Is there a way to have users not share apps on GNOME?

juampiursic

Hi! So, the issue is that I want to have another user but I don't want for that user to have access to all the apps previously installed. Is there a way to do that?

craigtoyoracer

when each user logs in their profile loads , thus only their apps. 🙂

juampiursic

craigtoyoracer I've had my user for a couple of years, got my apps for everyday usage, Discord, Inkscape, Spotify, Chrome, Firefox, GIMP, Slack, etc. I've created another user for my GF, non-admin, and she has all of my apps. I wanted to try how she'd behave using Linux from start but with all the apps already installed, it's a no go.

brent

Rabbit-hole question for sure juampiursic .
You=admin g/f=guest
Your question: can I make admin apps invisible to a guest?
I'm thinking a massive project with chowns and group permissions reset? Maybe she can see it but can't launch it?
But if you like your Chrome, for instance, and you don't want her to use your Chrome....can you ban it from launching for a guest? Can you strip it out of the menu and the filesystem so she could never find evidence this app exists as guest? Could an admin hide their apps from a guest login?
I have no idea the answers to my own questions, but you ask a mind-blowing question. Did a superpower like this even exist in the (my) windows days? Does it exist now?
admin vs. guest privileges profiles always seem to revolve around execution of things. but their invisibility? dunno.

Harvey

No. While technically possible to change ownership and permissions of every executable you will end up breaking your system and it would be undone any time said package was updated anyway, it would also not hide it from the menu just prevent it launching.

If the point is just to reduce clutter / confusion for a new user the best way in my opinion is to simply pin the most common applications to their panel / use the ability to favourite applications. No idea how that works on gnome, I use Plasma.

juampiursic

Harvey The point is, I have lots of stuff and things she is not gonna use so I thought, I'm gonna make her an user so she can install whatever she wants and not deal with having all my apps there.

craigtoyoracer

This is what I was thinking. 😄
https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-add-user-to-group-in-linux/

juampiursic

craigtoyoracer

You mean if I make a new group and add a user to that group, that user would have her own set of apps and not see mine?

algent

juampiursic I have lots of stuff and things she is not gonna use so I thought, I'm gonna make her an user so she can install whatever she wants and not deal with having all my apps there.

Then you can try to hide some apps from menu. To do this, you need to login to her account and use menulibre for example, and then hide what ever you want. To turn back any app to defaults you need to delete the .desktop file created by menulibre in /home/user/.local/share/applications.