How to set Mac OS X parental controls by script

I needed to be able to set the default time to less than 30 minutes.

This script is run by cron every evening to make sure the time is set to 15 minutes:


#!/bin/sh

# Force times to a lower value than the usual default.

# 15 minutes
TVAL=900
USER=user
/usr/bin/dscl . mcxexport /Users/$USER -o /tmp/usertimes$$.exp \
com.apple.familycontrols.timelimits limits-list
awk -v TVAL=$TVAL 'BEGIN { flag=0 } /timeLimitSeconds/ { flag=1;print;next } \
flag == 1 { $1="<integer>" TVAL "</integer>"; flag=0} \
{print}' < /tmp/usertimes$$.exp > /tmp/usertimesnew$$.exp
/usr/bin/dscl . mcximport /Users/$USER /tmp/usertimesnew$$.exp
/bin/rm -f /tmp/usertimes$$.exp /tmp/usertimesnew$$.exp



Replace "user" with the login of the user you want to change.

Please let me know if there is an easier or more elegant way of doing this.