parental control app for open-source desktop

[Tomek CEDRO]

Aside from politics and digital-id whatever its called, is there any
real good working "parental control" solution for the open-source
platforms for parents that want to give ~10yo kids their first
computer?

Something that would block nasty sites, monitor activity, set timers,
math riddles to the (un)lock screen, etc.

There are solutions for mobile platforms and commercial desktop OS but
is there anything for BSD/Linux desktops?

We could convince parents to use open-source desktops with some safety
mechanisms provided on the older computers usually available for free
:-)

Maybe even a dedicated use-case for FreeBSD installer :-)

Any hints appreciated :-)

--
CeDeROM, SQ7MHZ, http://www.tomek.cedro.info

[Ralf Mardorf]

"The mailing list is now put on emergency moderation, meaning your
messages have to be approved by the moderation team before they are
accepted.

This has been done due to the heated "Age Verification" discussion" -
https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-g...@lists.archlinux.org/thread/ZDCGMS3CBFVS2YHGMDBZPYCRBKGH3SZQ/

The moderator protects the immature Arch Linux users from themselves and
then eventually informs us of the decision made by the mature Arch Linux
developers. That's how it works!

The best reply is from someone named Jonathan Whitlock: "it's clearly a
political movement designed to sew dissent among us" -
https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/arch-g...@lists.archlinux.org/message/2LGTCARUNVXLGPEGMNI2HKQDOTM2EMMJ/

Solution:

"# $FreeBSD: src/COPYRIGHT,v 1.6.2.1 2006/02/08 09:11:57 ru Exp $
# @(#)COPYRIGHT 8.2 (Berkeley) 3/21/94

The compilation of software known as MidnightBSD is distributed under
the following terms:

Residents of any countries, states or territories that require age
verification for operating systems, are not authorized to use
MidnightBSD. This list currently includes Brazil, effective March 17,
2026, California, effective January 1, 2027, and will include Colorado,
Illinois and New York provided they pass their currently proposed
legislation. We urge users to write their representatives to get these
laws repealed or replaced.

Copyright (C) 2006-2026 The MidnightBSD Project. All rights reserved." -
https://github.com/MidnightBSD/src?tab=License-1-ov-file

My 2 Cents,
Ralf

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Mon, 2026-03-09 at 20:34 +0100, Tomek CEDRO wrote:
> Aside from politics and digital-id whatever its called, is there any
> real good working "parental control" solution for the open-source
> platforms for parents that want to give ~10yo kids their first
> computer?

Pardon, maybe use restricted nameservers, such as 1.1.1.3.

[Ralf Mardorf]

Once again, I apologize. I am very much in favor of protecting children
appropriately, but my thoughts were still on that Californian horror
story. Apart from family-friendly name servers, I can't think of
anything else at the moment. And even those are questionable, because
they also suppress content that progressive people do not consider
harmful to children. They are probably more likely Christian American
fundamentalist nameservers.

[Polarian]

Hey,

Ralf, Please keep Arch Linux drama off the FreeBSD mailing list, thank
you.

Tomek:

I can't really help you with software choice, however there is a
few options.

Firstly unlike windows, non-privileged users on Linux can't really
install or run anything, so obviously you should hold root, and they
have a non-root account.

A porn/ad/spyware host file could be installed into /etc/hosts, they
won't be able to edit it without root. Obviously if you are okay with
them having porn and stuff, you can change the host file accordingly.
Theres many of these host files hanging around Github. You can also use
pihole for this as well.

As for screen time, this is a pretty pointless topic IMO. From
experience as a kid in the past as I was raised in the digital age,
screen time limits are more hassle than its worth. You spend more
time adjusting the screen time, adding/removing time than
anything else. Instead it could be better just to ensure that they are
getting things done, spending enough time outside, etc.

As for chat, XMPP can actually be really powerful here, if you have
sysadmin experience you could spin up a prosody server on a RPI at
home, or potentially use a cheap vps in the cloud, make accounts for
you, and other family members, and one for them. You can then control
the peering, and limit which JIDs can message your child(ren).

But as with all things, kids will always try to outsmart you, and no
digital solution will be perfect, especially if they get interested in
computer science they will learn how to bypass in time.

Might be best to be a laptop? Then you can give/take it freely, to have
more control over it?

I don't know, this is just some things I could think of.

Hope it helps,
--
Polarian
Jabber/XMPP: pola...@icebound.dev

[Wojciech Puchar]

> Aside from politics and digital-id whatever its called, is there any
> real good working "parental control" solution for the open-source
> platforms for parents that want to give ~10yo kids their first
> computer?

anyone who have even basic understanding of internet knows that such
solution doesn't exist. Unless that computer will not be internet
connected, or maybe within private intranet/VPN.

