dangerzone/INSTALL.md

Operating System support

Dangerzone can run on various Operating Systems (OS), and has automated tests for most of them. This section explains which OS we support, how long we support each version, and how do we test Dangerzone against these.

You can find general support information in this table, and more details in the following sections.

(Unless specified, the architecture of the OS is AMD64)

Distribution	Supported releases	Automated tests	Manual QA
Windows	2 last releases	🗹 (windows-latest) ◎	🗹
macOS intel	3 last releases	🗹 (macos-13) ◎	🗹
macOS silicon	3 last releases	🗹 (macos-latest) ◎	🗹
Ubuntu	Follow upstream support ✰	🗹	🗹
Debian	Current stable, Oldstable and LTS releases	🗹	🗹
Fedora	Follow upstream support	🗹	🗹
Qubes OS	Beta support ✢	🗷	Latest Fedora template
Tails	Only the last release	🗷	Last release only

Notes:

✰ Support for Ubuntu Focal was dropped

✢ Qubes OS support assumes the use of a Fedora template. The supported releases follow our general support for Fedora.

◎ More information about where that points in the runner-images repository

MacOS

• Download Dangerzone 0.9.0 for Mac (Apple Silicon CPU)
• Download Dangerzone 0.9.0 for Mac (Intel CPU)

Tip

We support the releases of macOS that are still within Apple's servicing timeline. Apple usually provides security updates for the latest 3 releases, but this isn’t consistently applied and security fixes aren’t guaranteed for the non-latest releases. We are also dependent on Docker Desktop windows support

You can also install Dangerzone for Mac using Homebrew: brew install --cask dangerzone

Note

: you will also need to install Docker Desktop. This program needs to run alongside Dangerzone at all times, since it is what allows Dangerzone to create the secure environment.

Windows

• Download Dangerzone 0.9.0 for Windows

Note

: you will also need to install Docker Desktop. This program needs to run alongside Dangerzone at all times, since it is what allows Dangerzone to create the secure environment.

Tip

We generally support Windows releases that are still within Microsoft’s servicing timeline.

Docker sets the bottom line:

Docker only supports Docker Desktop on Windows for those versions of Windows that are still within Microsoft’s servicing timeline. Docker Desktop is not supported on server versions of Windows, such as Windows Server 2019 or Windows Server 2022.

Linux

On Linux, Dangerzone uses Podman instead of Docker Desktop for creating an isolated environment. It will be installed automatically when installing Dangerzone.

Tip

We support Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora releases that are still within their respective servicing timelines, with a few twists:

• Ubuntu: We follow upstream support with an extra cutoff date. No support for versions prior to the second oldest LTS release.
• Fedora: We follow upstream support
• Debian: current stable, oldstable and LTS releases.

Dangerzone is available for:

• Ubuntu 25.04 (plucky)
• Ubuntu 24.10 (oracular)
• Ubuntu 24.04 (noble)
• Ubuntu 22.04 (jammy)
• Debian 13 (trixie)
• Debian 12 (bookworm)
• Debian 11 (bullseye)
• Fedora 42
• Fedora 41
• Fedora 40
• Tails
• Qubes OS (beta support)

Ubuntu, Debian

ℹ️ Backport notice for Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy) users regarding the conmon package The conmon version that Podman uses and Ubuntu Jammy ships, has a bug that gets triggered by Dangerzone (more details in https://github.com/freedomofpress/dangerzone/issues/685). To fix this, we provide our own conmon package through our APT repo, which was built with the following instructions. This package is essentially a backport of the conmon package provided by Debian Bullseye.

