whonix-setup-wizard, more generic state file mechanism for status files

phabricator-migrator · February 19, 2024, 5:52pm

Information

ID: 155
PHID: PHID-TASK-tzqbaoqwiqfbuqswjma2
Author: Patrick
Status at Migration Time: resolved
Priority at Migration Time: Normal

Description

We have

/home/user/.gateway/first_use_check.done
/var/lib/whonix/do_once/whonixsetup.done as whonix-repository-wizard done file
We also need one for locale_settings_finish?

I am prosing a more generic approach. Here is an example:

/var/lib/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.skip
/var/lib/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.done
/var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.skip
/var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.done

/var/lib/whonix-setup-wizard:

Users, custom builders and derivative distributions (Whonix Qubes can be considered a derivative of Whonix) can use that one. whonix-setup-wizard never touches folder for writing. Also not during apt-get purge. Only for reading.

Whonix Qubes does not need/want the disclaimer, so their qubes-whonix package could ship a /var/lib/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.skip file.

/var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files:

Used by whonix-setup-wizard for status files. Once the user accepted the disclaimer, a file /var/lib/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.done could be created. And on next run, we can skip the disclaimer wizard page. The /var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files folder would not be deleted on apt-get remove, but it would be removed on apt-get purge.

We could also stick to the current convention whonix/do_once, since it’s a Whonix specific application.

Having this mechanism, we could have a python function, that abstracts checking these two folders for existing status files. So we can run that function and say “if function says, state file exists, skip it, otherwise continue”.

The apt-get remove vs purge distinction can very easily be implemented by me in debian/ maintainer scripts.

What do you think?

Comments

troubadour

2015-02-10 22:00:31 UTC

Yes, it’s certainly better to skip the disclaimer pages when the user re-run the wizard. That means that in Workstation, it could be shown only once, at first boot (it has only disclaimer and whonix repository, if disclaimer.done and whonixsetup.done, that’s it, only whonix repository available. It’s not a problem).

We still need whonix/do_once anyhow, in order not to run the wizard at each boot (in Workstation), but it looks like only two new files are sufficient for achieving this.

/var/lib/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.skip for Whonix Qupes or other derivatives not wanting the disclaimer. If the file exists, never show the pages.

/var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer.done could work the same way as /var/lib/whonix/do_once/whonixsetup.done(do not show the pages if the file exists).

Having this mechanism, we could have a python function, that abstracts checking these two folders for existing status files. So we can run that function and say “if function says, state file exists, skip it, otherwise continue”.

The only place where to implement the check seems to be the wizard itself (a few more if. At some stage, will have to comment all that in the code, for future re-reading).

Patrick

2015-02-12 21:42:38 UTC

I am wondering, if instead of having.
        if environment == 'gateway' and show_disclaimer:
        elif environment == 'gateway' and not show_disclaimer:
If it would require less code/duplication to skip the disclaimer in the actual function? But I don’t know, it might not be (easily) possible.
    show_disclaimer = (not os.path.exists('/var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer_done') and
                       not os.path.exists('/var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/disclaimer_skip'))
Why _, i.e. why _skip and _done instead of .[…]?

For consistency, I think it would be better to also have whonix_repository.skip and first_use_check.skip.

And I am wondering, how could we deal with locale_settings[.done|.skip]? Because then whonix-setup-wizard runs as user, not root. Means there would be no write access to /var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/, unless we set it to writeable by anyone. That would be easily doable by using a Debian maintainer script, if that is acceptable. (The policy conform way would be to write into the user’s home folder, but then we wouldn’t have a consistent /var/cache/whonix-setup-wizard/status-files/ folder.)