Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!mtuxo!rolls!argon!ebh
From: ebh@argon.UUCP (Ed Horch)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Autologout of unused terminals
Message-ID: <391@argon.UUCP>
Date: 7 Dec 88 05:43:09 GMT
References: <201.nlunix6@orcenl.uucp> <8978@smoke.BRL.MIL> <2682@sultra.UUCP> <9012@smoke.BRL.MIL> <3603@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <28766@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1874@loral.UUCP>
Reply-To: ebh@argon.UUCP (Ed Horch)
Organization: No Name Lasers, Highland Park, NJ
Lines: 22

In article <1874@loral.UUCP> jlh@loral.UUCP (Physically Pffft) writes:
>In article <3603@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall) writes:
>>Not only that, but idle-killers are so easy to spoof, unless you disable
>>people from executing utime() or ioctl().
>
>Hmmm, mine just sleeps X minutes, then asks the terminal what type it is.
>Go back to sleep, ad nauseum.  Has the advantage that the responce comes
>from the terminal itself, then through the data lines, muxes, data switches,
>and god knows what else,

This is a good idea, since some autologout mechanisms reside in the
data switch rather than the host.  X minutes of no traffic and the
fascist switch drops the data call.

My solution to this would be to fire up a program that prompts for a
password, and doesn't exit until the user's password is correctly
typed, or the call is dropped.  Every X/2 minutes, invisibly repaint
the Password: prompt to keep the autologout fascists happy.  That way,
nobody can walk up to a terminal and wreak havoc in somebody else's
shell, but the call can be dropped by dropping the line.

-Ed