From 604bec3dddaa0184de34f1063115d1c250112646 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Andrew David Wong Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2020 03:19:25 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Remove deprecated Live USB page, redirect to Installation Guide --- .../installation-guide.md | 1 + .../live-usb.md | 125 ------------------ 2 files changed, 1 insertion(+), 125 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 user/downloading-installing-upgrading/live-usb.md diff --git a/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/installation-guide.md b/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/installation-guide.md index 0d41901d..e3cf58a7 100644 --- a/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/installation-guide.md +++ b/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/installation-guide.md @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ redirect_from: - /doc/InstallationGuideR2rc2/ - /doc/InstallationGuideR3.0rc1/ - /doc/InstallationGuideR3.0rc2/ +- /doc/live-usb/ --- # Installation guide diff --git a/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/live-usb.md b/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/live-usb.md deleted file mode 100644 index 23c73316..00000000 --- a/user/downloading-installing-upgrading/live-usb.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,125 +0,0 @@ ---- -layout: doc -title: Live USB -permalink: /doc/live-usb/ ---- - -Qubes Live USB (alpha) -====================== - -NOTE: This content applies to Qubes versions earlier than R3.2. See the -[Installation Guide](/doc/installation-guide/) for instructions and warnings -on creating a USB boot drive for testing purposes with Qubes R3.2, R4.0, and -higher. - -Qubes Live USB allows you to run and try Qubes OS without having to install it -anywhere. Qubes Live USB is currently in alpha. If you use it, please consider -running the [HCL reporting tool](/hcl/) and sending us the results so that we -can continue to improve it. If would like to contribute to the Qubes OS -Project by improving Qubes Live USB and integrating it with the installer, -please consider applying for a [Google Summer of Code][gsoc-page] scholarship -(if you are eligible) and choosing the QubesOS Project as a mentor -organization. You can find our list of project ideas [here][project-page]. - -Introduction ------------- - -When making this Live USB edition of Qubes OS, we faced several challenges which -traditional Linux distros don't have to bother with: - -1. We needed to ensure Xen is properly started when booting the stick. In fact - we still don't support UEFI boot for the stick for this reason, even though - the Fedora liveusb creator we used does support it. Only legacy boot for this - version, sorry. -2. We discovered that the Fedora liveusb-create does *not* verify signatures on - downloaded packages. We have temporarily fixed that by creating a local repo, - verifying the signatures manually (ok, with a script ;) ) and then building - from there. Sigh. -3. We had to solve the problem of Qubes too easily triggering an Out Of Memory - condition in Dom0 when running as Live OS. - -This last problem has been a result of Qubes using the copy-on-write backing for -the VMs' root filesystems, which is used to implement our cool -[Template-based scheme](/doc/software-update-vm/). Normally these are backed by -regular files on disk. Even though these files are discardable upon VM reboots, -they must be preserved during the VM's life span, and they can easily grow to a -few tens of MBs per VM, sometimes even more. Also, each VM's private -image, which essentially holds just the user home directory, typically starts -with a few tens of MBs for an "empty VM". Now, while these represent rather -insignificant numbers on a disk-basked system, in the case of a live USB all -these files must be stored in RAM, which is a scarce resource on any OS, but -especially on Qubes. - -We have implemented some quick optimizations in order to minimize the above -problem, but this is still far from a proper solution. We're planning to work -more on this next. - -There are three directions in which we want to do further work on this Qubes -Live USB variant: - -1. Introduce an easy, clickable "install to disk" option, merging this with the - Qubes installation ISO. So, e.g. make it possible to first see if the given - hardware is compatible with Qubes (by running the HCL reporting tool) and - only then install on the main disk. Also, ensure UEFI boot works well. - -2. Introduce options for persistence while still running this out of a USB - stick. This would be achieved by allowing (select) VMs' private images to be - stored on the r/w partition (or on another stick). - - A nice variant of this persistence option, especially for frequent - travelers, would be to augment our backup tools so that it was - possible to create a LiveUSB-hosted backups of select VMs. One could then - pick a few of their VMs, necessary for a specific trip, back them up to a - LiveUSB stick, and take this stick when traveling to a hostile country (not - risking taking other, more sensitive ones for the travel). This should make - life a bit simpler - [for some](https://twitter.com/rootkovska/status/541980196849872896). - -3. Introduce more useful preconfigured VMs setup, especially including - Whonix/Tor VMs. - - -Current limitations -------------------- - -(Remember that Qubes Live USB is currently in alpha, so please meter your -expectations accordingly.) - -1. Currently just the 3 example VMs (untrusted, personal, work), plus the - default net and firewall VMs are created automatically. -2. The user has an option to manually (i.e. via command line) create an - additional partition, e.g. for storing GPG keyring, and then mounting it to - select VMs. This is to add poor-man's persistence. We will be working on - improving/automating that, of course. -3. Currently there is no "install to disk" option. We will be adding this - in the future. -4. The amount of "disk" space is limited by the amount of RAM the laptop - has. This has a side effect of e.g. not being able to restore (even a few) VMs - from a large Qubes backup blob. -5. It's easy to generate Out Of Memory (OOM) in Dom0 by creating lots of VMs - which are writing a lot into the VMs filesystem. -6. There is no DispVM savefile, so if you start a DispVM the savefile must be - regenerated, which takes about 1-2 minutes. -7. UEFI boot doesn't work, and if you try booting Qubes Live USB via UEFI, Xen - will not be started, rendering the whole experiment unusable. - - -Downloading and burning ------------------------ - -1. Download the ISO (and its signature for verification) from the - [downloads page](/downloads/#qubes-live-usb-alpha). -2. "Burn" (copy) the ISO onto a USB drive (replace `/dev/sdX` with your USB - drive device): - - $ sudo dd if=Qubes-R3.0-rc2-x86_64-LIVE.iso of=/dev/sdX - - Note that you should specify the whole device, (e.g. `/dev/sdc`, not a single - partition, e.g. `/dev/sdc1`). - - **Caution:** It is very easy to misuse the `dd` command. If you mix up `if` - and `of` or specify an incorrect device, you could accidentally overwrite - your primary system drive. Please be careful! - -[project-page]: /gsoc/ -[gsoc-page]: https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/organizations/6239659689508864/