---
name: "malcontent-timerd"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "malcontent"
version: "0.14.0-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/malcontent-timerd"
---

# malcontent-timerd(8)

Parental Controls Timer Daemon

## NAME

malcontent-timerd — Parental Controls Timer Daemon

## SYNOPSIS

**malcontent-timerd \[-a** bus-address**\]**

## DESCRIPTION

**malcontent-timerd is a coordination process for storing and querying** **session and app usage records. Child accounts which are under parental control** **on the computer submit usage records of their time spent using a login session** **or apps, and malcontent-timerd combines and stores those records for a** **period of weeks to allow session and app usage limits to be imposed on the child** **account, and to allow parent users to query the child’s usage of the computer.**

**malcontent-timerd is designed to be run by [systemd(1)](/systemd/1.md), being** **D-Bus activated. There should be no need to run malcontent-timerd** **manually. Use [malcontent-client(8)](/malcontent-client/8.md) to submit usage entries and query** **session limits and time remaining from the command line.**

## OPTIONS

- **-a**, **--bus-address=**

  **Address of a D-Bus message bus to connect to. This is intended for debugging** **use only. (Default: The system bus.)**

- **-t**, **--inactivity-timeout=**

  **Inactivity timeout (in milliseconds) to wait before exiting the service if no** **requests have been made during that period. If set to 0, the timeout is** **disabled and the service will run indefinitely. (Default: 30 seconds.)**

## ENVIRONMENT

**malcontent-timerd supports the standard GLib environment variables for** **debugging. These variables are not intended to be used in production:**

- *$G\_MESSAGES\_DEBUG*

  **This variable can contain one or more debug domain names to display debug output** **for. The value** *all* **will enable all debug output. The default is for no** **debug output to be enabled.**

## EXIT STATUS

**malcontent-timerd may return one of several error codes if it encounters** **problems.**

- 0

  **No problems occurred. The timer daemon ran, responded to zero or more requests,** **and then exited due to being explicitly closed, or timing out due to finishing** **all requests.**

- 1

  **An invalid option was passed to malcontent-timerd on startup.**

- 2

  **The D-Bus name for malcontent-timerd was not available.**

- 3

  **malcontent-timerd was run in an inappropriate environment, for example** **as the root user.**

## FILES

- */lib/systemd/system/malcontent-timerd.service*

  **[systemd(1)](/systemd/1.md) service file which specifies the runtime environment for** **malcontent-timerd. See [systemd.service(5)](/systemd.service/5.md).**

## SEE ALSO

**[malcontent-client(8)](/malcontent-client/8.md),** **[malcontent-timer-extension-agent(8)](/malcontent-timer-extension-agent/8.md)**

## BUGS

**Any bugs which are found should be reported on the project website:**\
 *https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pwithnall/malcontent/-/issues*

## AUTHOR

**GNOME Foundation, Inc.** **Philip Withnall**

## COPYRIGHT

**Copyright © 2025 GNOME Foundation, Inc.**