Basic Usage¶

When using Chomper, you define rules of websites to blacklist or whitelist in a YAML file. Blocks are then executed using selected rules for a number of minutes specified by the user.

Types of Rules¶

A rule can either be a blacklist or a whitelist

blacklist: a set of websites which you cannot go to
whitelist: an exclusive set of websites which you can go to

A rule is composed of addresses, which can be

domains: e.g. facebook.com
subdomains: e.g. unix.stackexchange.com
URLS: e.g. github.com/coleifer/peewee

For example, if unix.stackexchange.com is part of a whitelist rule named coding, when coding is executed, the user will be able to go to unix.stackexchange.com, but will not be able to go to aviation.stackexchange.com.

Configuration File¶

Chomper’s rules are configured through a simple YAML file located at ./chomper/data/rules.yaml. The first level specifies the names of the rules. The second level defines whether a rule is a blacklist or whitelist, and the addresses involved in a rule. An example configuration file is found below

coding:
  - block_type:
      - whitelist
  - addresses:
    - stackoverflow.com
    - unix.stackexchange.com
    - python.org
nosocial:
  - block_type:
      - blacklist
  - addresses:
      - facebook.com
      - instagram.com
      - twitter.com
allon:
  - block_type:
      - blacklist
  - addresses:
      - abcdxyz.com
alloff:
  - block_type:
      - whitelist
  - addresses:
      - abcdxyz.com

The last two rules, allon and alloff, are ad-hoc implementations to either allow or block all websites.

Executing Blocks¶

Blocks are executed through the syntax chomper rule_name num_minutes

For example, with the above YAML file,

chomper coding 10 will allow you to only visit those websites under the coding rule for 10 minutes
chomper nosocial 20 will allow you to visit all websites except those under the nosocial rule for 20 minutes

Overlapping Blocks¶

When you execute a block, you are locked in to that block. If you try to execute a new block while a block is in progress, you will be prevented from executing the new block.

Resetting a Block¶

If you have administrator privileges, you can execute make reset from the ./chomper directory. This will restore your Internet access to normal.

However, be wary of the following possibility:

You set a block at 11:00 A.M. for 30 minutes.
At 11:15 A.M., you reset the block with make reset.
If, at 11:20 A.M., you try to set a new block, instead, your old block will be enacted (due to the overlapping blocks feature).