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Changelog

Notable changes to the guide. Follows Keep a Changelog and Semantic Versioning.

v1.2.5λ

Meta

  • Website theme customization
  • License change to accomodate our fiscal host Open Source Collective

Changed

  • Comprehensive updates throughout the guide reflecting the transition to Whonix 18.x as the newest version
  • Replaced outdated Whonix.org wiki docs links with GitHub releases mirror and Archive.org backups
  • Updated Virtualbox hardening instructions (e.g., network time desync offsets, Spectre/Meltdown mitigations)
  • Added AppArmor enabling guidance for Debian-based Whonix 18.x Workstation VMs
  • Upgraded download instructions to use GitHub Releases as primary source with Archive.org fallback
  • Added new "Whonix Improvements" section documenting key changes from 17.x to 18.x (automated release upgrade, improved Qubes integration)
  • Updated Qubes OS compatibility notes: Whonix 18.x officially supported on R4.3+, Whonix 17.x compatible with R4.2+
  • Enhanced system verification instructions after upgrades (checkvm, tor --verify)
  • Improved documentation links to use clean markdown format with Archive.org mirrors for resilience
  • Added comprehensive upgrade path guidance with backup procedures
  • Updated 196! Wikipedia reference links throughout the entire guide

Added

  • All Whonix.org/wiki links now have Archive.org mirror backups for availability
  • Upgrade path documented: Whonix 17 to 18 with automated release-upgrade support
  • Detailed Qubes OS compatibility notes for both Whonix versions
  • You can now get the Anonymous Planet PGP keyring from the site (copy/paste or download)

Improved

  • Virtualbox hardening section reorganized
  • AppArmor configuration guidance added where applicable (Whonix 18.x)
  • KVM alternative documented in Appendix N for Linux users seeking better security than VirtualBox
  • Whonix Improvements subsection added before "Pick your guest workstation" VMs section

v1.2.4λ

Meta

  • Rename workflows (GH - now we can know the order)

Changed

  • Change the repo URL for our tor mirror
  • Fix recommended reading admonition
  • Refactoring some things and removing others
  • More meta changes to the pipeline
  • Rewrite developer guide for current pipeline

Fixed

  • Fix an inline reference
  • Use the Anonymous Planet RSK for releases (we used the MSK for testing)
  • Prevent history dump and filter noise commits
  • Actually save per-page PDFs for qpdf, not PNGs
  • Fail fast with helpful message if pdftoppm or qpdf missing

v1.2.3λ

CI/CD pipeline split into independent stages, dark PDF quality improved, release signing automated, and the changelog now updates itself on every build. Skipping v1.2.2 which was a placeholder and contained broken Python unsuitable for a tag/release.

Added
  • Dark mode PDF (scripts/convert.py): pixel-level converter replaces the broken --prefers-color-scheme=dark Chromium flag. Produces a 200 DPI hacker-themed PDF (#1f1f31 background, #e0e0e0 text, #5e8bde links) with batched page processing to avoid OOM on large documents.
  • Three independent CI workflows replacing the old monolithic build-sign-release.yml:
    • 01-build.yml: builds PDFs and uploads them as an artifact; no secrets required, can be re-run freely.
    • 02-sign.yml: downloads the PDF artifact, computes SHA-256 and BLAKE2b hashes, GPG-signs all outputs, and uploads a signatures artifact. Can be re-run against any historical build.
    • 03-release.yml: downloads both artifacts, uploads to VirusTotal, and publishes a tagged GitHub Release with all 12 assets attached. Can be triggered manually against any previous sign run.
  • scripts/update_changelog.py: reads git log since the last version tag, categorises commits by conventional-commit prefix, and prepends a new entry to this file automatically after each successful build.
  • 04-changelog.yml workflow: commits the auto-generated changelog entry back to main after every build, with dry_run and manual_version dispatch inputs for safe local testing.
  • scripts/tag_release.py: interactive guided helper for maintainers to create GPG-signed annotated tags. Checks clean tree and branch, auto-increments the version, pulls the message from the changelog, resolves the release signing key, creates and verifies the tag, then prints the push command.
  • docs/code/develop.md: full developer reference covering prerequisites, local build instructions, the pipeline flow, all required GitHub Secrets, the release process, verification steps, and a troubleshooting section for every known CI failure mode.

Changed

  • build-sign-release.yml deprecated (now removed) - push triggers removed, manual dispatch only. Will be deleted once in-flight runs complete.
  • The full pipeline (build → sign → release → changelog) now chains automatically via workflow_run on every push to main.
  • GPG signing uses --pinentry-mode loopback and --passphrase-fd 0 to avoid interactive prompts on headless runners.
  • VirusTotal scans moved to the release stage so they run once per release, not once per build.
  • .gitignore updated to track .b2 per-file hash files alongside existing .sha256 and .sig entries.
  • Stale information removed from the guide; deprecated ODT section in Appendix A6 commented out.
  • Footer copyright information corrected.

Fixed

  • _save_images_as_pdf in convert.py was passing raw PNG files to qpdf --pages, which only accepts PDF inputs. Fixed by quantizing each page to palette mode (256 colours, FASTOCTREE) and saving as a single-page PDF before merging.
  • convert.py now fails immediately with install instructions if pdftoppm or qpdf are missing, instead of crashing with an unhelpful FileNotFoundError.
  • Pillow KeyError: 'JPEG' on CI resolved by installing mkdocs-material[imaging] and using palette-mode PDF encoding instead of RGB+JPEG.
  • Orphaned footnote citations [^536] and [^537] (Australian privacy law and the Identify and Disrupt Act) restored at the key disclosure law paragraph in the guide.
  • Broken internal links and mismatched cross-references throughout the guide corrected.

v1.2.1λ

First automated PDF build and the start of the CI pipeline.

Added
  • scripts/build_guide_pdf.py: builds the MkDocs site and renders the full guide to a single PDF via headless Chromium (Chrome or Edge). Supports --dark, --light, and --both modes.
  • GitHub Actions workflow that installs Chromium, runs the build script, and uploads export/thgtoa.pdf as an artifact on every push to main or manual dispatch.
  • docs/stylesheets/extra.css for shared site styling.
  • This changelog.

Changed

  • README.md updated with instructions for local PDF export and a note about the GitHub Actions artifact.
  • .gitignore updated to exclude local build outputs (export/, site/, _site_test/).

Fixed

  • Broken reference-style internal links throughout docs/guide/index.md replaced with correct fragment links.
  • Broken footnote marker on the "free (unallocated) space" list item in the guide.