Whonix update error

[kushaldas]

I am seeing this error time to time (from last night).

----------
          ID: sd-journalist
    Function: qvm.vm
      Result: True
     Comment: ====== ['present'] ======
              [SKIP] A VM with the name 'sd-journalist' already exists.
              
              ====== ['prefs'] ======
              [SKIP] netvm              : sd-whonix
     Started: 23:41:50.439336
    Duration: 574.128 ms
     Changes:   
----------
          ID: /etc/qubes-rpc/policy/sd-process.Feedback
    Function: file.managed
      Result: True
     Comment: File /etc/qubes-rpc/policy/sd-process.Feedback is in the correct state
     Started: 23:41:51.013894
    Duration: 4.672 ms
     Changes:   
----------
          ID: install python-qt4 and python-futures
    Function: cmd.run
        Name: qvm-run -a whonix-ws-14 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -qq python-futures python-qt4'
      Result: False
     Comment: Command "qvm-run -a whonix-ws-14 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -qq python-futures python-qt4'" run
     Started: 23:41:51.018721
    Duration: 6088.569 ms
     Changes:   
              ----------

Just documenting it here.

[kushaldas]

Found the cause:

$ qvm-run -a whonix-ws-14 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -qq python-futures python-qt4'
Running 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -qq python-futures python-qt4' on whonix-ws-14
[kdas@dom0 securedrop-workstation]$ echo $?
100

[kushaldas]

@conorsch Please have a look when you have time.

[conorsch]

Yes, I see this periodically, as well. Will investigate and see if we can remove. For context on why the python-futures were added via qvm-run, see #139.

[redshiftzero]

idea: start the client-integration branch, and remove the qvm-run line in there - we added that for the feedback GUI in sd-journalist and that is going away

[conorsch]

We need to bootstrap the Whonix VMs for compatibility with Salt anyway, so the qvm-run commands need to stay until the issue is resolved upstream. I'll update them to be conditional on a failed import of the concurrent.futures library.

As for the python-qt4 import, that can be moved to a separate Salt task, flagged for removal during client integration.

[conorsch]

Good news that the Qubes templates now include python-futures by default, so we should be able to remove the qvm-run command entirely. Testing with that removed now, to see if make all completes without error again.

[conorsch]

Good news that the Qubes templates now include python-futures by default

The Qubes templates do, but the latest Whonix templates still lack it; so we need to preserve the qvm-run commands for now. Unfortunately I'm unable to get them working against current Whonix templates, because sudo apt-get update always fails in the VMs, due to connectivity problems with certain repos. Optimistically proceeding with a sudo apt-get install -qq python-futures fails, stating that the package can't be found.

[conorsch]

Unfortunately I'm unable to get them working against current Whonix templates, because sudo apt-get update always fails in the VMs

I was able to resolve by purging and reinstalling the templates. The following did not work:

sudo qubes-dom0-update --action=reinstall --enablerepo=qubes-templates-community qubes-template-whonix-gw-14

The template was indeed reinstalled, but I still failed to update the apt lists. The following did resolve:

sudo dnf remove qubes-template-whonix-gw-14
sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-templates-community qubes-template-whonix-gw-14

I don't have a good explanation for the difference, but documenting here all the same. Still working on smoothing out the qvm-run logic so it's idempotent and resilient.