News and announcements

Timekpkr-nExT for RPM distros (+ great news for Fedora users)

Written for Timekpr-nExT by Eduards Bezverhijs on 2022-09-13

News for Fedora
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johanh provided a copr repo for Fedora.

Please check: https://mjasnik.gitlab.io/timekpr-next/#installation

Direct link to copr: https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/johanh/timekpr-next/

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Download & use (TL/DR)
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Short and easy version - I created packages for FC32 / Leap 15.2, most likely these work with later releases without problems.

Please feel free to use the packages: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iN1wcPctGhd_OISqzWZ5DigFMVvgSGq9?usp=sharing

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If you are brave enough to try to compile this yourself or want more info, please check this announcement: https://launchpad.net/timekpr-next/+announcement/27532

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If You think I earned something in return for making Timekpr-nExT or just want to contribute, please do so via PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/yc9x85v2 .

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BR,
Mjasnik

Updated on 2022-10-07.

Timekpr-nExT accepted in Debian!

Written for Timekpr-nExT by Eduards Bezverhijs on 2020-07-12

Thanks to Sim (smntov) and Anthony Fok (foka) Timekpr-nExT is officially accepted in Debian!

This means that Timekpr-nExT will be available in Ubuntu software center at some point in time and there will be no need to add ppa (except for beta builds, I guess).

I'll keep You updated if there will be fundamental changes on how I develop / translate / etc. Timekpr-nExT.

If You think I deserve something in return for making Timekpr-nExT or just want to contribute, please do so via PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/yc9x85v2 .

Timekpr-nExT for RPM distros

Written for Timekpr-nExT by Eduards Bezverhijs on 2020-07-10

A short, technical announcement about version for RPM distros...

I have made it possible to create a package for RPM distros.
I created a minimal, but sufficient spec file which can be used to create a package for Fedora 32 and openSUSE Leap 15.2, tested both, BUT I think You can install it on any recent version of those distributions (if dependencies work out fine!).

Download & use
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For those who are not that brave to compile it themselves, I created packages for FC32 / Leap 15.2.

Please feel free to use the packages: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iN1wcPctGhd_OISqzWZ5DigFMVvgSGq9?usp=sharing

NOTE: version 0.5.0 is now considered stable!

Installation and removal using CLI is described below, but one can use graphical installer if preferred, just download and dbl-click on package for installation and removal should be available in package manager for respective distribution.

Installation.
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Fedora / openSUSE:
    sudo rpm -Uhv <downloaded package>
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Removal
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Fedora:
    sudo dnf remove timekpr-next
openSUSE:
    sudo zypper remove timekpr-next
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I do not plan to compile a rpm package for every version I make for Ubuntu, if You want to see packages made for Your favorite RPM distro, please talk to someone from Your distro community.

You may, as well, ask me to build & upload packages, I'll do that if I'll have time...

Build
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Please see the instructions here: https://git.launchpad.net/timekpr-next/plain/spec/README
README contains simple instructions how to get package compiled for FC32 and openSUSE.

Please note that spec file is meant for stable releases, which may not yet be available as source download. Please use pre-made packages if this is the case.

Please use instructions as they are, if You're building them in different way or using completely different method, I'll not be much of help and at that point You're on Your own, sorry.

Notes
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If You have ideas how to improve spec file or see that there is something wrong, please send me an e-mail with suggestions.
Please do not e-mail instructions which uses "distro x specific build system", as I simply will not have any use for them.

You can help
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If You think I deserve something in return for making Timekpr-nExT or just want to contribute, please do so via PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/yc9x85v2 .

Updated on 2021-02-18.

Great features and polish for Timekpr-nExT

Written for Timekpr-nExT by Eduards Bezverhijs on 2020-06-18

I had some time at my hands and in past weeks I was able to greatly polish Timekpr-nExT.
Last month Timekpr-nExT had lock screen time accounting improvements, now it's time for more polish...

TL;DR - new version is great, time to upgrade (firstly in beta form, of course)!

For curious readers, let's continue...

Visible enhancements
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* it's now possible to adjust limits and hour intervals for multiple days at once, just select desired days (or all of them) and set limits and intervals, do not forget to apply the configuration

* un-checking and checking days in day list will restore configuration that was set before instead of clearing it

* administration application now has two more fields - time left today and time left actual, the former is calculated from saved state and shows how much time user still has, latter is available only when particular user is logged in as it's calculated almost in real time

* for console users, administration application now shows a lot more information about user especially when he's logged in, it should greatly help to get the information about user when connecting to computer remotely, couple of labels have been changed as well as option name, please run timekpra --help to see the changes

* administration application will have access to newly created users right after they're added, open administration application and it's possible to adjust configuration right away

* timekpr will not switch to login screen if user which is being terminated is not active at the moment (i.e. other user is using the computer using user switching), this seems to work fine with KDE, Linux Mint Mate, etc., except when Gnome Display Manager is used, if GDM handles Your logins, it will switch to login screen even not being asked to (previously it did not switch even when single user was terminated)

* there's the possibility to turn off icon and notifications for users, it may be beneficial to unlimited users who do not want to see the limitations icon at all (as usual, the switch can be flipped using console mode as well)

Bug fixes
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* fixed an annoying bug for unlimited users when under some circumstances it still counted time despite being unlimited, it did not affect the unlimited time though, it still was unlimited

* fixed time spent for today, now it shows correct values even when more time was added on top of daily limit

Technical improvements
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* fixed control / configuration file recreation in case options are missing, this will help adding options transparently in case more features will be added

* timekpr will not try to switch (and fail) to login screen in case it can not (i.e. session does not have a seat assigned to it, so far to the best of my knowledge only RDP sessions do not have them), this had implication that user was not terminated at all, but now it should be fixed

* refactored quite a lot of code, names, parameters, etc., this was done to be more consistent and correct about actual functionality and names involved in it as well as help introducing a new features easier

Possible upcoming features
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Nikita, one of the users of Timekpr-nExT has developed a working proof of concept for counting time only when specified applications are running, i.e. count time when steam or some game is running. The feature itself is great, thanks Nikita!, but currently it's very technical and will not be understandable to average user.
There were some other technical nuances, which I was able to find a solution for.
If I'll have some more free time, together with Nikita, we'll make this feature available at some point in the future.

The other thing is to hide application icon for unlimited users. One of Timekpr-nExT users asked for it, because apparently it can not be disabled using standard startup application settings.

Closing notes
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Please be aware that 0.4.x versions are incompatible with previous versions. After installing 0.4.x version (even beta), it will not be possible to go back to 0.3.x without getting hands dirty (i.e. modifying config files manually).

If You have ideas for new features, please send them to my e-mail, we'll discuss them and if it's useful and possible to implement without breaking fingers, I'll try to do it :)

If You think I deserve something in return for making Timekpr-nExT or just want to contribute, please do so via PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/yc9x85v2 .

Thanks for listening!

Updated on 2020-06-25.