Strange error message when open Whonix Workstation terminal

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1

Today, when I open Whonix Workstation terminal, I got dozens and dozens of notifications about error, saying “Denied: qubes.UpdatesProxy from whonix-workstation-17 to”… Can’t read further because can’t open in journal full message. It happens when I just open terminal. I do nothing in it.
I checked in dom0 terminal, using journalctl -f command and found many of such error messages: “dom0 qrexec-policy-daemon[3673]: qrexec: qubes.UpdatesProxy: whonix-workstation-17 -> : denied: denied by policy /etc/qubes/policy.d/50-config-updates.policy:1”
Also found there two strange red error messages, that I did not see before, saying on Russian: “dom0 pulseaudio[6746]: ALSA сообщила о возможности записи новых данных в устройство, но на самом деле писать было нечего.”
And:
“Скорее всего, это ошибка в драйвере ALSA «snd_hda_intel». Пожалуйста, сообщите об этой проблеме разработчикам ALSA.”
It can be translated as: “dom0 pulseaudio[6746]: ALSA reported the possibility of writing new data into the device, but in fact there was nothing to write”
And:
“This is likely a bug in the ALSA «snd_hda_intel» driver. Please report this problem to ALSA developers.”

I don’t know why these errors appear. I did nothing special in Qubes. All I can assume is that maybe it can be somehow related to not updated Whonix Workstation. I missed last update and was going to update it today when will have a time. :man_shrugging:

UPDATE: Also while was writting all of this, found another three big red error messages in dom0 terminal that never seen before:

Xen free = 193251410 too small for satisfy assignments! assigned_but_unused=204798857, domdict={'0': {'memory_current': 3930230784, 'memory_actual': 3947009939, 'memory_maximum': 4294967296, 'mem_used': 1146249216, 'id': '0', 'last_target': 3947009939, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '1': {'memory_current': 402698240, 'memory_actual': 402698240, 'memory_maximum': 419430400, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '1', 'last_target': 402653184, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '2': {'memory_current': 150994944, 'memory_actual': 150994944, 'memory_maximum': 150994944, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '2', 'last_target': 150994944, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '3': {'memory_current': 402698240, 'memory_actual': 402698240, 'memory_maximum': 419430400, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '3', 'last_target': 402653184, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '4': {'memory_current': 150994944, 'memory_actual': 150994944, 'memory_maximum': 150994944, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '4', 'last_target': 150994944, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '5': {'memory_current': 1119260672, 'memory_actual': 1135974345, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 407384064, 'id': '5', 'last_target': 1135974345, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '6': {'memory_current': 1775083520, 'memory_actual': 1791798825, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 642576384, 'id': '6', 'last_target': 1791798825, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '10': {'memory_current': 3028353024, 'memory_actual': 3166231956, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 1175814144, 'id': '10', 'last_target': 3166231956, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '12': {'memory_current': 1093586944, 'memory_actual': 1110298736, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 398176256, 'id': '12', 'last_target': 1110298736, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}}

dom0 qmemman.systemstate[3065]: Xen free = 193251410 too small for satisfy assignments! assigned_but_unused=204798857, domdict={'0': {'memory_current': 3930230784, 'memory_actual': 3947009939, 'memory_maximum': 4294967296, 'mem_used': 1146249216, 'id': '0', 'last_target': 3947009939, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '1': {'memory_current': 402698240, 'memory_actual': 402698240, 'memory_maximum': 419430400, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '1', 'last_target': 402653184, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '2': {'memory_current': 150994944, 'memory_actual': 150994944, 'memory_maximum': 150994944, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '2', 'last_target': 150994944, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '3': {'memory_current': 402698240, 'memory_actual': 402698240, 'memory_maximum': 419430400, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '3', 'last_target': 402653184, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '4': {'memory_current': 150994944, 'memory_actual': 150994944, 'memory_maximum': 150994944, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '4', 'last_target': 150994944, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '5': {'memory_current': 1119260672, 'memory_actual': 1135974345, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 407384064, 'id': '5', 'last_target': 1135974345, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '6': {'memory_current': 1775083520, 'memory_actual': 1791798825, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 642576384, 'id': '6', 'last_target': 1791798825, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '10': {'memory_current': 3028353024, 'memory_actual': 3166231956, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 1175814144, 'id': '10', 'last_target': 3166231956, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '12': {'memory_current': 1093586944, 'memory_actual': 1110298736, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 398176256, 'id': '12', 'last_target': 1110298736, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}}

