I'd like to set time limits for some specific applications (such as games) on Ubuntu. There are various Windows applications that can do this, including HomeGuard Program Blocker, which can limit the usage of certain applications to specific times of day, or restrict application use to certain periods of time. Is there any similar software for Ubuntu?
I just made the following script for this purpose. I named it timelimit:
#!/bin/bash
#timelimit - Set daily time limits for specific applications
#Licensed under the standard MIT license:
#Copyright 2013 Radu Rădeanu (https://askubuntu.com/users/147044/).
#Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE
if [ $# -ne 1 ];then
echo "Usage: `basename $0` APP_NAME"
exit 1
fi
export DISPLAY=:0
app_name=$@
time_to_play_daily="2:30:00" # channge as you wish; the format is: H[:M[:S]]
file="$HOME/.count_time_$app_name"
if [ -a $file ]; then
if [ "$(head -1 $file)" != "$(date +%D)" ]; then
echo $(date +%D) > $file
echo $time_to_play_daily >> $file
fi
else
touch $file
echo $(date +%D) >> $file
echo $time_to_play_daily >> $file
fi
time_to_play_left=$(sed -n '2p' $file)
sec_left=$(echo $time_to_play_left | awk -F: '{ print ($1 * 3600) + ($2 * 60) + $3 }')
function countdown
{
sec_left=$(echo $time_to_play_left | awk -F: '{ print ($1 * 3600) + ($2 * 60) + $3 }')
local start=$(date +%s)
local end=$((start + sec_left))
local cur=$start
while [[ $cur -lt $end ]]; do
pid=$(pgrep -x $app_name)
if [ "$pid" != "" ]; then
cur=$(date +%s)
sec_left=$((end-cur))
time_to_play_left="$((sec_left/3600)):$(((sec_left/60)%60)):$((sec_left%60))"
sed -i "2s/.*/$time_to_play_left/" $file
# next line is useful only when you test from terminal
printf "
Time left to play with %s: %02d:%02d:%02d" $app_name $((sec_left/3600)) $(((sec_left/60)%60)) $((sec_left%60))
sleep 1
else
break
fi
done
}
while : ; do
pid=$(pgrep -x $app_name)
sleep 1
if [ "$pid" != "" ]; then
if [ $sec_left -gt 0 ]; then
notify-send -i $app_name "Time left to play with $app_name for today: $time_to_play_left"
else
notify-send -i "error" "Your time to play with $app_name has finished for today!"
fi
countdown $time_to_play_left
pid=$(pgrep -x $app_name)
if [ "$pid" != "" ]; then kill $pid; fi
fi
done
Don't forget to make it executable:
chmod +x timelimit
Syntax:
timelimit APP_NAME
Important:
This script should be restarted at midnight if you don't turn off your computer at night. To do this you can add a cron job like:
00 00 * * * kill `pgrep -x timelimit` && timelimit APP_NAME
More about: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CronHowto