[Tomek CEDRO]

https://cybernews.com/best-parental-control-apps/android/

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Mon, 2026-03-09 at 20:20 +0000, Polarian wrote:
> Hey,
>
> Ralf, Please keep Arch Linux drama off the FreeBSD mailing list, thank
> you.

Once again, I apologize. Since Tomek CEDRO knows me from Linux Debian
days, back in the Stone Age, I hope he understands that I was in an
emotional trap and therefore misunderstood his request.

> Tomek:
>
> I can't really help you with software choice, however there is a
> few options.

I am not aware of any BSD/Linux-related protection that would be
comparable to Apple products. However, there are apps from
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu that are not only academic
educational, but also fun for children.

Perhaps limit it to certain apps + a nameserver that doesn't resolve
every crap.

[Ralf Mardorf]

There are no solutions, but there are mitigations ;).

[Tomek CEDRO]

On Mon, Mar 9, 2026 at 9:42 PM Ralf Mardorf <ralf-m...@riseup.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 2026-03-09 at 20:20 +0000, Polarian wrote:
> > Hey,
> > Ralf, Please keep Arch Linux drama off the FreeBSD mailing list, thank
> > you.
> Once again, I apologize. Since Tomek CEDRO knows me from Linux Debian
> days, back in the Stone Age, I hope he understands that I was in an
> emotional trap and therefore misunderstood his request.

No worries man, I get you, its really hard to talk with people
nowadays, looks more and more like pre-programmed bots as in your joke
true :D

> > Tomek:
> > I can't really help you with software choice, however there is a
> > few options.
> I am not aware of any BSD/Linux-related protection that would be
> comparable to Apple products. However, there are apps from
> https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu that are not only academic
> educational, but also fun for children.
> Perhaps limit it to certain apps + a nameserver that doesn't resolve
> every crap.

Yup, the easiest and maybe only way so far for non-geek folks is to
use "safe" DNS, thus my question :-)

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Mon, 2026-03-09 at 21:52 +0100, Tomek CEDRO wrote:
> No worries man, I get you

:)

Thank you!

[infoomatic]

On 09.03.26 20:34, Tomek CEDRO wrote:
> Something that would block nasty sites

> ...
>
> Any hints appreciated :-)
>

Had that topic just recently ...
Regarding blocking nasty sites, I can recommend dns/blocky from
https://0xerr0r.github.io/blocky/latest/ ... or have a look at
https://pi-hole.net/

Go through those sources of blocklists:
https://github.com/hagezi/dns-blocklists
https://github.com/stamparm/ipsum
https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts
https://iplists.firehol.org/ (some need conversion for blocky to read them)
https://github.com/alexsannikov/adguardhome-filters
https://github.com/columndeeply/hosts

Other informative sites:
https://cleanbrowsing.org/filters
https://www.opendns.com/setupguide/#familyshield
https://one.one.one.one/family/
https://controld.com/free-dns
https://www.techlockdown.com/articles/porn-blocker-dns
https://jamiat.org.za/5-dns-services-to-block-porn-sites-without-installing-software/


Regards,
Robert

[freebsd...@passmail.net]

Hello,

May I suggest AdGuardHome (aka AGH) that is in ports www/adguardhome. It can be used as local DNS forwarder and it handles following protocols plain DNS, DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-HTTPS (HTTP/2 and HTTP/3), DNS-over-QUIC, DNSCrypt. It works fine with public DNS resolvers or your local DNS resolver (dns/unbound for example).
HaGeZi's blocklists are very well curated and they are already in Filtering menu in AGH (except NSFW blocklist but you can easily add it). You can also block DoH/Proxy/VPN servers so your children will not be able to activate DoH in their Web browsers.
More details on HaGeZi's GitHub web repo https://github.com/hagezi/dns-blocklists
About AGH the GitHub web repo is https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome

Kind regards.
Alexandre

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Tue, 2026-03-10 at 10:19 +0000, freebsd...@passmail.net wrote:
> so your children will not be able to activate DoH in their Web
> browsers

Good point!

In Firefox, Waterfox for example

Edit > Settings > Privacy & Security > Enable DNS over HTTPS using

[x] Off

It's not too hard to chooses anything else.

Ironically, I came across it some time ago for a completely different
reason. Until then, I hadn't realized what was going on.

[Ralf Mardorf]

Maybe making the browser's config file (immutable and) only editable by
root might (or might not) work, too.

