Whonix VM Build Documentation

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Instructions to build Whonix Virtual Machine Images from Source Code.

Introduction[edit]

This page documents how to build Whonix VM (Virtual Machine) images for VirtualBox (.ova) or KVM (.qcow2) "from source code". Most users do not build Whonix from source code but instead download Whonix.

For Qubes-Whonix™, see [[Dev/Qubes#Build_Qubes-Whonix™_Templates|Qubes-Whonix™ Build Documentation]].

Building from source code as security advantages (see Trust).

The goal of this build documentation is to be usable by as many users as possible. Therefore written as easy as possible with no prior knowledge of tools used required.

The high level summary is:

  1. Host preparation.
  2. Get derivative-maker source code.
  3. Run derivative-maker.
  4. Done, build of Whonix has been completed.

Advanced users that already know how to use git and how to perform digital software verification using OpenPGP (gpg) do not need to strictly follow this documentation. See footnote(s) for details. [1]

Due to digital software verification instructions and Software Signature Verification Usability Issues these instructions might look more complicated then they actually are.

  • Digital signatures: A tool enhancing download security. Commonly used across the internet.
  • Learn more: Curious? Learn more about digital software signatures.
  • Optional: Digital signatures are optional. If you've never used them before, there might be no need to start now.
  • No worries: New to digital software signatures? It's okay, no need to worry.
  • Not a requirement: Not mandatory for using Whonix, but an extra security measure for advanced users.

Steps concerning digital software verification are pointed out as "This step is recommended for better security, but is not strictly required. (See Trust.)"

When verifying digital software signatures, these instructions will be slightly more complicated but therefore even more secure.

  1. Host preparation.
  2. Get Whonix source code (which includes Whonix build script).
  3. Verify digital software signatures.
  4. Run Whonix build script
  5. Done, build of Whonix has been completed.

Host Preparation[edit]

Host Preparation Notices[edit]

  • operating system: You need to build on Debian bookworm, such as Whonix-Workstation™ 17 or a Debian bookworm VM.
  • disk space: You need ~ 30 GB free disk space.
  • RAM: You need ~ 4 GB free RAM.
    • Might actually work with a lot less RAM.
    • Might actually work with less RAM if you have swap.
  • linux user account: Do not build under user root. Login regular as user user. Do not use sudo to run derivative-maker because this is handled by the build script.
  • build place notice: You cannot build on Whonix-Gateway™ (due to networking issues).
  • build logs: Build logs: If using a GUI (graphical user interface) it is recommended to set your terminal (for example xfce4-terminal) to unlimited scrollback, so you can watch the full build log and share it for support in case there are issues.

...

  • private files in source code warning: Do not add private files to Whonix source code folder! [...]

Unless you know what you are doing. Technically, it would work. This is recommended against. Those files would get managed by the respective package. When you later update Whonix debian packages, your files would get deleted by the package manager. Also adding private files to Whonix source code folder, later contributing to Whonix development and accidentally pushing the wrong git branch would be a disaster. Better add your private files to Whonix after building Whonix. Or add a custom build step adding your files, which then get copied from a folder outside of Whonix source folder. See "Source Code Changes" in "Optional Build Configuration" below.

  • Exiting VMs name collision warning: Make sure there aren't any VMs in VirtualBox (inside your build machine) already called Whonix-Gateway or Whonix-Workstation!

Because the build script would fail, because it tries to create VMs either named Whonix-Gateway or Whonix-Workstation. Running the clean script between builds will prevent this error.

  • Parallel builds unsupported warning: Do not try to build Whonix-Gateway and Whonix-Workstation at the same time!

Building Whonix-Gateway and Whonix-Workstation at the same time is not supported due to limitations in the build script. In other words, do not try to run for example ~/derivative-maker/derivative-maker --flavor whonix-gateway -- --target virtualbox and ~/derivative-maker/derivative-maker --flavor whonix-workstation -- --target virtualbox at the same time. The build would probably fail.

  • CI warning: Do not use images created inside Continuous Integration (CI) environments for anything besides testing!

Usually you are not using CIarchive.org environments without knowing.

You can find out if you are running inside a CI environment by running.

echo "$CI"

If it shows nothing, i.e.

Everything is fine.

Otherwise, if it were to show. 

true

Then do not use these images for anything besides testing.

Reason: https://github.com/Whonix/derivative-maker/blob/master/build-steps.d/1120_prepare-build-machinearchive.org

Host Preparation Steps[edit]

1. build dependencies:

Install build dependencies and get the source code.

Update the package lists.

sudo apt update

Install build dependencies.

sudo apt install git time curl apt-cacher-ng lsb-release fakeroot dpkg-dev fasttrack-archive-keyring

2. Platform specific notices:

3. sudo setup:

Chose either Option A or Option B.

