Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!deimos!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!gistdev!dlp From: dlp@gistdev.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: Autologout of unused terminals Message-ID: <8800003@gistdev> Date: 30 Nov 88 21:24:00 GMT References: <201.nlunix6@orcenl.uucp> Lines: 18 Nf-ID: #R:<201.nlunix6@orcenl.uucp>:-25:gistdev:8800003:000:735 Nf-From: gistdev.UUCP!dlp Nov 30 15:24:00 1988 I wrote a routine for a customer to watch for idle terminals and kill them if they were inactive for longer than N minutes. People who were logged off by this routine received mail to that effect. A few days after the program was installed, many people had this in their .profile files: while sleep 55 do cat /dev/null >> /dev/tty done & Other people had routines to download a text file to their PCs, start up their favorite editor, and upload the file when they were finished editiing. Some of these people did not have the dirty trick in their .profile files, and discovered that they had lost half an hour's editing by being "inactive". On the whole, I think it was a BAD idea. Dirk Pellett -- standard disclaimers apply.