Requests for Enhancements


From Knoppix Documentation Wiki
Revision as of 08:01, 13 April 2006 by Gh78 (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search

saved files warning on shutdown

Have it check the desktop and home directory for saved files when the user tries to shutdown. If files exist prompt to ask them if they want to continue with shutdown or continue the session so they can upload the files someplace.


Mutiple Logins in Knoppix

I recently had an idea for non-server type computers. This would be implementable on Knoppix, but could be applied to any distribution.

Right now, "knoppix home=scan" will scan media for a knoppix.img file.

<newidea>

It would be cool if the system looked for all files called "home-*.img". For example, I might have a home-hal.img file which would be an encrypted filesystem containg the user hal's home directory.

Suppose it found two files: home-hal.img and home-dave.img. Then the login screen would show four user options: default, hal, dave, and new. Default would create a home directory in the ramdisk using the default settings, just like Knoppix does now.

If I chose hal, it would ask for a passphrase. If that passphrase works on the encrypted home directory, then it would add hal to /etc/passwd, mount the encrypted filesystem at /home/hal, and log me in.

The "new" option would create a new user and a new encrypted home directory on whatever media is chosen.

</newidea>

The advantages are:

  1. One is not limited to the "knoppix" user.
  2. There can be mutliple home-directory images for multiple users on the same hard drive.
  3. This encourages use of encryption for security.
  4. It seems more natural security model. In the old model of enforcing security, the kernel is expected to respect /etc/passwd and home-directory permissions. User A could always use a live-cd to read User B's private files, even if User B had set the permissions on those files to keep them private.

This idea needs work. But I think it has some promise.

This idea shows promise, but probably not in the way you imagine. This needs discussion and a forum would be more appropriate that a wiki page for that. Forum link --Rwcitek 17:38, 21 Sep 2005 (GMT)



Unique Hostname

It would be very nice and useful, if the hostname of the Knoppix box would be unique. This would allow, that there are several Knoppix hosts running on the same net. Currently, if dynamic dns and DHCP is used, only the first "knoppix" host gets added to the DNS.

One easy way would be, to add the MAC adress of the 1st NIC to hostname (without the : of course). This would make the hostname look something like "knoppix-0008743EFDE2".


or cheatcode "hostname=random" "hostname=MAC" "hostname=whateveruwant"


Be Able to save a *compressed* readonly .img--like the saved config but with unionfs and encryption capabilities

this way a cd could be burned with the standard iso, but as a multisession. then you could next burn a compressed .img on the same CD with custom software on it--kind of a poorman's version of remastering. compressed aes would be neat too. --gh78 Thu Apr 13 00:58:56 PDT 2006