Option A: passwordless sudo

Option A: Set up passwordless sudo.

  • Abstract task overview: Setup passwordless sudo for your Linux user account name.
  • Detailed task overview: Setup sudo and add your current linux user account to the linux user group sudo. The following instructions use Linux user account name user as an example. If the user is using a different Linux user account name such as myname then the commands below have to be adjusted accordingly.
  • Unspecific: Configuration of sudo is unspecific to Whonix.
  • Whonix specific: When building inside Whonix, user user is already a member of group sudo by default. Therefore the following step "1." can be skipped.
  • Detailed steps:

1. Setup sudoers. Add the operating system user name to sudoers.

Become root.

su

Add the user account to the sudoer's group. Replace user with the actual operating system user name.

sudo adduser user sudo

Reboot so group changes take effect.

reboot

2. Configure user user to be able to use sudo without a password.

echo '%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' | sudo EDITOR=tee visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/dist-build-sudo-passwordless >/dev/null

3. Done.

The process of setting up passwordless sudo has been completed.

Option B: long sudo timeout

Option B: Set a longer sudo password timeout.

  • Abstract task overview: Setup sudo with a longer timeout for your Linux user account name.
  • Detailed task overview: Setup sudo and increase the sudo password timeout (four all Linux user accounts or all users). The following instructions use Linux user account name user as an example. If the user is using a different Linux user account name such as myname then the commands below have to be adjusted accordingly.
  • Unspecific: Configuration of sudo is unspecific to Whonix.
  • Whonix specific: When building inside Whonix, user user is already a member of group sudo by default. Therefore the following step "1." can be skipped.
  • Detailed steps:

1. Setup sudoers. Add the operating system user name to sudoers.

Become root.

su

Add the user account to the sudoer's group. Replace user with the actual operating system user name.

sudo adduser user sudo

Reboot so group changes take effect.

reboot

2. Configure user user to be able to use sudo without a password.

echo 'Defaults timestamp_timeout=30' | sudo EDITOR=tee visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/dist-build-sudo-timeout >/dev/null

3. Done.

The process of setting up a longer sudo timeout has been completed.

Special Notice[edit]

There is currently no special notice.

Choose Version[edit]

Whonix default admin password is: changeme Version Numbers Choice Information

1. Common sense is required when choosing the right version number.

2. For example, the latest available git tag version number is not necessarily the most stable or suitable.

3. Follow the Whonix News Blog as it might contain information.

4. This documentation will be using 17.0.4.5-stable as an example. Replace 17.0.4.5-stable with the actual version chosen for the build.

5. Git tags by convention:

  • have one of the following appendixes stable, testers-only or developers-only version.
  • For example:
    • 17.0.4.5-stable
    • 17.0.4.5-testers-only
    • 17.0.4.5-developers-only
  • all represent the very same source code. [3]

6. If there is only git tag 17.0.4.5-developers-only available but a stable release announcement has been published, then there is no need to wait for the creation of 17.0.4.5-stable since it actually has already been blessed stable, would contain the identical source code anyhow but just have a different git tag name.

Whonix default admin password is: changeme Version Numbers Choice Instructions

1. Go to https://forums.whonix.org/c/news/archive.org and look for the latest stable version number.

2. Compare with the stable version number mentioned in the wiki.

3. For example, if 17.0.4.5 has been announced in the forums and is available from the wiki, git tag 17.0.4.5-developers-only is avaialble but 17.0.4.5-stable is not, then 17.0.4.5-developers-only can be safely used.

Get the Signing Key[edit]

Info This step is recommended for better security, but is not strictly required. (See Trust.)

Get the Whonix Signing Key.

Get the Source Code[edit]

FREE

Note: By proceeding, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agreed to our Terms of Service and License Agreement.

Install git.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install git

Get the source code including git submodules. [4] [5]

Note: Replace 17.0.4.5-stable with the actual tag you want to build.

git clone --depth=1 --branch 17.0.4.5-stable --jobs=4 --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules https://github.com/Whonix/derivative-maker.git

Change Directory[edit]

Get into derivative-maker source code folder because later on package build commands using ./derivative-maker are expected to be run from the root of the source folder.

cd derivative-maker

OpenPGP Verify the Source Code[edit]

This chapter is recommended for better security, but is not strictly required. (See Trust.)

