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Update Whonix GW and WS templates from version 11 to 13?

#1

I’ve been using Whonix GW and WS templates build 11.x.x.x under Qubes for quite a while, and haven’t had a chance to do a major version upgrade until now. I see that version 13 is out.

I have a lot of software installed in WS template 11 and would ideally prefer not to have to start over from scratch, reinstalling all of this software in a new WS template 13. I notice there were smooth upgrade paths provided from build 11 to 12, and then also from 12 to 13.

Is there any (easy) way I can upgrade WS template from 11 to 13, keeping all of my previously installed software? Either in one smooth step, or in two steps going to 12 first, and then to 13?

Thanks.

#2

:astonished: You may be the first and only Whonix user to upgrade from 11 to 13. I wouldn’t know what to expect.

Unless you’ve been keeping your templates offline, or you haven’t updated your machines in 2? years, I would guess that you are already using the latest Whonix version. Major upgrades happen automatically via apt-get. There is no special switch required. I’m not even sure it’s possible to go from 11 to 12 without manually specifying package versions. If you have the latest packages (which you can check on Github), then you are using Whonix 13. For example:

$ sudo dpkg-query -l whonix-workstation*
Architecture               Description
+++-==========================================-==========================-==========================-==========================================================================================
un  whonix-workstation                         <none>                     <none>                     (no description available)
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies   3:3.4.2-1                  all                        Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies-p 3:3.4.2-1                  all                        Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation that changes network related files
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-recommended    3:3.4.2-1                  all                        Recommended packages for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-shared-packages-shared- 3:3.4.2-1                  all                        Whonix-Workstation Shared Packages
#3

Indeed. So it’s untested.

It might even work. Have a backup before you get started.

And yes, you would have to mentally combine both guides, 11->12 as well as 12->13 since these guides contain required manual fixes.

#4

Thanks for the replies. I have in fact been keeping the templates up to date with regular:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

But I have not done any of those extra manual fixes contained in the 11->12 or 12->13 guides.

Running whonixcheck --verbose I notice:

√ Up to date: whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies 3.4.2-1
√ Up to date: Whonix Build Version: 12.0.0.3.2

I seem to be on version 12 without having done any manual fixes, but not version 13. I suppose I will backtrack and try to implement each of the steps in both guides sequentially, and see what results I get.

Currently I see:

> sudo dpkg-query -l whonix-workstation*
> +++-==============================================================-====================================-====================================-=================================================================================================================================
> ii  whonix-workstation                                             3:2.9-1                              all                                  Whonix Default Workstation
> ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies                       3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation
> ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies-pre                   3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation that changes network related files
> ii  whonix-workstation-packages-recommended                        3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Recommended packages for Whonix-Workstation
#5

Note, conceptually build version in existing template can never change. […] More info:

https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Whonixcheck#Whonix_Build_Version

#6

So it would seem I am working with a template that started off as version 12, and not 11 as I previously thought. When I installed Qubes R3.1 on my computer earlier this summer, it must have had pre-packaged v12 templates for Whonix GW and WS already, when I thought it was still using v11. At least that will mean there is only one step needed for me, 12->13 instead of the two different ones as I’d previously thought.

#7

I have completed the 12->13 steps as per the guide, and since core version number in template does not change as noted above, I am going by Entropy’s post in another thread and taking this output below as the best sign of success?

||/ Name                                                           Version                              Architecture                         Description
+++-==============================================================-====================================-====================================-=================================================================================================================================
un  whonix-workstation                                             <none>                               <none>                               (no description available)
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies                       3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies-pre                   3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation that changes network related files
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-recommended                        3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Recommended packages for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-shared-packages-shared-meta                 3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Whonix-Workstation Shared Packages

If anything looks wrong or there is something additional to check, please let me know. Otherwise I presume this means everything has worked correctly.

#8

Looks wrong.

Should be:

dpkg -l | grep whonix-workstation

ii  qubes-whonix-workstation                       3:3.4.2-1                            all          Default Packages for Qubes-Whonix-Workstation
ii  qubes-whonix-workstation-packages-recommended  1:5.7.2-1                            all          Recommended packages for Qubes-Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies       3:3.4.2-1                            all          Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies-pre   3:3.4.2-1                            all          Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation that changes network related files
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-recommended        3:3.4.2-1                            all          Recommended packages for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-shared-packages-shared-meta 3:3.4.2-1                            all          Whonix-Workstation Shared Packages

Installation of the qubes-whonix-workstation package and the other manual documented fixups as per Whonix upgrading X to Y highly recommended.

#9

Actually if I do that specific command I do get:

user@host:~$ dpkg -l | grep whonix-workstation
ii  qubes-whonix-workstation                       3:3.4.2-1                            all          Default Packages for Qubes-Whonix-Workstation
ii  qubes-whonix-workstation-packages-recommended  1:5.7.2-1                            all          Recommended packages for Qubes-Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies       3:3.4.2-1                            all          Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies-pre   3:3.4.2-1                            all          Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation that changes network related files
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-recommended        3:3.4.2-1                            all          Recommended packages for Whonix-Workstation
ii  whonix-workstation-shared-packages-shared-meta 3:3.4.2-1                            all          Whonix-Workstation Shared Packages

It was doing the command:

dpkg-query -l whonix-workstation*

that produced:

||/ Name                                                           Version                              Architecture                         Description                                                                                                                        
+++-==============================================================-====================================-====================================-=================================================================================================================================  
un  whonix-workstation                                             <none>                               <none>                               (no description available)                                                                                                         
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies                       3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation                                                                                                
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-dependencies-pre                   3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Dependencies for Whonix-Workstation that changes network related files                                                             
ii  whonix-workstation-packages-recommended                        3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Recommended packages for Whonix-Workstation                                                                                        
ii  whonix-workstation-shared-packages-shared-meta                 3:3.4.2-1                            all                                  Whonix-Workstation Shared Packages

I did in fact install the meta-package qubes-whonix-workstation and complete the other steps (purge/remove old packages etc) so I think everything is okay… just two different outputs from two slightly different commands. I get the exact same two outputs doing those same two ocmmands in freshly downloaded whonix-ws v13 template too.