macOS Block websites?

[7Deuce]

Hey, newbie programmer here. I would like to write a program that can block a website during a given time of day. I've read around a bit and it seems one possibility would be to write a script that edits /etc/hosts and use launchd/cron(?) to make it run at the desired times. What other ways are there of doing this? I would be looking to do this in python.

 

[Angelo95210]

I think this is the most efficient way, /etc/hosts and cron/launchd being the most low level tools for this.

Eventually you might not use cron/launchd and use your own way of timing. But /etc/hosts is for me the way to go.

 

[Hansr]

+1 for /etc/hosts

An alternative is an SOCKS proxy for all traffic or an in browser solution like Leechblock.

 

[Cromulent]

I think this is the most efficient way, /etc/hosts and cron/launchd being the most low level tools for this.

Eventually you might not use cron/launchd and use your own way of timing. But /etc/hosts is for me the way to go.

Use Celery (a Python framework). It works great as a cron replacement and is extremely powerful. You'll appreciate the fact that you learnt it in many other projects as well.

 

[balamw]

An alternative is an SOCKS proxy for all traffic or an in browser solution like Leechblock.

If you are behind a NAT router/gateway you could also try blocking the site there.

B

 

[7Deuce]

Thanks for all the ideas guys.

I think this is the most efficient way, /etc/hosts and cron/launchd being the most low level tools for this.

Eventually you might not use cron/launchd and use your own way of timing. But /etc/hosts is for me the way to go.

What kind of things did you have in mind when you said 'your own way of timing'?

 

[balamw]

What kind of things did you have in mind when you said 'your own way of timing'?

Cromulent mentioned Celery.

B