[qubes-users] Understanding risks of running i3wm with qubes

Hey everyone, I’ve been running qubes for the last couple fo days and to be frank I can’t belive how easier qubes os has made my life and how I’m enjoying running it as my daily driver.

I’ve been using i3wm for years and would like to set it up with qubes, for that I’d have to install it on dom0 which as stated everywhere I looked beats the purpose of qubes os and is not advised by qubes team as it carries security risks.

What I couldn’t find is how installing i3wm would broaden the attack surface or weaken the security of the os in practice, so would be highly appreciated if someone more knowledgable than me could explain and help me understand this.

Thank you!

i3 is supported by Qubes OS and can simply be installed like so:

sudo qubes-dom0-update i3 i3-settings-qubes

... the second package contains all the scripts required for a smooth Qubes OS experience with i3.

Lots of people use it instead of the XFCE default. I did for several years.

/Sven

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