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Introduction

This page documents how to build Whonix ™ VM (Virtual Machine) images for VirtualBox (.ova) or KVM (.qcow2) "from source code".

For Qubes-Whonix ™, see 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 Whonix ™ source code (which includes Whonix ™ build script).
3. Run Whonix ™ build script.
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.

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

Digital software signatures can increase security but this requires knowledge. Learn more about digital software signature verification.

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

Expand all Collapse all

• You need to build on Debian bullseye, such as Whonix-Workstation ™ 16 or a Debian bullseye VM.
• You need ~ 30 GB free disk space.
• You need ~ 4 GB free RAM.
  • Might actually work with a lot less RAM.
  • Might actually work with less RAM if you have swap.
• Do not build under user root. Login regular as user user and then use sudo as documented below.
• You cannot build on Whonix-Gateway ™ (due to networking issues).
• 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.
• Short: Do not add private files to Whonix ™ source code folder! [...]

Long: [...] 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.

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

Long: 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.

• Short: Do not try to build Whonix-Gateway ™ and Whonix-Workstation ™ at the same time!

Long: 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 sudo ~/Whonix/whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway -- --build --target virtualbox and sudo ~/Whonix/whonix_build --flavor whonix-workstation -- --build --target virtualbox at the same time. The build would probably fail.

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

Usually you are not using CI 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/Whonix/blob/master/build-steps.d/1100_prepare-build-machine#L577

• 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

• VirtualBox builds only: Install VirtualBox on the build machine as per recommended VirtualBox version.

Choose Version

Common sense is required when choosing the right version number. For example, the latest available version number is not necessarily the most stable or suitable. Follow the Whonix ™ News Blog as it might contain information.

This documentation will be using 16.0.4.2-stable as an example. Replace 16.0.4.2-stable with the actual version chosen for the build.

Git tags by convention:

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

If there is only git tag 16.0.4.2-developers-only available but a stable release announcement has been published, then there is no need to wait for the creation of 16.0.4.2-stable since it actually has already been blessed stable, would contain the identical source code anyhow but just have a different git tag name.

Get the Signing Key

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

Get the Whonix ™ Signing Key.

Get the Source Code

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

Temporarily download using git isn't possible since Whonix source code is under a major restructuring. Meanwhile the latest stable source code version can be downloaded as a tar xz file.

Note: This downloads 16.0.4.2-stable. Download link: Whonix.tar.xz

mkdir ./Whonix-extract-temp

tar xv --directory ./Whonix-extract-temp -f ./Whonix.tar.xz

mv ./Whonix-extract-temp/Whonix ~/Whonix

Change Directory

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

cd Whonix

OpenPGP Verify the Source Code

This chapter is recommended for better security, but is not strictly required.

Git fetch.

git fetch

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

Note: Replace 16.0.4.2-stable with the actual tag you want to build.

git verify-tag 16.0.4.2-stable

The output should look similar to this.

object 1844108109a5f2f8bddcf2257b9f3675be5cfb22

type commit tag 16.0.4.2 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]

Check the GPG signature timestamp makes sense. For example, if you previously saw a signature from 2021 and now see a signature from 2020, then this might be a targeted rollback (downgrade) or indefinite freeze attack.

This output might be followed by a warning as follows.

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

The above gpg: WARNING can be ignored since it does not alter the validity of the signature related to the downloaded key. Rather, this warning refers to the level of trust placed in the developers signing key and the web of trust. To remove this warning, the developers signing key must be personally signed with your own key.

By convention, git tags should point to signed git commits. (forum discussion) It is advisable to verify the signature of the git commit as well (replace 16.0.4.2 with the actual git tag being verified).

git verify-commit 16.0.4.2-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

Retrieve a list of available git tags.

git --no-pager tag

Use git checkout to select the preferred version to build.

Note: Replace 16.0.4.2-stable with the actual tag you want to build.

git checkout --recurse-submodules 16.0.4.2-stable

Check Git

Check if you really got the version you want.

git describe

The output should show.

16.0.4.2-stable

Check if the source folder is pristine.

git status

The output should show nothing.

HEAD detached at 16.0.4.2-stable
nothing to commit, working tree clean

If it shows something else, do not continue.

VM Creation

1. Build target selection.

Mandatory The following build targets are available. Probably only useful for developers. Choose a --target. Either option A), B), C) or D).

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	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	Default, best tested.	--arch amd64
B)	i386	Untested.	--arch i386
C)	ARM64		--arch arm64
D)	Others.	Potentially.

4. Whonix ™ APT repository choice.

Optional. Enable Whonix ™ APT repository inside the images. 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 (~/Whonix), 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!

sudo ~/Whonix/whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway-xfce --target virtualbox --clean

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!

sudo ~/Whonix/whonix_build --flavor whonix-workstation-xfce --target virtualbox --clean

---

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

sudo ~/Whonix/whonix_build --flavor whonix-gateway-xfce --target virtualbox --build

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

sudo ~/Whonix/whonix_build --flavor whonix-workstation-xfce --target virtualbox --build

---

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

Build Logs

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

• 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 ~/whonix_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

Optional: Creation of (unified) .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 prepare_release script, OR
• B) Manually.
  • VirtualBox: Using the VirtualBox graphical or command line interface VM export feature could be used.
  • KVM: Manually.

Prepare Release

prepare_release is useful for:

• Creation of a unified .ova image or libvirt.xz archive
• Creation of torrent files.
• Creation of hash sum files.
• Creation of digital software signatures.
  • OpenPGP (gpg) signatures
  • signify signatures
  • soon Codecrypt signatures
• Adding the license agreement.
• Adding the disclaimer.
• Redistribution.
• Example:
  sudo -E /home/user/Whonix/packages/whonix-developer-meta-files/release/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

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