How to deal with locked down University Linux machines

A web page for dealing with super locked down laptops.

  1. Installing software

  2. Minimize buttons

  3. Troubleshooting

Installing software

Installing .rpm software without sudo

  1. Download .rpm file

  2. Create a file structure

mkdir -p ~/local/pkg
mkdir -p ~/local/src/<software name>
mkdir -p ~/local/bin

  1. Extract the .rpm

cp Downloads/<software name>.rpm ~/local/pkg
cd ~/local/src/<software name>
rpm2cpio ~/local/pkg/<filename>.rpm | cpio -id

  1. Link libraries (if needed)

  2. Find binary and link to ~/local/bin

ln -sf ~local/src/<softwarename>/usr/bin ~/local/bin

  1. Add ~/local/bin/ to your path by pasting the following into your .bashrc

for dir in "$HOME/local/bin"; do
  if [ -d "$dir" ]; then
    PATH="$dir:$PATH"
  fi
done

  1. reload (source .bashrc) your .bashrc and run your application

  2. In order to run this from the applications menu you need to follow the steps below:

    1. Go to settings –> search –> cog in right bottom corner –> Other –> Add the location of your bin folder

    2. Change the name of your sym links to end in .sh

    3. Open Files, cling on settings menu (top left) –> Preferences –> Behaviour –> Executable Text Files –> Run Them*

    4. Now you can run your applications

* Select this option at your own peril, no downloading untrusted random files and opening them!

Notes for specific software

  • Slack works out the box this way, but certain workspaces need a further work around to log in see below

  • Google chrome requires you to link a bunch of libraires that should be found in /lib64/ or /usr/lib64 into ~/local/src/chrome/opt/google/chrome/

please add to this any further tips

Minimize buttons

RHEL - obtaining a more standard desktop environment

  • Search for tweaks in Activities (or gnome-tweaks in terminal)

  • Click windows and scroll down to add back in minimise and maximise buttons

  • Extenstions tab allows you to add back in windows list, and additional menus rather than the default activities for navigation

Troubleshooting

TimeErrors

Plug directly into uni network to sync with time servers ( will not work on eduroam or via vpn)

Logging in to Slack Work Spaces

  1. Open a terminal and leave this code running

while sleep .1; do ps aux | grep slack | grep -v grep | grep magic; done

  1. try to log into slack, in app say log in via browser

  2. The following should appear in the terminal with the code running:

kde-open5 slack://WORKSPACE_ID/magic-login/...
/usr/lib/slack/slack --enable-crashpad slack://workspace_id/magic-login/...

  1. Open that link with slack rather than kde:

slack --enable-crashpad slack://WORKSPACE_ID/magic-login/...