Crazy idea: PermittedHours in .desktop files

[marnanel]

It would be rather useful if there was a PermittedHours field in the .desktop file spec. It would list the hours during which the program could be run. That's not just for kids, it's also for me, in the manner of LeechBlock:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Some Program I Use For Work
Comment=But let's say I don't want to be tempted to spend all evening working on it
Exec=foo
PermittedHours=9-17

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Aisleriot
Comment=And I definitely shouldn't be playing this during work hours
Exec=aisleriot
PermittedHours=0-9,17-23

I wonder how best we could do per-user settings, though.

My idea is to prevent launching the program during those hours. What would happen if the system saw the program was still running when the time had expired, I'm not sure. Maybe nothing, or maybe it would put up a notification telling me I have five minutes to quit or the process gets it.

I know nanny does some of this, but I wonder whether it's generally something that should exist in application launchers.

What do you think? Worth suggesting to them?

Comments

The launcher should ask the calendar

[(Anonymous)]

I would love to see the launcher ask the calendar for this information. You would enter your working schedule and any apps in the Games category are not shown during that time. It could show a notification if you started playing before work. For this to work well, you enter vacation in the calendar as well.

The case of a work-specific application or work inbox requires configuration. You need to choose the name of the app and the work account, and similar behaviour can apply.