[Wojciech Puchar]

>> anyone who have even basic understanding of internet knows that such
>> solution doesn't exist. Unless that computer will not be internet
>> connected, or maybe within private intranet/VPN.
>
> https://cybernews.com/best-parental-control-apps/android/

People that give smartphones to children should be punished

[Ralf Mardorf]

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get by without a smartphone or at
least a feature phone, so at some point you have to learn how to use
them. Personally, I find that learning how to use smartphones "properly"
is similar to learning how to use crystal meth "properly", but I realize
that since I only use a landline phone, I have real problems in everyday
life. For example, to confirm a doctor's appointment, I had to ask a
friend to receive a code via SMS for me, and that's just the tip of the
iceberg of inconveniences I have to endure on a daily basis.

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Tue, 2026-03-10 at 14:06 +0100, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Tue, 2026-03-10 at 12:49 +0100, Wojciech Puchar wrote:
> > > > anyone who have even basic understanding of internet knows that
> > > > such solution doesn't exist. Unless that computer will not be
> > > > internet connected, or maybe within private intranet/VPN.
> > >
> > > https://cybernews.com/best-parental-control-apps/android/
> > People that give smartphones to children should be punished
>
> Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get by without a smartphone or
> at least a feature phone

I use a jailbroken iPad, Wi-Fi without cellular support. Jailbreaking
never brings any real advantages, so the idea of offering children a BSD
and/or Linux computer is pretty good. Government regulations are
ridiculous, so it would be good if we as the FLOSS community could show
how to do it right. Can we do it? I'll take a look at myself too.

[Wojciech Puchar]

you are all crazy.

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Tue, 2026-03-10 at 19:38 +0100, Wojciech Puchar wrote:
>
> you are all crazy.

Personally, I think it's okay to give children a computer without an
internet connection.

However, I would like to point out that specialist literature in the
form of books on a child's areas of interest is very expensive.

The internet cannot completely replace specialist literature in book
form, but in many areas, especially for children who are just starting
out, it is a useful alternative.

The Internet rarely provides such material in the form of PDFs, it is
usually found in wikis or individual articles.

Just look at how the world has changed. Coffee producers, for example,
have always sold lifestyle products alongside their coffee, such as
clothing. In the past, they also sold books, but nowadays you're more
likely to find a smartphone case than a book among such additional
products.

One should not assume that children are generally interested in crap.
They have a thirst for knowledge, and once they have found an area that
interests them, they stick with it and engage with it instead of wasting
their time with some rubbish from the internet.

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Tue, 2026-03-10 at 19:38 +0100, Wojciech Puchar wrote:
> you are all crazy.

PS:

Perhaps one last argument in favor of child-friendly computers.

In the past, children could browse in bookstores, record stores, etc.
while walking through the pedestrian zone. Today, this is no longer the
case in many pedestrian zones, a child would have to make a special trip
to a public library to browse through books, CDs, etc. because certain
businesses are hardly available anymore.

Today, browsing takes place on the internet.

Family-friendly name servers, child search engines, parents who take a
look at their children's browser history, or things like what the OP
asked for, “monitor activity, set timers, math riddles to the (un)lock
screen,” are approaches.

This does not exempt parents from setting a good example for their
children. You don't smoke a joint and drink a glass of vodka with your
breakfast in front of your children, and you certainly don't fiddle
around with your smartphone at the breakfast table in front of them.

You are requested to converse with the children. For all I care, you can
even speak with your mouth full.

From the Internet:

#!/bin/bash
# Beispiel für ein einfaches Matherätsel-Lock
a=$((RANDOM%10+1))
b=$((RANDOM%10+1))
res=$((a+b))
ans=$(zenity --entry --title="Bildschirmsperre" --text="$a + $b = ?")
if [ "$ans" == "$res" ]; then
echo "Entsperrt"
else
# Zeigt das Sperrbild erneut an, falls falsch
$0
fi

It is said that such scripts can be used with some X screen lockers,
such as
https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=i3lock&sektion=1&manpath=freebsd-ports

Not a math , but code breaking:

https://github.com/JamieFlournoy/Lock-Puzzle-Solver/blob/master/lockpuzzle.rb

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Tue, 2026-03-10 at 22:36 +0100, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> It is said that such scripts can be used with some X screen lockers,
> such as
> https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=i3lock&sektion=1&manpath=freebsd-ports

?

Maybe

https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=slock&apropos=0&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.0.quarterly&format=html

If provided, cmd [arg ...] is executed after the screen has been locked.

$ slock /path/to/math_riddle.sh

?

[Waitman Gobble]

You could set up squid /usr/ports/www/squid and dansguardian
https://dnaeon.github.io/dansguardian-squid-freebsd/


--
Waitman Gobble
650-209-2610