whonixcheck runs under user whonixcheck for better hardening (linux user account separation). It’s auto started as a daemon:
https://github.com/Whonix/whonixcheck/blob/master/lib/systemd/system/whonixcheck.service
Usually daemons don’t send GUI notifications.
msgdispatcher (part of msgcollector package) is started by:
- msgcollector/msgdispatcher.desktop at master · Kicksecure/msgcollector · GitHub for X, and
- msgcollector/40_msgdispatcher.sh at master · Kicksecure/msgcollector · GitHub for CLI
msgdispatcher runs as user user.
Ultimately for better hardening we wouldn’t want user user have access to information by whonixcheck (can include logs) without use of sudo.
When whonixcheck runs it uses msgcollector which then creates files in /run/msgcollector/whonixcheck folder which msgdispatcher reads (inotifywait), processes (shows) and the deletes. In this weird setup user user (msgdispatcher) needs permission to delete files created by user whonixcheck.
Dunno how to sort this out better.
Leading to issue [msgdispatcher] bug: "$delete_wrapper"
Considering to deprecate whonixcheck. Feature reduction:
- no more automated (not asked for) notifications for CLI users in tty1 (as per Platform-specific Desktop Tips)
- no more whonixcheck GUI popup
- whonixcheck would be a CLI only tool but thereby a lot simpler message notification system