HOWTO: Parental control. Now with GUI too! (updated version)

[KIAaze]

Thanks for the feedback.

I think I fixed the problem. (didn't notice it because I didn't remove everything from an older install)

I still have a few tests to do and then I'll make a new release.
In the meanwhile, you can try the latest branch like this:

bzr branch lp:webcontentcontrol

[KIAaze]

v1.06 released: https://launchpad.net/webcontentcontrol/trunk/1.0.6
Debian package should come soon.

[DrumBoyG]

I'm going to intall Kubuntu for the first time and am glad to see some type of web content filtering done. I'm a user of Gentoo and the setup for this was insane. Gentoo for a home family computer is too much work to maintain. Anyway, will webcontentcontrol work w/ the new Ubuntu 8.10? Will it work with Kubuntu 8.10? I'm not a gnome fan and want to install the Kubuntu package! Does webcontentcontrol have the ability to select what users you want to filter? I wouldn't want me or my wife to be filtered.
Thank you. I look forward to your reply

[KIAaze]

Anyway, will webcontentcontrol work w/ the new Ubuntu 8.10?

It already does. At least for me.

Will it work with Kubuntu 8.10?

It uses Gambas for the GUI, so I see no reason for it not to work.

Does webcontentcontrol have the ability to select what users you want to filter?

Not yet.

[DrumBoyG]

Kewl. Thanks so much for replying. I look forward to doing a nice fresh install of Kubuntu 8.10 for the family and applying the webcontentcontrol.

Are all the packages listed in the package manager (add/remove programs) or do you install everything directly from the command line?

Ok, nothing yet to control what users can be filtered....is there a bypass password you can set/use when surfing or grabbing .iso packages etc..

How does this all efect Kubuntu or Ubuntu for that matter on getting updates etc??

Thanks again...

[KIAaze]

Are all the packages listed in the package manager (add/remove programs) or do you install everything directly from the command line?

I just released the first .deb package: https://launchpad.net/webcontentcontrol/trunk/1.0.7
So you should be able to install it by just downloading and double-clicking on it.

Ok, nothing yet to control what users can be filtered....is there a bypass password you can set/use when surfing or grabbing .iso packages etc..

I answered a bit quickly last time.
The current GUI doesn't allow "easy" user-specific configuration yet, but you should be able to set up user-specific filtering by editing the dansguardian configuration files (which can be done through the GUI).

As for a password: it currently requires the user's password just like "sudo" and changes can only be made if that user also has root permissions.
So an easy solution is to either not give "protected persons" the password or create an account for them without root permissions.

Blocking downloads (like .iso files) can also be done in dansguardian by editing the following files:
/etc/dansguardian/lists/bannedextensionlist
/etc/dansguardian/lists/bannedmimetypelist

Please refer to the DansGuardian website for more details: http://dansguardian.org/

Another site I can recommend for blacklists is: http://urlblacklist.com/

How does this all efect Kubuntu or Ubuntu for that matter on getting updates etc??

It shouldn't be a problem as long as there aren't any big updates for firehol, tinyproxy and dansguardian.
I always keep my system up-to-date, so if an update of those packages breaks webcontentcontrol, I'll try to fix it as soon as possible.
Current versions I'm using:

ii  firehol                   1.256-3  
ii  tinyproxy                 1.6.3-3
ii  dansguardian              2.9.9.7-2

Note: I initially intended for webcontentcontrol to be a "temporary package" for those wanting a parental control GUI until the GChildCare project offers a working alternative. (Using gambas+bash allows fast development)

This means that advanced features like user-specific filtering are currently not my highest priority.
I want something that's easy to install and has a basic GUI to turn on/off.
I would like to know if my current package fills these conditions and would be happy to have some feedback about this.

[KIAaze]

v1.0.8 is out: https://launchpad.net/webcontentcontrol/trunk/1.0.8
There were some missing dependencies in the previous package.

edit:
@DrumBoyG
I made a mistake: The program might currently not work correctly if you don't have gksudo, gedit and bash installed.

While bash may not be a problem, gksudo and gedit will be since they aren't available on Kubuntu by default as far as I know.

Solution: Install gksu + gedit.

I'll quickly fix the .deb and will try adding use of kdesudo + kate if on KDE later.

[Kaaiman]

Is the Debian package also compatible with Ubuntu 8.10?
Would it also run flawlessly on Ubuntu 64-bit theoretically?

