Few Template questions : the differents versions, download and install methods

User Support General
1

Hi everyone.
I am trying to understand some stuff about Templates but I haven’t been able to find answer online. If you can answer any of these questions, please do it, you don’t need to be able to answer everything. Here are my questions :

  • Why on yum.qubes-os.org, under r4.0 there is no template, under r4.1, there is 4.0.6 templates and under r4.2 there is 4.1.0 and 4.2.0 templates ? Why on r4.1 ISO there is 4.0.6 pre-download templates ? Why on r4.1, ‘qvm-template download’ download 4.0.6 templates ?

  • Since by default, on r4.1 Qubes OS release, ‘qvm-template’ download and install 4.0.6 Templates, I suppose they are made for r4.1. But what happend if I installed on a r4.1 Qubes OS release a 4.1.0 Template ? a 4.2.0 Template ? And for r4.2 with 4.1.0 or 4.0.6 Templates ? For example, is it possible to install gentoo 4.0.6 on Qubes OS r4.2 release ?

  • Why when you download template from yum.qubes-os.org manually you obtain .noarch.rpm files but when it is done with ‘qvm-template download’ with the same repo, you obtain simple .rpm files ?

  • Why template files download manually or with ‘qvm-template download’ don’t have exactly the same size in bits ?

  • When you execute the command ‘qvm-template list --installed’ you can see templates, depending on how you installed them, labeled ‘@commandline’ or with a repo like ‘qubes-templates-itl’. Does the way you install your templates influence some stuff ? Particularly in terms of update or security ? Or do they behave exactly the same ?

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2

r4.0 is not supported, so no templates are made available.
You are attributing significance to the template versioning that is not
there.
templates built for Qubes 4.1 have version numbers starting with 4.0. -
that’s all .

The qubes template tool renames the rpm as the noarch has no
significance.

This is a good question. I have noticed the difference of 3600 in the
past. And yet the rpm continues to pass the gpg tests with a valid
signature.
I assume that some not significant part of the rpm header is removed: I
have not investigated.

The templates will behave exactly the same however you install them, and
will be treated the same for updates.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.
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