Kiosking Ubuntu computers

teaearlgraycold
2025-12-12T20:20:48Z

I recently set up some public computers with Ubuntu at a hackerspace. People kept logging into their Gmail etc. and forgetting to log out. For their own benefit I changed the computers to use overlayfs so on reboot all changes from the base filesystem (Ubuntu 24.04 + packages + updates) are lost. I'm looking for tips on configuration. Keep in mind that because our users tend to be fairly technical I am not attempting to outright prevent changes, just prevent them by default.

Here are the current details:

The machines have a wallpaper warning users that all changes are wiped on reboot

The normal automatic update system is disabled (updates through it won't persist)

I install updates and reboot on a cronjob at 5am every day (this uses overlayroot-chroot)

The overlay is implemented as an encrypted filesystem on a separate partition, with the key generated on boot and held in memory

Documentation is taped to the desktop computer itself educating users on how to make persistent changes

Comments URL: https://tildes.net/~comp/1rpf/kiosking_ubuntu_computers

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