Whonix-Host Operating System (OS) ISO

Development
,
102

no, but package live-boot was not installed during the build… After installing it, it works.

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103

Quite possible. I commented out pkg-add-to-install-list live-config. (In a later tag that I didn’t mention yet.)

live-boot is needed? I guess, yes. Then I’ll add to build-steps.d/1700_install-packages now that live-config is gone?

(live-config probably pulled live-boot as a dependency.)

104

Yes, live-boot is needed. Oddly enough, live-config was installed, but not live-boot.
Did you comment out live-boot for kicksecure only or for all builds?

1 Like
105

This was the only related thing I did:

https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/b5ca1513137e8434448b178344a77ea4b100f735

There was no live-boot explicitly written anywhere.

(Well, pacakge grub-live depends on live-boot but I am not sure that gets installed for Whonix Host ISO builds (yet).)

106

https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/8e977aa7f3ae52d31ecbf6a8bb616098a41e4e89

107

I guess we can/should also drop pkg-add-to-install-list user-setup from build-steps.d/1700_install-packages since we’ll leave it to anon-base-files?

108

https://github.com/Whonix/Whonix/commit/6709b67a605669925799fc5cfd44bae1711dcf37

…can all be reverted if actually not good idea. Just trying to make build and iso boot work asp.

109

The following packages are also needed for “Whonix-Host” (and probably also Kicksecure?):

x11-xserver-utils
"If x11-xserver-utils is not installed nothing happens after clicking on
an option in the xfce logout dialogue. If logout is clicked again the
message: Failed to log out. Session manager must be in idle state when requesting a shutdown comes up.
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=902137
→ btw seems to be already installed by default on Whonix-Gateway/Workstation (at least the versions I have here)

gvfs
" GVfs is a userspace virtual filesystem implementation for GIO (a library available in GLib). GVfs comes with a set of backends, including trash support, SFTP, SMB, HTTP, DAV, and many others. GVfs also contains modules for GIO that implement volume monitors and persistent metadata storage. There is also FUSE support that provides limited access to the GVfs filesystems for applications not using GIO."
https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/gvfs
→ btw seems to be already installed by default on Whonix-Gateway/Workstation (at least the versions I have here)

1 Like
110

Git tag 15.0.0.9.3-developers-only builds without build errors.

sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-host-xfce --build --repo true --target iso --freedom false --allow-untagged true --allow-uncommitted true --remote-derivative-packages true

Though, the latest build parameter

--remote-derivative-packages true

is for debugging (faster builds) only and has some caveats. (Whonix build script now optionally supports installing packages from Whonix remote repository rather than building packages locally) Didn’t try without --remote-derivative-packages true yet (locally build packages) but chances are good it would work too.

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111

Yay, even boots a desktop and has functional network. sudo su also functional.

2 Likes
112

Awesome!

In live mode?

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113

Yes. I booted the iso (plugged it into VirtualBox).

114

This might make make development a bit more easy:
dsudo - default password sudo

Related, Whonix Host and Kicksecure need the proper host network configuration needs the proper packages and configuration files:
Kicksecure Network Configuration

115

After some manual modifications (see above), I successfully built a 15.0.0.9-developpers-only ISO that successfully installed a “Whonix-Host” KVM virtual machine…

At first glance I have the impression that since my last tries (end of summer) there are a lot of “regressions” in terms of default desktop support (missing packages such as x11-xserver-utils, gvfs, pavucontrol… and other ones?), is it on purpose?

Next step: I will try a new build 15.0.0.9.3-developers-only and do a more in-depth report.

1 Like
116

Not on purpose. No host development since.

117

onion_knight via Whonix Forum:

The following packages are also needed for “Whonix-Host” (and probably also Kicksecure?):

x11-xserver-utils
"If x11-xserver-utils is not installed nothing happens after clicking on
an option in the xfce logout dialogue. If logout is clicked again the
message: Failed to log out. Session manager must be in idle state when requesting a shutdown comes up.
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=902137

gvfs
" GVfs is a userspace virtual filesystem implementation for GIO (a library available in GLib). GVfs comes with a set of backends, including trash support, SFTP, SMB, HTTP, DAV, and many others. GVfs also contains modules for GIO that implement volume monitors and persistent metadata storage. There is also FUSE support that provides limited access to the GVfs filesystems for applications not using GIO."
Projects/gvfs - GNOME Wiki!
→ btw seems to be already installed by default on Whonix-Gateway/Workstation (at least the versions I have here)

Will come in Whonix 15.0.0.9.4 and above.

118

onion_knight via Whonix Forum:

…, pavucontrol…

At first glance I have the impression that since my last tries (end of
summer) there are a lot of “regressions” in terms of default desktop support

Unrelated refactoring broke these things since nobody looked at the
effects on Kicksecure Host or Whonix Host.

(missing packages such as x11-xserver-utils, gvfs,
pavucontrol… and other ones?), is it on purpose?

The mentioned ones should be fixed in git master.

119

Great, thanks!

I’ve just successfully built 15.0.0.9.3-developers-only with

sudo -E ./whonix_build --flavor whonix-host-xfce --build --repo true --target iso --freedom false --allow-untagged true --allow-uncommitted true --remote-derivative-packages true

Booting the ISO works, however it ends at the lightdm login page (no auto-login or no live user creation). I guess it’s because you removed live-config package.

Installing live-config and reburning the ISO solved the problem, as expected.

2 Likes
120

Other bug, still on 15.0.0.9.3:

Whonix VM disks are NOT set to read-only. It is however required to run them in live mode.

This command (see above, Whonix host operating system - #79 by Patrick) does the trick:

virt-xml Whonix-Workstation --edit --disk readonly=on

This command should be added and run during Whonix-Host libvirt configuration. Is it done here now?
https://github.com/Whonix/whonix-libvirt/blob/master/usr/lib/whonix-libvirt/install

2 Likes
121

It’s implemented here but maybe not working.

Possible error causes:

  • It required kernel parameter boot=live to be set. Is it set?
  • Which systemd units are required by virt-xml? Maybe it needs similar After= as whonix-libvirt-install.service?