Potential for qrexec to be used for other things

General Discussion
#1

I’ve been experimenting with sys-audio (successful), sys-gui (successful), sys-gui-gpu (unsuccessful) and sys-gui-vnc (unsuccessful), and I have to say, the qrexec protocol is very powerful and versatile.

Well done devs! You’ve built a solid piece of software :grinning:

I’ve been thinking of other applications for qrexec:

  • Sharing (passthrough) of individual Bluetooth devices between a sys-bluetooth and VMs (instead of passing through the entire Bluetooth hardware)

  • sys-printers, allowing all VMs access to all the printers available to the machine, mitigating the potential risks of CUPS

  • A control panel to direct port forwarding to certain qubes

Just a brainstorm.

Are there any other things anyone’s had in their mind of what else could be done with qrexec?

2 Likes
How to access bluetooth hardware in sys-audio
#2

This maybe?

1 Like
#3

I already do that. I have a machine where the built-in audio hardware is a USB device instead of a PCI device.

It works quite well.

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#4

I have qubes-print to allow any
qube to print from a Print Qube without CUPS.
qubes-sync to allow qubes to
access a shared data store - two methods supported
Split mail to
allow mail reading and writing to take place in an isolated, non
networked, qube.
split-ssh to allow storage of ssh keys in a vault-like store with
controlled access to different keyrings.
Some other custom abuses of qrexec which will, for reasons, never see
the light of day.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.
2 Likes
#5

I wish those things were a few clicks away in the GUI, so non-technical users could take advantage of them, too. (But I understand that Qubes developers have very little time to implement that.)

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#6

:relieved:

:smirk:

:kissing:

:drooling_face:

:woozy_face:

:heart_eyes:

(Even something crude like bash scripts with zenity dialog boxes would suffice. I’d give that a go)

:thinking: :face_exhaling:

@ Qubes Devs: :heartpulse: :pray: :raised_hands: :heart_hands:

#7

I love that split-mail story. It was one of the first after I registered here. It’s definitely on my to-do list.
Btw, I have external USB sound card, beside internal, non-USB one. Use them both, the first one for browsing, and the second one for multimedia.

1 Like