[GSoC 2026] Introduction - Qubes Live USB Project

[Shaik Sayeed ahmed]

Hi Frédéric and the Qubes team,

I’m Shaik Sayeed Ahmed, and I'm writing to express my interest in the "Revive Qubes Live USB" project for GSoC 2026.

I’ve been researching the current blockers in issues #1552 and #1965, specifically regarding the Xen boot sequence, the 16GB image limit, and memory optimization for 4GB machines. I’m currently preparing my formal proposal and setting up a local build environment to test the current ISO process.

I’ll be submitting my full proposal through the GSoC portal between March 16th and 31st. In the meantime, I’m open to any specific technical areas or priorities you’d like me to emphasize in the project roadmap.I will be updating my progress regarding this project and share my thoughts on the idea in upcoming mails.

Looking forward to contributing.

Best regards,

Shaik Sayeed Ahmed

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

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Hello!

You may want to also take a look at this thread:
https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/qubes-os-live-mode-dom0-in-ram-non-persistent-boot-ram-wipe-protection-against-forensics-tails-mode-hardening-dom0-root-read-only-paranoid-security-ephemeral-encryption/38868

It has quite a lot of information relevant for your project.
This may be also a good inspiration for various smaller tasks to start
with.

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
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[Rohan Mithari]

Hi Marek, Frédéric, and the Qubes team,

My name is Rohan Mithari. I’m an Electrical Engineering undergrad, and I’d love to work on the "Revive Qubes Live USB" project for GSoC 2026.

I’ve been reading through issues #1552 and #1965, along with the recent mailing list and forum discussions. The recent threads really helped clarify the real-world constraints of this project. It makes complete sense that sys-usb must be excluded so it doesn't accidentally unmount the live boot drive. I also appreciate the reality check on memory limits—shifting the baseline to 16GB (while maybe experimenting with 8GB) feels like a much more practical goal than fighting the old 4GB target.

I also found the forum discussion about running dom0 entirely in RAM for a non-persistent, amnesic boot really fascinating. Figuring out how to balance the Xen boot sequence with the memory overhead of multiple VMs seems like the biggest, but most interesting, challenge here.

I am currently setting up my local qubes-builder environment to get hands-on, but I have a few quick questions to help focus my proposal:

1. Old Scripts: Are the old R3.2 live-build scripts still kept somewhere in the repositories as a reference, or is it better to start completely fresh with the current infrastructure?

2. The End Goal: Is the main vision for this Live USB to be a quick hardware-compatibility tester (and potential installer), or is the team hoping to build a fully functional, privacy-focused temporary OS?

3. Past Roadblocks: When it comes to managing the memory overhead, are there any specific storage setups (like certain device-mapper configs) or past attempts you highly recommend I look into?

Thanks for your time and for all the great information already shared on the list. I look forward to learning more and putting my proposal together!

Best regards,

Rohan Mithari