Template security question

User Support
#1

So, I’ve got a AppVM using a template, and I’ve been using this AppVM as a browser, and coding. However, today I added another repo to the template (offline), is it safe to add to the template at any time, and continue using the AppVM based on it or should I create a new AppVM?

Basically, I was using a Appimage in the AppVM for a while, but found out I could have just added the repo straight in the template. So, I did just that, and I want to know if it’s safe to continue using that AppVM after adding the repo to the template it relies on, or if I should create a completely new AppVM based on that template.

#2

Can you rephrase your question? It’s hard to understand it for me.
So you’ve installed some “software A” Appimage in the AppVM but then you found out that you could install this “software A” not as Appimage inside AppVM but in template from it’s own repo.
And you want to know it it’ll break anything in AppVM if it you install this “software A” from repo in template?
I think if you first uninstall this “software A” Appimage from the AppVM and then install this “software A” from repo you can continue to use this AppVM and it should work fine.

#3

You can add to the template any time. Running AppVMs continue to point to an older snapshot of the template’s root volume. They will use the updated root volume after you shutdown the template and restart the AppVM. No need to recreate the AppVM.

Edit: I probably misunderstood the question. If you trust the AppImage less than the distro-packaged version of the same software, and you want to be extra safe, you could recreate the AppVM and remake all user data from scratch, except maybe copying over text files you can manually audit.