Restricted login

[Marcelo De Florio]

How can I restrict the login for users to one device (eg: console) ?

MDF

[Antoanetta Naghiu]

Edit /etc/securetty.
"Only root can successfully login on the ttys listed in this file" - qoutes from man login.
So, have /etc/securetty as
console

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

Assuming that the user(s) in question always looged on from a static name device (most notably 'console') then you could always exit in their .profile.

...JRF...

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

Since there are many ways to login (telnet, terminal, console, modem, rlogin), there may be several answers. The easiest for 'normal' UNIX logins (terminals, modems, telnet) is to edit /etc/profile. (.profile can be edited or removed by users) In /etc/profile, you would write a test to look for the user's login name in a file and compare that user with the allowed terminal. You can read the user's login in /etc/profile with the whoami command and the terminal name with the tty command.

[Antoanetta Naghiu]

.profile is under user ownership. Can be modified by the owner anytime.

[Antoanetta Naghiu]

And, sorry for the /etc/securetty, I did not read care fully the question.
If your concern is about a group of users, and the environment permited, you can play with different run levels. (define diferent entry in inittab file).

[Duane Gorder]

The user does not have to own his .profile. Even if it is owned by root and it does not have write permissions for the user, it will work as long as it has read and execute permissions either for a group that the user belongs to or for the world.