[NTLUG:Discuss] Can Linux help me limit my kids' time on the computer?

[Robert Pearson]

On 12/26/06, Lance Simmons <simmons.lance at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 12/26/06, steve <sjbaker1 at airmail.net> wrote:
>
> > But if you REALLY must do this (sending the message "I don't
> > trust you" to your child).
>
> It's not a trust issue.  It's that neither of us is really sure how
> much time he's spending on the computer, and we need a way to find
> out.  We've settled on an amount of time per week we agree he can
> spend on the computer, but so far there's no easy way of monitoring
> it.  I want an easy way to check how much time he's spent in the past
> 7 days.
>
> The "last" command is promising (and I can't believe I didn't know
> about it), but what a pain sorting through the output, and what about
> all the login shells that are run during one session?  Isn't there a
> program that can analyze the logs and give an accurate number of hours
> he has used the computer each day?  It needs to be something he can
> easily use to tell how much time he's on the computer.
>

Have you looked at logging user activity using process accounting?
<<http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-log-user-activity-using-process-accounting.html>>

Audit or process accounting usually gives a performance hit. Which is
why most people don't run it.