First, retrieve the PGP keys. The instructions differ depending on the specific distribution you are using:

For Debian Trixie and Ubuntu Plucky (25.04), follow these instructions to download the PGP keys:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install sq -y
mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings/
sq network keyserver \
   --server hkps://keys.openpgp.org \
   search "DE28 AB24 1FA4 8260 FAC9 B8BA A7C9 B385 2260 4281" \
   --output - | sq packet dearmor fpfdz.gpg
sudo mv fpfdz.gpg /etc/apt/keyrings/fpf-apt-tools-archive-keyring.gpg

On other Debian-derivatives:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gnupg2 ca-certificates -y
mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings/
sudo gpg --keyserver hkps://keys.openpgp.org \
    --no-default-keyring --keyring /etc/apt/keyrings/fpf-apt-tools-archive-keyring.gpg \
    --recv-keys "DE28 AB24 1FA4 8260 FAC9 B8BA A7C9 B385 2260 4281"

Then, on all distributions, add the URL of the repo in your APT sources:

. /etc/os-release
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/fpf-apt-tools-archive-keyring.gpg] \
    https://packages.freedom.press/apt-tools-prod ${VERSION_CODENAME?} main" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/fpf-apt-tools.list

Install Dangerzone:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y dangerzone

📝 Expand this section for a security notice on third-party Debian repos This section follows the official instructions on configuring third-party Debian repos. To mitigate a class of attacks against our APT repo (e.g., injecting packages signed with an attacker key), we add an additional step in our instructions to verify the downloaded GPG key against its fingerprint. Aside from these protections, the user needs to be aware that Debian packages run as root during the installation phase, so they need to place some trust on our signed Debian packages. This holds for any third-party Debian repo.

Fedora

Type the following commands in a terminal:

sudo dnf install 'dnf-command(config-manager)'
sudo dnf-3 config-manager --add-repo=https://packages.freedom.press/yum-tools-prod/dangerzone/dangerzone.repo
sudo dnf install dangerzone

Verifying Dangerzone GPG key

Importing GPG key 0x22604281: ... Is this ok [y/N]: After some minutes of running the above command (depending on your internet speed) you'll be asked to confirm the fingerprint of our signing key. This is to make sure that in the case our servers are compromised your computer stays safe. It should look like this: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 389 kB/s | 732 MB 32:07 Dangerzone repository 3.8 MB/s | 3.8 kB 00:00 Importing GPG key 0x22604281: Userid : "Dangerzone Release Key <dangerzone-release-key@freedom.press>" Fingerprint: DE28 AB24 1FA4 8260 FAC9 B8BA A7C9 B385 2260 4281 From : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-dangerzone.pub Is this ok [y/N]: Note : If it does not show this fingerprint confirmation or the fingerprint does not match, it is possible that our servers were compromised. Be distrustful and reach out to us. The Fingerprint should be DE28 AB24 1FA4 8260 FAC9 B8BA A7C9 B385 2260 4281. For extra security, you should confirm it matches the one at the bottom of our website (dangerzone.rocks) and our Mastodon account bio. After confirming that it matches, type y (for yes) and the installation should proceed.

Qubes OS

Warning

This section is for the beta version of native Qubes support. If you want to try out the stable Dangerzone version (which uses containers instead of virtual machines for isolation), please follow the Fedora or Debian instructions and adapt them as needed.

If you followed these instructions before October 25, 2023, please read this security advisory. This notice will be removed with the 1.0.0 release of Dangerzone.

Important

This section will install Dangerzone in your default template (fedora-41 as of writing this). If you want to install it in a different one, make sure to replace fedora-41 with the template of your choice.

The following steps must be completed once. Make sure you run them in the specified qubes.

Overview of the qubes you'll create:

qube	type	purpose
dz-dvm	app qube	offline disposable template for performing conversions

In dom0:

Create a disposable, offline app qube (dz-dvm), based on your default template. This will be the qube where the documents will be sanitized:

qvm-create --class AppVM --label red --template fedora-41 \
    --prop netvm="" --prop template_for_dispvms=True \
    --prop default_dispvm='' dz-dvm

Add an RPC policy (/etc/qubes/policy.d/50-dangerzone.policy) that will allow launching a disposable qube (dz-dvm) when Dangerzone converts a document, with the following contents:

dz.Convert         *       @anyvm       @dispvm:dz-dvm  allow

In the fedora-41 template

Install Dangerzone:

sudo dnf-3 config-manager --add-repo=https://packages.freedom.press/yum-tools-prod/dangerzone/dangerzone.repo
sudo dnf install dangerzone-qubes

While Dangerzone gets installed, you will be prompted to accept a signing key. Expand the instructions in the Verifying Dangerzone GPG key section to verify the key.

