Automatically update AppImages in TemplateVM

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A Practical Guide to Updating AppImages

The Problem

Maintaining updated AppImages across multiple AppVMs can be laborious. I wrote this guide to show my approach to managing AppImage updates, for AppImages stored in a Template VM (for example, when the same AppImage needs to be used across different AppVMs based on the same template).

Solution

Store AppImages in the TemplateVM (e.g., /opt/Application/Application.AppImage), making them available to all derived AppVMs. Since TemplateVMs should not have internet access, we’ll create a dedicated “updates” AppVM to download the latest AppImages.

Implementation

1. Create a Dedicated Updates AppVM

Create a new AppVM named “updates” that will handle downloading the latest AppImages.

2. Create a Download Script in the Updates AppVM

Save an adapted version of this example script in your updates AppVM, to download the AppImages that you need.

#!/bin/bash
DOWNLOAD_DIR="/home/user/Downloads"
# Anytype
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/anyproto/anytype-ts/releases/latest \
| grep "browser_download_url.*.AppImage" \
| cut -d : -f 2,3 \
| tr -d \" \
| wget -qi - -P "$DOWNLOAD_DIR"
# Bitwarden
curl -L "https://vault.bitwarden.com/download/?app=desktop&platform=linux&variant=appimage" -o "$DOWNLOAD_DIR/Bitwarden.AppImage"
# Cryptomator
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/cryptomator/cryptomator/releases/latest \
| grep "browser_download_url.*x86_64.AppImage" \
| grep -v "\.asc\|\.zsync" \
| cut -d : -f 2,3 \
| tr -d \" \
| wget -qi - -P "$DOWNLOAD_DIR"
#KeepassXC
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/releases/latest \
| grep -E "browser_download_url.*keepassxc.*-x86_64\.AppImage" \
| grep -v "\.asc\|\.zsync" \
| grep -v "\.sig\|\.DIGEST" \
| cut -d : -f 2,3 \
| tr -d \" \
| wget -qi - -P "$DOWNLOAD_DIR"
# Notesnook
wget -O "$DOWNLOAD_DIR/Notesnook.AppImage" https://github.com/streetwriters/notesnook/releases/latest/download/notesnook_linux_x86_64.AppImage
# Tutanota
wget https://app.tuta.com/desktop/tutanota-desktop-linux.AppImage -P "$DOWNLOAD_DIR"
echo "All downloads completed."

Make the script executable with chmod +x script-name.sh.

3. Create an Update Script in the TemplateVM

Save this script in your TemplateVM. This example focuses on Anytype. You’ll need to adapt it for each AppImage you’re managing.

#!/bin/bash
sudo rm /opt/Anytype/Anytype.AppImage
sudo find /home/user/QubesIncoming -name "*.AppImage" -exec mv -t /home/user/QubesIncoming {} +
chmod +x /home/user/QubesIncoming/Anytype*.AppImage
sudo mv /home/user/QubesIncoming/Anytype*.AppImage /opt/Anytype/Anytype.AppImage

4. Create an Orchestration Script in dom0

Create a script in dom0 that coordinates the entire update process:

#!/bin/bash
qvm-run updates /path/to/script.sh
qvm-run --pass-io updates tar -cvf downloads.tar Downloads
qvm-run --pass-io updates 'cat /home/user/downloads.tar' | qvm-run --pass-io template-vm 'cat > /home/user/QubesIncoming/downloads.tar'
qvm-run --pass-io template-vm tar -xf /home/user/QubesIncoming/downloads.tar -C /home/user/QubesIncoming
qvm-run updates rm -rf ~/Downloads/*
qvm-shutdown updates
qvm-run template-vm /path/to/update/script/from/step3/name.sh
qvm-shutdown template-vm

Replace template-vm with the name of your TemplateVM.

Usage

To update all AppImages in your TemplateVM:

  1. Open a terminal in dom0
  2. Run the orchestration script
  3. The script will automatically download the latest AppImages in the updates VM, transfer them to the template VM, and execute the update script in the template VM.

Adding New AppImages

To add a new AppImage to the update process:

  1. Add the download command to the script in the updates AppVM
  2. Update the template VM script to handle the new AppImage

Security Considerations

This approach has some security implications to consider:

  • You’re trusting the source repositories to provide legitimate AppImages
  • Consider verifying AppImage signatures

For high-security environments, this approach to updating AppImages might not be a good idea.

Conclusion

I hope this guide is of any help. Please let me know if it can be improved, or if there are better ways to handle updates of AppImages stored in Template VMs.

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