: need access to /home/username, can view each other's
> directories, CAN ppp/chat, run most software. I plan on kde for their
> desktop. This is my spouse and teens who need to surf, play games, do
> homework et al. Access blocked from certain directories/devices.

Normal users on the host.

> 3) poweruser: basically me. Access to all directories/devices,
> including those blocked to everyone else. Essentially "root" in safe
> mode. All window managers available.

> 4) root: "god mode". Totally unsafe, dangerous. Can do anything to any
> user, any file, device, directory. Total access capability.

It's not clear to me how to make a poweruser that's different from root
without a fair amount of work.

				Jeff