[DrumBoyG]

My goodness, what a rapid process I have started....LOL. Thanks so much KIAaze for your hard work
Ok, so that I'm not lost and to be sure I'm doing this right the first time....LOL..... I disregard the install instructions on the beginning of this thread w/ doing an apt-get all the gambas2 packages, dansguardian, tinyproxy and firehol. And then make install of webcontentcontrol, right? I can skip doing all that and just install gksu and gedit and then download webcontentcontrol_1.0.8-_i386.deb and not webcontentcontrol_1.08.tar.gz? Double click the deb package and all the necessardy installs will install and be ready to go?
Will the deb package work w/ Kubuntu8.10 or do I need to use the tarball?

So, editing the dansguardian config file thru gui I can add what users to filter? If not, at least be able to use sudu if that person has admin rights, to bypass it when a page is blocked? (Which I wouldn't give my kids admin rights anyway so access to sudo would be an NO. I don't think I'd give my wife sudo, either....LOL). I read the group_config setup dansguardian and the only thing I don't understand or how to setup is identifing the username as it mentions since your install doesn't use squid. What do I setup to pass the info to dansguardian and setup dansguardian to see it?

Also, as you keep coming out w/ updates, how do you apply those once you've already installed one of your previous packages?

Thanks again for everything.

[KIAaze]

IMPORTANT: I noticed a big problem with my last debian package: Some paths in the scripts were relative to my own filesystem.
Just fixed that with this new release:
https://launchpad.net/webcontentcontrol/trunk/1.0.9

Is the Debian package also compatible with Ubuntu 8.10?

Yes.

Would it also run flawlessly on Ubuntu 64-bit theoretically?

The debian package was built for 32-bit, but it may work on 64-bit. (I can't test it since I don't have access to a 64-bit machine)
But you should be able to build it for 64-bit using the .tar.gz package.
I would be glad if you could help me create 64-bit debian packages.
All you have to do is the following:

tar -xzvf webcontentcontrol-1.0.9.tar.gz
cd webcontentcontrol-1.0.9/
./testing/release.sh

It will ask for a password at the end to sign the packages, but you can just hit ctrl+C.
If you have a GPG signature, you can enter your password and sign them of course.
I'll be glad to upload your packages on launchpad. Or if you have a launchpad account, I can add you to the dev group and you'll be able to upload them yourself.

Ok, so that I'm not lost and to be sure I'm doing this right the first time....LOL..... I disregard the install instructions on the beginning of this thread w/ doing an apt-get all the gambas2 packages, dansguardian, tinyproxy and firehol. And then make install of webcontentcontrol, right? I can skip doing all that and just install gksu and gedit and then download webcontentcontrol_1.0.8-_i386.deb and not webcontentcontrol_1.08.tar.gz? Double click the deb package and all the necessardy installs will install and be ready to go?

Yes, exactly. At least I hope. That's why I need testers.

Will the deb package work w/ Kubuntu8.10 or do I need to use the tarball?

It will work, however, as I said, it currently uses gksudo and gedit (firefox and nautilus too in some rare cases).
They are not necessary to launch the GUI itself, but will be necessary as soon as you start pressing certain buttons.

I already added a Gnome/KDE switcher in the "advanced settings" tab of the GUI.
It will work for the buttons in the first tab and some others, but not all.

So, editing the dansguardian config file thru gui I can add what users to filter?

Yes, but I don't know how to do it yet myself. ^^
By default, it will filter everybody.

If not, at least be able to use sudo if that person has admin rights, to bypass it when a page is blocked?

"Blocked-page-bypassing" doesn't work yet (and I hadn't even thought about implementing it).
Just turn off the webfilter if you want to access porn or whatever it is that's blocked.

I read the group_config setup dansguardian and the only thing I don't understand or how to setup is identifing the username as it mentions since your install doesn't use squid. What do I setup to pass the info to dansguardian and setup dansguardian to see it?

I don't know, I haven't tried it yet myself. Once I finished other important stuff like KDE compatibility, I'll have a look at it.

Also, as you keep coming out w/ updates, how do you apply those once you've already installed one of your previous packages?

Theoretically, you could just install one over the other.
However, since it's still under heavy development, I recommend removing the previous package before installing a new one.
This is also better for testing purposes (install in a clean environment).
How to remove a .deb package:

sudo apt-get remove webcontentcontrol