ys1998 / webthwart

A terminal based utility to block, manage and unblock websites for productivity

WebThwart

Website blocking tool for Ubuntu

Overview

WebThwart is a terminal based utility for Ubuntu and other similar Linux distros that aids in blocking, managing and unblocking websites for better productivity and a distract-free online experience.

Based on the (safe) exploitation of /etc/hosts system-config file, WebThwart provides the following features :

---

Installation

Download the repository as a .zip file and then extract it, or clone it using the command

git clone https://github.com/ys1998/WebThwart.git

Change permissions of the block.sh file :

cd WebThwart/
chmod 755 block.sh

The block.sh script can be used as such by invoking it with ./block.sh. For using it as a normal terminal command, follow these steps :

sudo cp block.sh /usr/bin/block

The script can now be invoked with block only.

---

Usage

The script can be currently used in the following manner :

• Display help menu

block [-h OR --help]

• Block specified websites

block [domain_names of website(s) separated by <SPACE>]

• Block domain names present in a file (one per line)

block [-f OR --file] <file_name>

• Unblock specified domain names

block [-u OR --unblock] [domain_names separated by <SPACE>]

• List all reserved/blocked domain names

block [-l OR --list]

• Reset
  • Reset to refined configuration

   block [-r OR --reset-soft]
  

  • Reset to original configuration

   block [-R OR --reset-hard]
  

---

Screenshots

---

TODO

• Add password-protected unblocking feature
• Implement blocking of domains for specified time interval