Protect Open Terminals

lock is a simple program which will lock an open terminal window, be it an xterm, or one of the Linux virtual terminals.

When a terminal is locked you may unlock it by entering your login password. The software relies upon the PAM libraries to do the actual authentification, so it should be fairly customizable.

Download the source code from the following URL:

Motivation

Many times I'll want to leave my desk at work and yet have open root shells upon boxes - I don't want to use xlock hence this simple program..

Alternatives

If you're using Debian GNU/Linux you'd probably be better off using xautolock which will lock your desktop with a screensaver if you're idle for a few minutes.