.\" Manpage for malcontent\-webd.
.\" Documentation is under the same licence as the malcontent package.
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
.TH man 8 "9 Jun 2025" "1.0" "malcontent\-webd man page"
.\"
.SH NAME
.IX Header "NAME"
malcontent\-webd — Parental Controls Web Filtering Daemon
.\"
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.\"
\fBmalcontent\-webd [\-a \fPbus\-address\fB]
.\"
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
.\"
\fBmalcontent\-webd\fP is a coordination process for controlling web filtering
blocklists and allowlists. Child accounts which are under parental control
on the computer receive blocklists from \fBmalcontent\-webd\fP and use these to
determine which websites to allow or block when browsing the internet.
.PP
\fBmalcontent\-webd\fP is designed to be run by \fBsystemd\fP(1), being
D\-Bus activated (to update the filter list for a specific user) or activated on
a systemd timer (to update the filter lists for all users). There should be no
need to run \fBmalcontent\-webd\fP manually. Use \fBmalcontent\-client\fP(8) to
edit web filtering blocklists.
.PP
The actual filtering of web traffic in child sessions is done by an NSS module,
\fBnss\-malcontent\fP(8).
.PP
If an error occurs while updating the filter lists for all users, on a systemd
timer, error information will be written to
\fB/var/lib/malcontent\-webd/update\-error\fP. On a successful update this file
will be deleted.
.PP
The error file is a key file, for example:
.IP
[Web Filter Update Error]
.br
ErrorCode=org.freedesktop.MalcontentWeb1.Filtering.Error.Downloading  # this field is optional
.br
ErrorMessage[en_GB]=There was an error downloading foo from blah.     # this field is mandatory
.\"
.SH OPTIONS
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
.\"
.IP "\fB\-a\fP, \fB\-\-bus\-address=\fP"
Address of a D\-Bus message bus to connect to. This is intended for debugging
use only. (Default: The system bus.)
.\"
.IP "\fB\-t\fP, \fB\-\-inactivity\-timeout=\fP"
Inactivity timeout (in milliseconds) to wait before exiting the service if no
requests have been made during that period. If set to \fB0\fP, the timeout is
disabled and the service will run indefinitely. (Default: 30 seconds.)
.\"
.SH "ENVIRONMENT"
.IX Header "ENVIRONMENT"
.\"
\fPmalcontent\-webd\fP supports the standard GLib environment variables for
debugging. These variables are \fBnot\fP intended to be used in production:
.\"
.IP \fI$G_MESSAGES_DEBUG\fP 4
.IX Item "$G_MESSAGES_DEBUG"
This variable can contain one or more debug domain names to display debug output
for. The value \fIall\fP will enable all debug output. The default is for no
debug output to be enabled.
.\"
.SH "EXIT STATUS"
.IX Header "EXIT STATUS"
.\"
\fBmalcontent\-webd\fP may return one of several error codes if it encounters
problems.
.\"
.IP "0" 4
.IX Item "0"
No problems occurred. The web filtering daemon ran, responded to zero or more
requests, and then exited due to being explicitly closed, or timing out due to
finishing all requests.
.\"
.IP "1" 4
.IX Item "1"
An invalid option was passed to \fBmalcontent\-webd\fP on startup.
.\"
.IP "2" 4
.IX Item "2"
The D\-Bus name for \fBmalcontent\-webd\fP was not available.
.\"
.IP "3" 4
.IX Item "3"
\fBmalcontent\-webd\fP was run in an inappropriate environment, for example
as the root user.
.\"
.SH "FILES"
.IX Header "FILES"
.\"
.IP \fI/lib/systemd/system/malcontent\-webd.service\fP 4
.IX Item "/lib/systemd/system/malcontent\-webd.service"
\fBsystemd\fP(1) service file which specifies the runtime environment for
\fBmalcontent\-webd\fP. See \fBsystemd.service\fP(5).
.\"
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
.\"
\fBmalcontent\-client\fP(8)
.\"
.SH BUGS
.IX Header "BUGS"
.\"
Any bugs which are found should be reported on the project website:
.br
\fIhttps://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pwithnall/malcontent/-/issues\fP
.\"
.SH AUTHOR
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
.\"
GNOME Foundation, Inc.
Philip Withnall
.\"
.SH COPYRIGHT
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
.\"
Copyright © 2025 GNOME Foundation, Inc.