github.com/QubesOS/qubes-builder @R4.0.1

This repository contains an automated build system for Qubes, that downloads, builds and packages all the Qubes components, and finally should spit out a ready-to-use installation ISO.

Note: The build system has been improved since this file was last updated. The Archlinux template building instructions contain more up-to-date and detailed information on how to use the build system.

In order to use it one should use an rpm-based distro, like Fedora, and should ensure the following packages are installed:

• git
• createrepo
• rpm-build
• rpm-sign (if signing of build packages is enabled)
• rpmdevtools
• make
• python2-sh
• dialog
• perl-open
• PyYAML

Usually one can install those packages by just issuing:

$ sudo dnf install git createrepo rpm-build rpm-sign make python2-sh rpmdevtools rpm-sign dialog perl-open PyYAML perl-Digest-MD5 perl-Digest-SHA

for older Fedora or CentOS versions use:

$ sudo yum install git createrepo rpm-build rpm-sign make python2-sh rpmdevtools rpm-sign dialog perl-open PyYAML

Or just install them automatically by issuing:

$ make install-deps

The build system creates build environments in chroots and so no other packages are needed on the host. All files created by the build system are contained within the qubes-builder directory. The full build requires some 25GB of free space, so keep that in mind when deciding where to place this directory.

The build system is configured via builder.conf file -- one should copy selected file from example-configs/, and modify it as needed, e.g.:

cp example-configs/qubes-os-master.conf builder.conf 
# edit the builder.conf file and set the following variables: 
# GIT_PREFIX="marmarek/qubes-" 
# NO_SIGN="1"

Alternatively you can use setup script, which will help you to create the configuration interactively.

One additional useful requirement is that 'sudo root' work without any prompt, which is default on most distros (e.g. 'sudo bash' brings you the root shell without asking for any password). This is important as the builder needs to switch to root and then back to user several times during the build process (mainly to preform chroot). But do not call make directly as root.

Additionally, if building with signing enabled (so NO_SIGN is not set), one must set SIGN\_KEY in builder.conf.

It is also recommended to use an empty passphrase for the private key used for signing. Contrary to a popular belief, this doesn't affect your key or sources security -- if somebody compromised your system, then the game is over, whether you use additional passphrase for the key or not.

To build all Qubes packages one would do:

$ make qubes-os-iso

And this should produce a shiny new ISO.

One can also build selected component separately. E.g. to compile only gui virtualization agent/daemon:

$ make gui-daemon

You can also build the whole template in DispVM:

$ make template-in-dispvm

For details see doc/ directory.