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• Launchpad Entry: edubuntu-profile-and-network-session-management

• Packages affected:

Summary

Sabayon and Pesselus are the gnome applications for managing session profiles and desktop lockdown. Unfortunately, they have some rough edges. We need to fix this, so we can install Sabayon/Pessulus as the default application set for managing user profiles and locking down the desktop.

Release Note

Sabayon/Pessulus are the default applications installed by Edubuntu to allow administrators to manage user profiles and lock down desktops.

Rationale

Administrators want to be able to customize the desktop for their users, adding icons, changing panel layouts and locking down functionallity. The tool for the job in a gnome environment as edubuntu ships it is the combination of Sabayon and Pessulus.

Use Cases

• Sonja runs a school network, and wants to have icons on the desktop, as opposed to the panel, as her young students find it easier to click the larger buttons. She creates a Sabayon profile, and adds the icons. All of her sudents are members of the "student" group in /etc/groups, so she assigns the profile to the "student" group, and everything works as expected.
• Willy is a math teacher, to avoid his students being distracted by options in the desktop menu of their PCs they use for creating mathematical formulas he creates a restricted profile that only allows usage of some few applications his students will need for the class. All his students are in the willy-math group, he applies the profile to this group and the students wont be able to use anything willy didn't want them to use.

Assumptions

• Sabayon/Pessulus are installed by default.
• A default "open" profile is installed to provide a starting point.

Design

• Sabayon:

  • Sabayon Is maintained upstream (there were rumours it would be dead), so we should join the mailing lists, and start sending patches.

  • The default behaviour should be, once installed it shouldn't cause any visible change, then the admin can lock down from there.
  • There is a plan to merge Sabayon and Pesselus upstream into a single source package, but the different tools will remain, as some people will want to have lockdown featurs without profiles.
  • Profile groups
    • Apply Sabayon profiles by unix group id. This new feature will have to be added.
  • Make the application of Default/Mandatory keys a little more intuitive. Minor UI changes are needed to implement this.
  • The target for hardy will be installing Sabayon/Pessulus by default on an LTSP/Edubuntu server model.
  • Needs some really nice docs so ogra's mother can understand its usage. Submit docs back upstream.
  • LDAP mode? Don't worry for hardy.
    • Should be more straightforward after LDAP server makes it into hardy to add this later.
• Pessulus:
  • Needs a mode, similar to Sabayon, where we can assign lockdowns based on users/groups, and not all or nothing as it is now.
  • We should review the icon, it currently rather looks like a firewall app or virus scanner (It's a shield)
• Testing:
  • We need to be extremely vocal to the community and GET THEM TO TEST.
    • This will be key, as we want it there by default.

Implementation

• Add above listed functionality to Pessulus
• Add above listed functionality to Sabayon
• Create a set of default profiles (at least one open profile to be shipped by default)
• Include sabayon as well in edubuntu seeds (pessulus is shipped already)

UI Changes

• Change pessulus icon
• Add UI pieces needed for grouping users
• Improve the sabayon UI for easier use of Default and Mandatory key settings (hidden in a context menu nowadays)
• Get the docteam to update documentation accordingly

Code Changes

• Mostly usability fixes that will be sent as patches upstream
• We will develop a set of default profiles that will be shipped
• A feature for using unix groups as a base for sabayon has to be developed.

Migration

• Evaluate how widespread the usage is right now through the mailing lists and forums, account for any changes.

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CategorySpec CategoryEdubuntuSpec