qubes-doc/privacy/signal.md

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Signal

What is Signal?

According to Wikipedia:

Signal is an encrypted instant messaging and voice calling application for Android and iOS. It uses end-to-end encryption to secure all communications to other Signal users. Signal can be used to send and receive encrypted instant messages, group messages, attachments and media messages. Users can independently verify the identity of their messaging correspondents by comparing key fingerprints out-of-band. During calls, users can check the integrity of the data channel by checking if two words match on both ends of the call.

Signal is developed by Open Whisper Systems. The clients are published as free and open-source software under the GPLv3 license.

How to install Signal in Qubes

If you're a Signal user on Android, you can now have Signal inside Qubes.

1. Install the Chromium browser in a TemplateVM.
2. Shut down the TemplateVM.
3. Create a new AppVM based on this TemplateVM.
4. Launch Chromium browser in the new AppVM, type chrome://extensions/ in the address bar, and follow the link to the Chrome app store.
5. In the app store, search for "Signal Private Messenger" and install the app.
6. The app launches automatically on first install. Follow the prompts to "link" this app with your phone.
7. Signal should now work in your AppVM.

Creating a Shortcut in the applications menu

Let's make Signal a bit more usable by creating a shortcut in our desktop panel that launches Signal directly. This assumes that you're using KDE or Xfce in Dom0, you use Signal in an AppVM named Signal, and this AppVM uses fedora-23 as its TemplateVM.

1. Follow these instructions to create a desktop shortcut on the Desktop of your Signal AppVM. Let's assume the shortcut file you get is /home/user/Desktop/chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.desktop

2. Copy this shortcut file to the AppVM's TemplateVM - in this case, to fedora-23.

   [user@Signal ~]$ qvm-copy-to-vm fedora-23 /home/user/Desktop/chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.desktop
   

3. You'll also want to copy across an icon for your new shortcut - you can find this at /home/user/.local/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.png Copy this icon to the fedora-23 TemplateVM in the same way as step 2.

4. Open a terminal in your fedora-23 TemplateVM and cd to /home/user/QubesIncoming/Signal/. You should find your shortcut and icon files just transferred across from the Signal AppVM. Move these files to the following locations:

    [user@fedora-23 Signal]$ sudo mv chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.desktop /usr/share/applications/
    [user@fedora-23 Signal]$ sudo mv chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.png /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/
   

5. From a Dom0 terminal, instruct Qubes to synchronize the application menus of this TemplateVM:

    [user@dom0 ~]$ qvm-sync-appmenus fedora-23
   

6. Stop both the AppVM (Signal) and its TemplateVM (fedora-23). The Signal VM will now see the desktop file in /usr/share/applications when it is next started.

7. With your mouse select the Q menu -> Domain: Signal -> Signal: Add more shortcuts Select Signal Private Messenger from the left Available column, move it to the right Selected column by clicking the > button and then OK to apply the changes and close the window.

8. (optional, only on KDE:) Follow the Q menu once more, right-click on the new Signal: Signal Private Messenger menu item and select Add to Panel.

You can now launch the Signal messenger inside its own dedicated AppVM directly from the desktop.

The same steps should work for any Chrome app.

Creating a shortcut in the applications menu for a StandaloneVM

If you want to add to the standalone VM rather than a template, then follow below. The following part will also assume that the .desktop file has been correctly made. This can also be used to add a application portable application/script from a tar archive, also this part of the guide is assuming that the StandaloneVM is called Signal.

1. First you will need to copy/move the .desktop file: /home/user/Desktop/chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.desktopto the applications folder on the StandaloneVM: /usr/share/applications/

    [user@Signal ~]$ sudo mv /home/user/Desktop/chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.desktop /usr/share/applications/
   

2. Now copy/move over the icon file to make it look all nice and pretty.

    [user@Signal ~]$ sudo mv /home/user/Desktop/chrome-bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbhpfkkhcmohk-Default.desktop /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/
   

3. Now fire up the dom0 Terminal Emulator from Q Menu -> Terminal Emulator. All you need to do now is run the command to sync the app menus qvm-sync-appmenus along with the Standalone VM name Signal.

    [user@dom0 ~]$ qvm-sync-appmenus Signal
   

4. Now stop the StandaloneVM: Signal.

5. With your mouse select the Q menu -> Domain: Signal -> Signal: Add more shortcuts. Select Signal Private Messenger from the left Available column, move it to the right Selected column by clicking the > button and then OK to apply the changes and close the window.

6. (optional, only on KDE:) Follow the Q menu once more, right-click on the new Signal: Signal Private Messenger menu item and select Add to Panel.

Use an AppVM based on Debian

CAUTION: Before proceeding, please carefully read On Digital Signatures and Key Verification. This website cannot guarantee that any PGP key you download from the Internet is authentic. Always obtain a trusted key fingerprint via other channels, and always check any key you download against your trusted copy of the fingerprint.

If you don't use Chromium, you can install signal with Debian:

1. (Optional)Create a TemplateVM (Debian 8)

   [user@dom0 ~]$ sudo qubes-dom0-update qubes-template-debian-8
   

2. Open a terminal in Debian 8

   [user@dom0 ~]$ qvm-run -a debian-8 gnome-terminal
   

3. Use these commands in your terminal

   (Optional)[user@debian-8 ~]$ sudo apt-get install curl
   [user@debian-8 ~]$ curl -s https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | sudo apt-key add -
   [user@debian-8 ~]$ echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list
   [user@debian-8 ~]$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktop
   

4. Shutdown the TemplateVM :

    [user@dom0 ~]$ qvm-shutdown debian-8
   

5. Create an AppVM based on this TemplateVM

6. With your mouse select the Q menu -> Domain: "AppVM Name" -> "AppVM Name": Add more shortcuts Select Signal from the left Available column, move it to the right Selected column by clicking the > button and then OK to apply the changes and close the window.

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