This is a good case for the pam_env.so PAM module. Virtual console logins use the login program, so you can open /etc/pam.d/login and add a line such as the following:

session required pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/vc-environment user_readenv=0 

With the accompanying new file, /etc/vc-environment:

TMOUT=600 

The advantage to this solution is that it applies to any user who logs into the virtual console (although it does not stop them from changing TMOUT later).

Read here for details on this module.

This is a good case for the pam_env.so PAM module. Virtual console logins use the login program, so you can open /etc/pam.d/login and add a line such as the following:

session required pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/vc-environment user_readenv=0 

With the accompanying new file, /etc/vc-environment:

TMOUT=600 

Two advantages to using PAM for this:

• It applies to any user who logs into the virtual console (although it does not stop them from changing TMOUT later).
• The timeout can be applied to other specific services as well, such as sudo.

Read here for details on this module.