do you know xpra?

[Thomas Koch]

Hi,

we're using KVM at work to isolate our untrusted web development tools from the host system and forward application windows with xpra[1]. I've put qubes on my list to try for the next generation of our setup.

[1] http://xpra.org

Do you know xpra? From the outside it seems, that it might fit as a component for qubes and that both projects could benefit from cooperation? Or did you reject it for any reason?

Regards, Thomas Koch

[wyory]

Does xpra past the test described in this article?

http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2011/04/linux-security-circus-on-gui-isolation.html

[Thomas Koch]

On Sunday, December 07, 2014 08:00:18 PM wyory wrote:
> Does xpra past the test described in this article?
>
> http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2011/04/linux-security-circus-on-gui
> -isolation.html

yes.

xpra starts a dummy X server inside a virtual machine just like qubes and
comes with its own communication protocol to forward keystrokes from the host
to the VM and window bitmaps from the VM to the host. xinput list in the VM
gives:

⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ dummy_mouse id=6 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ dummy_keyboard id=7 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]

In total xpra does

VM to host:
- clipboard
- notification
- speaker

host to VM:
- clipboard
- microphone
- keyboard

All features can be turned off individually. I'm very satisfied with xpra and
the responseness of the developer. xpra can not forward windows from an MS
Windows VM since it relies on X server.

Regards, Thomas Koch

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

I've read some technical docs on this and it looks very similar to our
GUI virtualization. There is even support for mmap-based communication
channel for display content (instead of compressed images sent over the
wire), which is very similar to our inter-VM shared-memory approach.

--
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[wyory]

Very cool. It's great to see many approaches to security by isolation
(with GUIs!). Thanks for the tip.