Finally, shutdown the template and restart the qubes where you want to use Dangerzone in. Go to "Qube Settings" -> choose the "Applications" tab, click on "Refresh applications", and then move "Dangerzone" from the "Available" column to "Selected".

You can now launch Dangerzone from the list of applications for your qube, and pass it a file to sanitize.

Tails

Dangerzone is not yet available by default in Tails, but we have collaborated with the Tails team to offer manual installation instructions for Tails users.

Build from source

If you'd like to build from source, follow the build instructions.

Verifying PGP signatures

You can verify that the package you download is legitimate and hasn't been tampered with by verifying its PGP signature. For Windows and macOS, this step is optional and provides defense in depth: the Dangerzone binaries include operating system-specific signatures, and you can just rely on those alone if you'd like.

Obtaining signing key

Our binaries are signed with a PGP key owned by Freedom of the Press Foundation:

• Name: Dangerzone Release Key
• PGP public key fingerprint DE28 AB24 1FA4 8260 FAC9 B8BA A7C9 B385 2260 4281
  • You can download this key from the keys.openpgp.org keyserver.

(You can also cross-check this fingerprint with the fingerprint in our Mastodon page and the fingerprint in the footer of our official site)

You must have GnuPG installed to verify signatures. For macOS you probably want GPGTools, and for Windows you probably want Gpg4win.

Signatures

Our GitHub Releases page hosts the following files:

• Windows installer (Dangerzone-<version>.msi)
• macOS archives (Dangerzone-<version>-<arch>.dmg)
• Container images (container-<version>-<arch>.tar)
• Source package (dangerzone-<version>.tar.gz)

All these files are accompanied by signatures (as .asc files). We'll explain how to verify them below, using 0.6.1 as an example.

Verifying

Once you have imported the Dangerzone release key into your GnuPG keychain, downloaded the binary and .asc signature, you can verify the binary in a terminal like this:

For the Windows binary:

gpg --verify Dangerzone-0.6.1.msi.asc Dangerzone-0.6.1.msi

For the macOS binaries (depending on your architecture):

gpg --verify Dangerzone-0.6.1-arm64.dmg.asc Dangerzone-0.6.1-arm64.dmg
gpg --verify Dangerzone-0.6.1-i686.dmg.asc Dangerzone-0.6.1-i686.dmg

For the container images:

gpg --verify container-0.6.1-i686.tar.asc container-0.6.1-i686.tar

For the source package:

gpg --verify dangerzone-0.6.1.tar.gz.asc dangerzone-0.6.1.tar.gz

We also hash all the above files with SHA-256, and provide a list of these hashes as a separate file (checksums-0.6.1.txt). This file is signed as well, and the signature is embedded within it. You can download this file and verify it with:

gpg --verify checksums.txt

The expected output looks like this:

gpg: Signature made Mon Apr 22 09:29:22 2024 PDT
gpg:                using RSA key 04CABEB5DD76BACF2BD43D2FF3ACC60F62EA51CB
gpg: Good signature from "Dangerzone Release Key <dangerzone-release-key@freedom.press>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: DE28 AB24 1FA4 8260 FAC9  B8BA A7C9 B385 2260 4281
     Subkey fingerprint: 04CA BEB5 DD76 BACF 2BD4  3D2F F3AC C60F 62EA 51CB

If you don't see Good signature from, there might be a problem with the integrity of the file (malicious or otherwise), and you should not install the package.

The WARNING: shown above, is not a problem with the package, it only means you haven't defined a level of "trust" for Dangerzone's PGP key.

If you want to learn more about verifying PGP signatures, the guides for Qubes OS and the Tor Project may be useful.