Freedom

Freedom is an application that disables networking on an Apple computer for up to eight hours at a time. Freedom will free you from the distractions of the internet, allowing you time to code, write, or create. At the end of your selected offline period, Freedom re-enables your network, restoring everything as normal.

Freedom enforces freedom; a reboot is the only circumvention of the Freedom time limit you specify. The hassle of rebooting means you’re less likely to cheat, and you’ll enjoy enhanced productivity. Freedom is free, but if you find Freedom useful, please consider a donation of ten dollars to fund continuing development.

Requirements: Apple OS X, Tested through version 10.6.1

README

Freedom Version 0.5
Copyright Fred Stutzman, fred@fredstutzman.com

To install freedom:
1) Download freedom.dmg
2) Mount the disk, and drag the Freedom application to your Application Folder
3) Unmount the Freedom disk image

To run freedom:
1) Double-click on the Freedom application icon
2) Choose the amount of time you would like to run Freedom
3) Choose if you’d like to run Freedom with local network access, or without local network access (Normal Mode)
4) You will be prompted to enter your password. If you do not have administrator access on your machine, Freedom will not work for you.

What Freedom does:
Freedom disables networking on your Apple computer for up to 8 hours at a time. After the time is up, Freedom will re-enable your network adapters and display a confirmation. Simply restart the program to get another period of freedom.

Local access/Normal mode:
Enabling Freedom with local access allows access to standard internal IP ranges, while blocking external IP ranges. Normal Mode of operation blocks access to all IP ranges.

Note/FAQ:
While Freedom is running, it will appear nonresponsive. This is purposeful. Once Freedom is running and displays its success dialog you may just switch focus to another application.

Requirements:
To use Freedom, your user must have administrative privileges. Additionally, you must be the only active user to run Freedom. Freedom is tested through OS X version 10.5.6.

If you put your computer to sleep, Freedom will still be activated when you come back.  Freedom only counts down “active computing minutes”, meaning if you set Freedom for an hour, use your computer for a half hour and put it to sleep, you will have a half hour remaining when you come back from sleep.

There is a known bug with Freedom and MIcrosoft Word.  Rather, the bug is with Microsoft Word, it doesn’t like it when it can’t get to the internet.  Freedom doesn’t interact with Word in any way.  I’m working around this, if you still have problems with Microsoft Word please let me know.

NOTE:
Stopping or quitting Freedom will not re-enable your network adapters. This is purposeful. To re-enable your network before the time period elapses, you must restart your computer. UNIX administrators will be able to circumvent Freedom.

Theory:
This program is designed to help you get things done, away from the distractions of network connectivity.

Credits:
The freedom icon is designed by David Vignoni, and comes from the Nuvola icon there for KDE 3.x.  It it used under the GNU LGPL. Visit David’s site at http://www.icon-king.com/.

About the author:
Fred Stutzman, fred@fredstutzman.com, http://fredstutzman.com

CHANGELOG

Freedom 0.5
Addressing Microsoft Word bug
Allow for registration/kill the nag screen
Better support for applications that require some form of network access
Better support for remote filesystems
Better stability

Freedom 0.4.1
Added “Freedom is Running” confirmation dialog
Fixed Local Access reestablishment priority bug
Better fault tolerance

Freedom 0.4
Rewrote authentication mechanism
Extended maximum length to eight hours
Wrote local network functionality
Better fault-tolerance when put to sleep
Bugfixes

Freedom 0.3
Extended maximum length to six hours

Freedom 0.2
Bugfixes

Freedom 0.1
Initial release

NO WARRANTY

Because the program is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty for the program, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the program “as is” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.

In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or redistribute the program as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the program to operate with any other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.