There are multiple layers of confusion here. It’s a mess from a users point of view.
- Tor Browser updating / tb-updater is confusing (Tor Browser ought to be installed as a deb, then all confusion would vanish)
- tb-updater interaction with Qubes TemplateVM vs AppVM is confusing - Tor Browser Essentials
- Qubes “double layered” DispVM implementation is confusing
EDIT, added these two points:
- Qubes DisposableVM-Template is actually started “like an AppVM”
- How to make any file persistent (bind-dirs) | Qubes OS
And when you mix all of that together, we have the ultimate usability mess.
In Qubes 4.0 hopefully DispVM implementation will get a lot simpler. Then one can have multiple DispVMs easily. No more double layered template. No more savefile. For a TemplateBased AppVM then hopefully “persistent /home” will just be an enabled / disabled checkbox. At least that is what we agreed upon at 32c3 meeting.
https://forums.whonix.org/t/qubes-dispvm-technical-discussion