Change directly into source code folder.

cd derivative-maker

Git fetch. [6]

git fetch

Verify the chosen tag to build. Replace with tag you want to build.

git verify-tag 17.0.4.5-stable

The output should look similar to this.

object 1844108109a5f2f8bddcf2257b9f3675be5cfb22

type commit tag 17.0.4.5 tagger Patrick Schleizer <adrelanos@whonix.org> 1392320095 +0000

. gpg: Signature made Thu 13 Feb 2014 07:34:55 PM UTC using RSA key ID 77BB3C48

gpg: Good signature from "Patrick Schleizer <adrelanos@whonix.org>" [ultimate]

warning Remember to check the GPG signature timestamp. For instance, if you previously saw a signature from 2023 and now see one from 2022, this could indicate a potential rollback (downgrade) or indefinite freeze attack.[7]

The warning.

gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature! gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.

Is explained on the Whonix Signing Key page and can be safely ignored.

By convention, git tags should point to signed git commits. [8] (forum discussionarchive.org) It is advisable to verify the signature of the git commit as well (replace 17.0.4.5 with the actual git tag being verified).

git verify-commit 17.0.4.5-stable^{commit}

The output should look similar to this.

commit 5aa1c307c943be60e7d2bfa5727fa5ada3a79c4a

gpg: Signature made Sun 07 Dec 2014 01:22:22 AM UTC using RSA key ID 77BB3C48 gpg: Good signature from "Patrick Schleizer <adrelanos@whonix.org>" [ultimate] Author: Patrick Schleizer <adrelanos@whonix.org> Date: Sun Dec 7 01:22:22 2014 +0000

.

Checkout Version[edit]

Retrieve a list of available git tags.

git --no-pager tag

Use git checkout to select the preferred version to build.

Note: Replace 17.0.4.5-stable with the actual tag you want to build.

git checkout --recurse-submodules 17.0.4.5-stable

Check Git[edit]

Check if you really got the version you want.

git describe

The output should show.

17.0.4.5-stable

Check if the source folder is pristine.

git status

The output should show nothing.

HEAD detached at 17.0.4.5-stable
nothing to commit, working tree clean

If it shows something else, do not continue.

VM Creation[edit]

1. Build target selection.

Mandatory The following build targets are available.

Choose a --target. Either option A), B), C) or D). [9] [10]

Option Build Target Comment Image Type Target Parameter
A) VirtualBox VMs Production. .vdi --target virtualbox
B) KVM (and QEMU) KVM: Production.; QEMU: unsupported .qcow2 --target qcow2
C) raw images Mostly interesting for developers / porters. .raw --target raw
D) UTM with QEMU [11] Tested on Mac M1, testers only, --arch arm64. .raw --target utm

2. Flavor selection.

Mandatory. Choose a flavor.

Option Flavor Name Flavor Parameter
A) Whonix-Gateway CLI --flavor whonix-gateway-cli
B) Whonix-Gateway Xfce --flavor whonix-gateway-xfce
C) Whonix-Workstation CLI --flavor whonix-workstation-cli
D) Whonix-Workstation Xfce --flavor whonix-workstation-xfce

3. CPU target architecture selection.

Mandatory. Choose a target CPU architecture.

Option CPU Architecture Name Comment CPU Architecture Parameter
A) Intel and AMD64 [12] Default, best tested. --arch amd64
B) i386 Unsupported. [13] --arch i386
C) ARM64 --arch arm64
D) Others. Potentially. [14]

4. Whonix APT repository choice.

Optional. Enable Whonix APT repository inside the images. [15] See Trust. This is done for official Whonix redistributeable builds.

--repo true

5. Optional configurations.

Optional. See also Optional Build Configuration.

6. Notices.

  • These instructions assume you have the Whonix source code in your home folder (~/derivative-maker), and
  • use VirtualBox as an example.

7. Delete any existing Whonix-Gateway virtual machine with the following command.

Warning: This will delete any virtual machine named Whonix-Gateway from VirtualBox installed on your build machine!

~/derivative-maker/derivative-delete --flavor whonix-gateway-xfce --target virtualbox

8. Delete any existing Whonix-Workstation virtual machine with the following command.

Warning: This will delete any virtual machine named Whonix-Workstation from VirtualBox installed on your build machine!

~/derivative-maker/derivative-delete --flavor whonix-workstation-xfce --target virtualbox

9. Build a Whonix-Gateway virtual machine image. build command:

~/derivative-maker/derivative-maker --flavor whonix-gateway-xfce --target virtualbox --repo true

10. Build a Whonix-Workstation virtual machine image. build command:

~/derivative-maker/derivative-maker --flavor whonix-workstation-xfce --target virtualbox --repo true

While building, you might see a few Expected Build Warnings.

Build Logs[edit]

Optional.

Mostly useful in case of build issues where sharing the build log is necessary for support.

