---
name: "malcontent-webd"
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-webd"
---

# malcontent-webd(8)

Parental Controls Web Filtering Daemon

## NAME

malcontent-webd — Parental Controls Web Filtering Daemon

## SYNOPSIS

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

## DESCRIPTION

**malcontent-webd is a coordination process for controlling web filtering** **blocklists and allowlists. Child accounts which are under parental control** **on the computer receive blocklists from malcontent-webd and use these to** **determine which websites to allow or block when browsing the internet.**

**malcontent-webd is designed to be run by [systemd(1)](/systemd/1.md), 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 malcontent-webd manually. Use [malcontent-client(8)](/malcontent-client/8.md) to** **edit web filtering blocklists.**

**The actual filtering of web traffic in child sessions is done by an NSS module,** **nss-malcontent(8).**

**If an error occurs while updating the filter lists for all users, on a systemd** **timer, error information will be written to** **/var/lib/malcontent-webd/update-error. On a successful update this file** **will be deleted.**

**The error file is a key file, for example:**

-

  **\[Web Filter Update Error\]**\
   **ErrorCode=org.freedesktop.MalcontentWeb1.Filtering.Error.Downloading  # this field is optional**\
   **ErrorMessage\[en\_GB\]=There was an error downloading foo from blah.     # this field is mandatory**

## 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-webd 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-webd may return one of several error codes if it encounters** **problems.**

- 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.**

- 1

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

- 2

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

- 3

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

## FILES

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

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

## SEE ALSO

**[malcontent-client(8)](/malcontent-client/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.**