dom0 qmemman.systemstate[3065]: Xen free = 193251410 too small for satisfy assignments! assigned_but_unused=188019702, domdict={'0': {'memory_current': 3930230784, 'memory_actual': 3947009939, 'memory_maximum': 4294967296, 'mem_used': 1146249216, 'id': '0', 'last_target': 3881291978, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '1': {'memory_current': 402698240, 'memory_actual': 402698240, 'memory_maximum': 419430400, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '1', 'last_target': 402653184, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '2': {'memory_current': 150994944, 'memory_actual': 150994944, 'memory_maximum': 150994944, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '2', 'last_target': 150994944, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '3': {'memory_current': 402698240, 'memory_actual': 402698240, 'memory_maximum': 419430400, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '3', 'last_target': 402653184, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '4': {'memory_current': 150994944, 'memory_actual': 150994944, 'memory_maximum': 150994944, 'mem_used': None, 'id': '4', 'last_target': 150994944, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': False}, '5': {'memory_current': 1119260672, 'memory_actual': 1135974345, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 407384064, 'id': '5', 'last_target': 1135974345, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '6': {'memory_current': 1775083520, 'memory_actual': 1791798825, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 642576384, 'id': '6', 'last_target': 1791798825, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '10': {'memory_current': 3028353024, 'memory_actual': 3166231956, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 1175814144, 'id': '10', 'last_target': 3166231956, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}, '12': {'memory_current': 1093586944, 'memory_actual': 1110298736, 'memory_maximum': 4194304000, 'mem_used': 398176256, 'id': '12', 'last_target': 1110298736, 'use_hoplug': False, 'no_progress': False, 'slow_memset_react': False, 'use_hotplug': True}}

Don’t know if it is somehow related to errors described above or not. Wrote for any case. I would use spoilers for such big messages but seems this site doesn’t have that function.

2

In Qubes Global Config > Updates > Update proxy make sure that Whonix update proxy is set to sys-whonix and save.

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3

Thanks! It really was what you said! This should have not to be happen. When I checked these settings last time there was everything ok. I don’t know why this setting switched from sys-whonix to none. And there was another strange thing - once I set there only whonix app qubes to be able to check for updates (disabled checking for updates for all qubes and added whonix app qubes as exceptions) and now there ALL qubes were added as exceptions… When I use some OS I expect that the settings I set will not change themselves when I look away. My only guess is this may be somehow related to that my deleting/creating of new default whonix disposable template. I didn’t do anything else special. Qubes looks like cool OS, but settings changing themselves it’s not normal.

Also I’m a little worring about this message. Could that mean that something tried to record the sound from my microphone? I turned it off so maybe that’s why it couldn’t record something and gave up error that “there was nothing to write”?
And what about those big red error messages? I looked into dom0 terminal and noticed that it may be somehow related to starting whonix qubes. At least these errors seems to be appeared again twice exactly when I started whonix qubes. And since there is so many of word “memory” I can assume that it can be related to the memory shortage. Am I right? You don’t know?

4

This has never happened to me and I have never heard of it before. These settings are edited/loaded on the fly by looking at what is already in dom0. The exception list is only reading if the qubes-update-check service is set to a qube. So if you have disabled all updates with the global switch, they will appear in this list because they have this service listed in them.

Don’t worry, everyone has this and it doesn’t make your system any less secure.

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Seems I start understand. I really removed qubes-update-check service in all qubes except whonix based ones. And probably after that they appeared in that Global Confing list of exceptions. I checked their settings and this service returned in them. But was this service supposed to be default service in them? As I remember it was not there from beginning. And anyway this service remains unchecked/unselected in all qubes that have it (by the way whonix qubes don’t have it).

6

By default, all qubes check for updates. If you add this service and uncheck it, it will be disabled. If you don’t need it, you can easily remove it from the service list.

7

But if I just set net-qube for these qubes to “none” do they stop to check for updates too? And even if they had that service checked they could not to perform update checks because they couldn’t to connect to the Internet? Do I understand this nuance right?
And still, what’s about those big red error messages? Seems they appear when Tor Browser of Whonix Disposable is launching. I’ve come to this conclusion thanks to some time of terminal surveillance.
Probably it would be better if I didn’t know that terminal command that shows all these logs. Now I pay attention to every red error message there. :smiley:

For example like this last one:

i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* CPU pipe A FIFO underrun

All I can understand is that it’s somehow related to CPU. Is it something important?

8

If they don’t have Internet access, they can’t check.
Unless they have the updates-proxy-setup service and are manually configured to use a proxy server, they will not have access.

When a qube starts, it opens a lot of internal things to make things work seamlessly. The red lines are related to audio and are harmless.

This is a graphical driver, so again, it’s harmless. If you’re using the integrated Intel GPU and can access the graphical interface without lag, there’s nothing to do here.

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