[TriLUG] Increase log-off time

[Alan Porter]

> I've looked in my Linux book and searched the Web for an answer...no luck.
>
> I want to increase the time before my system makes me (the user) log back in. I'm the
> only using the computer and have to walk away periodically; I hate having to enter my
> password again.

It sounds to me like someone has set your $TMOUT environment variable.

    TMOUT  If set to a value greater  than  zero,  TMOUT  is  treated 
    as  the default  timeout  for  the read builtin.  The select command
    terminates if input does not arrive after TMOUT seconds  when 
    input  is coming  from  a  terminal.   In  an interactive shell, the
    value is interpreted as the number of seconds to wait for input
    after  issuing  the  primary  prompt.   Bash terminates after
    waiting for that number of seconds if input does not arrive.

Try "export TMOUT=0" to make it never time out.  Or "export TMOUT=3600"
to set it to an hour.

If you'd like this to persist, add it to your $HOME/.bash_profile.

-- 
# Alan Porter