[NTLUG:Discuss] Administration tool to restrict Firefox history erasing

[Chris Cox]

David Simmons wrote:
> 
> 
>>This may not answer the exact question, but may be in the
>>spirit of what you are trying to do... not sure...
> 
> Thanks for all the replies so far....I guess what I'm really looking for
> is a way to password protect the ability to make changes to the browser
> (ie. things like changing the proxy...erasing the history...etc).  That
> way, on a per machine basis I could see what people have done (as I would
> be the only guy with the admin password).

I don't think it's possible.  My daughter is pretty knowledgable.  She'd
know how to "get around" any kind of simple application style protection
(even if it where possible).

> 
> Actually, thought
> that would be something pretty simple to integrate right into a browser
> (Parental Controls)...but I'm finding that's not the case!?!?

If you go the separate acount route, and (ideally) if you are using
openSUSE you can create a browser copy with a profile that would prevent
certain operations from happening (not sure if it would work.. but seems
like it might).  You can also create a protected shell (bash copy) for
each user that disallows "getting around" the application protection.

Apparmor essentially allows you to create an application firewall
setup around any arbitrary application.