Here are some notes on how to use Qubes OS coming from Debian with awesome as window manager.
These notes are based on Qubes 3.0. Trying out 3.1 RC1 shall also be done.
First login
- Select XFCE as GUI and login.
update the system: sudo qubes-dom0-update
Second, install Debian Templates
install wheezy template: sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-7
install jessie template: sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-8
- create a stretch template based on the jessie one:
qvm-clone debian-8 debian-9 qvm-run -a debian-9 gnome-terminal // adjust /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list // unclear atm whether to use qubes-r3.list or qubes-r31.list apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
- repeat similarily to create a sid template.
Base SystemVMs on Debian templates
qvm-prefs -s sys-net template debian-8
qvm-prefs -s sys-firewall template debian-8
- and in theory one now only needs to restart these VMs and that's it. However, that resulting in neither the wireless nor the firewall working, thus I'm not running this yet.
Making the disposable VM default to Debian
qvm-create-default-dvm debian-8
Using 4.x kernels with Qubes 3.0
Qubes 3.0 comes with a 3.18 kernel by default. An update to 4.x kernels is easiest by installing the kernel package from the upcoming Qubes 3.1 release:
sudo qubes-dom0-update --releasever=3.1 kernel
or
sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-dom0-unstable kernel
using awesome for dom0
install the package with sudo qubes-dom0-update awesome
git clone https://github.com/woju/qubes-desktop-linux-awesome
git clone https://github.com/woju/awesome-shifty
- adopt rc.lua somehow…
converting PDFs
- either use "convert pdf" via the context menu in nautilus
or us qvm-convert-pdf from shell
updating the menu after adding applications to a VM
run qvm-sync-appmenus
Improving the Debian templates
some packages are not yet coming from Debian but from /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-r3.list, so porbably those should be uploaded to sid…
- to be done: make a list, go through it one by one, file an ITP and upload to sid. h01ger is happy to help here.
Removing unused templates
yum erase qubes-template-fedora[nnnn] -
(get a list with a grep on yum list installed)
Please note that this will unregister the template from Qubes and remove the files.
"To be continued…"