If using:

  • A) GUI (graphical user interface): It is recommended to set your terminal (for example xfce4-terminal) to unlimited scrollback, so you can watch the full build log and share it for support in case there are issues.
  • B) CLI (command line user interface): In case there are build issues, it is recommended to redirect the build log to a text file. To do that, for example >> ~/build-log 2>&1 could be appended to the very end of the build command to redirect the build output to build log file ~/build-log.
    • Note: when using that command there will be no output in the terminal until the build is completed. This is as per Linux default and unspecific to Whonix. The build might not complete. In that case, that command would hang forever. To see if the build is stuck, it would be possible to open the build log file with a text editor. In that case, the file would have to be re-opened or refreshed to with F5 key to see new build output appended to the build log file. Or by using for example tail -n 100 -f ~/build-log 2>&1

VM Build Result[edit]

  • VirtualBox: The newly created VMs can be seen in VirtualBox user interface and in the usual VirtualBox data folders.
  • KVM, QEMU, raw images: The resulting .qcow2 and/or .raw images can be found in ~/derivative-binary folder.

Most users have completed the build process at this point, can start using Whonix and skip the rest of this page.

Unified Images[edit]

Optional.

Creation of (unifiedarchive.org) .ova image(s) for Whonix VirtualBox or libvirt.xz archives for Whonix KVM. This might only be interesting if the goal is Redistribution of images to third parties such as the public.

There are two options.

  • A) Automated: A bit difficult (since it expects preexisting signing keys), using dm-prepare-release script, OR
  • B) Manually:
    • VirtualBox: Using the VirtualBox graphical or command line interface VM export feature could be used. [16]
    • KVM: Manually.

Prepare Release[edit]

dm-prepare-releasearchive.org is useful for:

  • Creation of a unifiedarchive.org .ova image or libvirt.xz archive
  • Creation of torrent files.
  • Creation of hash sum files.
  • Creation of digital software signatures.
  • Adding the license agreement.
  • Adding the disclaimer.
  • Redistribution.
  • Example: dm-prepare-release --build --target virtualbox --flavor whonix-workstation-xfce

For private builds, i.e. for builds which are not supposed to be redistributed to others, none of this is important. If any of this was important, it could also be done manually.

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ↑ For example, these instructions fetch only a specific git tag. If you know how to use git, you are of course free to git clone the whole repository and then use git verify-tag, git verify-commit, git checkout --quiet and git generally as per usual. The reason why more specific commands are being used on this page is to simplify the process for laymen, to make these instructions as fail-safe as possible.
  2. ↑ Due to technical challenges, see VirtualBox Installation Challenges.
  3. ↑ git diff 17.0.4.5-stable 17.0.4.5-developers-only
  4. ↑ Optional git parameters:
    • --depth=1: Used to speed up download.
    • --branch 17.0.4.5-stable Usability. Used to speed up download.
    • --jobs=4: Used to speed up download.
    • --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules: Usability.
    Knowledgeable git users are free to drop any of these optional parameters.
  5. ↑ Alternatively, this can be achieved with the following commands in several steps. This is useful if network issues arise. git clone --depth=1 --branch 17.0.4.5-stable https://github.com/Whonix/derivative-maker.git cd derivative-maker git submodule update --init --recursive --progress --jobs=4
  6. ↑ Optional. [...]
  7. ↑ As defined by TUF: Attacks and Weaknesses:
  8. ↑ Beginning from git tag 9.6 and above.
  9. ↑ Multiple build targets at the same time are also possible. --target virtualbox --target qcow2 --target raw
  10. ↑ Physical Isolation Build Documentation --target root
  11. ↑
  12. ↑

    info amd64 might imply AMD only. This is wrong.

    amd64 means Intel and AMD.

    For technical reasons, in Debian (and in many other Linux / Freedom Software related places) both, Intel and AMD, is called amd64. This is common knowledge without controversy among technical people, in doubt see Wikipedia X86-64archive.org.

  13. ↑ 32-bit or 64-bit?
  14. ↑
    • Build script parameter --arch results in setting the BUILD_TARGET_ARCH build variable. If you inspect (grep tip) the build scripts for the variable name you can see other architectures might work but are untested.
    • porting Whonix to other platforms
  15. ↑ --repo true will set export build_remote_repo_enable="true" which results in setting 
    DERIVATIVE_APT_REPOSITORY_OPTS="--enable --codename $derivative-maker_apt_stable_release"
export DERIVATIVE_APT_REPOSITORY_OPTS

    derivative-maker_apt_stable_release defaults to bookworm and could optionally through a build configuration set to bookworm-proposed-updates, bookworm-testers or bookworm-developers.

  16. ↑ This is sane since important VM settings were already configured in https://github.com/Whonix/derivative-maker/blob/master/build-steps.d/2600_create-vbox-vmarchive.org. dm-prepare-release VM export does nothing special/important for privately used builds.
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