Arch Linux

Sloshy

Member

Registered: 2010-04-15

Posts: 56

LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

I made a script that works similarly to DeepFreeze this week for Linux, but on a per-user (and per-directory) basis instead of the entire system. It prevents permanent file changes by discarding any changes made to files and folders on reboot using tmpfs. It's meant for areas like cafes, libraries and whatnot. I posted it to Rolling Release here if you want to check it out: http://rollingrelease.com/software/2010 … an-account

It's currently only in English, which is the only language I speak, and most of the features I have planned aren't implemented yet, such as "freezing" more than one user at a time, "freezing" entire partitions, "freezing" specific folders, allowing certain folders and files to be exempt from "freezing", and a GUI of some sort. I'll try to put at least one of these in by the end of the month, and maybe the rest before the end of the year.

Current feature list:
'Freezing' (preventing changes to) users and directories, multiple at a time. (-f [user] and -d [directory])
'Unfreezing' users and directories; all at once or one at a time. (-u for all, -s [user/dir] for one at a time)
Removing the temporary directories it creates (-c).
Listing all frozen users and directories (-l)
Very little dependencies (as shown on the AUR package page)
Man page containing a thorough explanation on the script, its options, and the files it touches.

AUR package here: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=41504

GitHub page: https://github.com/sloshy/LinFreeze

Last edited by Sloshy (2010-11-13 03:54:55)

Burning_aces

Member

Registered: 2009-09-29

Posts: 120

Re: LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

nice work. ill have a look at it, the folder part will be good for me.

Sloshy

Member

Registered: 2010-04-15

Posts: 56

Re: LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

Updated to version 0.2, now with the ability to remove .dynamic and .static directories and the ability to freeze multiple users! I've updated the AUR package as well.

Sloshy

Member

Registered: 2010-04-15

Posts: 56

Re: LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

nice work. ill have a look at it, the folder part will be good for me.

You mean "freezing" specific folders? I'm sorry but I don't have that implemented yet. I'll be sure to work on it though, as it's next in my list of features to add.

EDIT: Feature added!

Last edited by Sloshy (2010-10-21 13:54:05)

Sloshy

Member

Registered: 2010-04-15

Posts: 56

Re: LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

LinFreeze 0.5 released! Changelog:

  * Freezing directories (-d) is now possible! The list of frozen directories is located in /etc/.frozen.
  * Merged the ability to freeze multiple users with the original 'freeze' (-f) function.
  * Rewrote the 'clean' (-c) and 'unfreeze' (-u) functions to support frozen directories.
  * Fixed an awful bug which wouldn't let you un-freeze a user while a system was frozen.
  * Removed direct access to the 'prep' (formerly -p) function because of pointlessness.

Sloshy

Member

Registered: 2010-04-15

Posts: 56

Re: LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

New release, 0.5.2! When you freeze a directory it now lets you change the ownership of the dynamic/static directories it creates for temporary files. I also made a man page! You can read it with "man linfreeze". Enjoy!

Sloshy

Member

Registered: 2010-04-15

Posts: 56

Re: LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

v0.9, aka "1.0 RC1". I added a feature to list the users/directories that are frozen (-l) and a feature to unfreeze a specific user or directory without having to unfreeze all of them at once (-s [user/dir]). Please check my code and post suggestions! I want 1.0 to be as perfect as possible. It should be reasonably bug free, but anything you find is acceptable: grammar fixes, re-wordings, re-organization, anything!

distrohopperarched

Member

Registered: 2012-02-06

Posts: 45

Re: LinFreeze: Prevent permanent file changes

Congrats to Sloshy !

I'd say this is a pretty important software, wonder why nobody seems to use it. It's a pity it's deprecated, as aufs2 is gone. Can this be revived ? Are there alternatives in Arch now ?

I hope I won't be shot for necro-bumping but I guess this is the place to post.