Why Use Minimal Templates?

[fsflover]

See also:

Debian-10-minimal Configuration

I’m interested in converting as many of my Debian AppVMs as possible to debian-10-minimal-template to reduce their attack surface, and then documenting how to get to an ideal configuration for each qube function, so that other noob-intermediate users can also use the minimal template. The docs didn’t give me a good idea of how much tinkering would be required. So my question is twofold - Would anybody be interested in collaborating to document Debian-10-minimal configuration for different pop…

What Threats do Minimal Templates Protect Against?

It’s not clear to me what threats minimizing the installed software and attack surface in this way protects against. Even if other apps in the VM have unpatched vulnerabilities, I don’t see attackers going after other user-space applications. Having a lot of templates takes up a lot of space and maintenance time, so it’s something I try to avoid. The majority of my AppVMs are based on the current Fedora template, which has all the software they all need. I have made several templates based on t…