Whonix

Whonix (clearnet link) can be installed on POWER using KVM. These instructions were tested with Whonix 16.

Both Whonix-Gateway and Whonix-Workstation

Download Whonix from the Whonix KVM download page (clearnet link).

Extract it:

tar -xvf Whonix*.libvirt.xz

Install the Whonix virtual networks:

sudo virsh -c qemu:///system net-define Whonix_external*.xml
sudo virsh -c qemu:///system net-define Whonix_internal*.xml
sudo virsh -c qemu:///system net-autostart Whonix-External
sudo virsh -c qemu:///system net-start Whonix-External
sudo virsh -c qemu:///system net-autostart Whonix-Internal
sudo virsh -c qemu:///system net-start Whonix-Internal

Then, create two Debian Bullseye ppc64el VM's. When installing Debian, do not create a separate root password, name the user user, and for desktop environment either pick XFCE or do not install one. Launch a shell in each VM, and follow the below instructions for each VM.

Import the Whonix/Kicksecure signing key (source) (clearnet):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends curl gpg gpg-agent
curl --tlsv1.3 --proto =https --max-time 180 --output ~/patrick.asc https://www.whonix.org/patrick.asc
sudo cp ~/patrick.asc /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/derivative.asc

Initialize the console group (source) (clearnet):

sudo addgroup --system console
sudo adduser user console

Add the Whonix/Kicksecure package repository (source) (clearnet):

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-tor
echo "deb tor+http://deb.dds6qkxpwdeubwucdiaord2xgbbeyds25rbsgr73tbfpqpt4a6vjwsyd.onion bullseye main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/derivative.list
sudo apt-get update

Note: As of 2021 September 10, there are bugs in the security-misc package in the Whonix bullseye suite, which break ppc64el support. These bugs were fixed by security-misc version 3:22.7-1. Until the fixes make their way to the bullseye suite, you can get the fixes early by substituting bullseye-developers for bullseye in the derivative.list line above.

Upgrade Linux to 5.14 or higher; a bug was fixed between Linux 5.10 and Linux 5.14 that broke ppc64le support in Whonix. As of 2021 September 10, this means using the Debian Experimental suite (source) (clearnet):

echo "deb tor+http://2s4yqjx5ul6okpp3f2gaunr2syex5jgbfpfvhxxbbjwnrsvbk5v3qbid.onion/debian experimental main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/experimental.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -t experimental install linux-image-powerpc64le

Whonix-Gateway

Run one of the following, depending on whether you want the Whonix-Gateway to use XFCE or CLI-only:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends non-qubes-whonix-gateway-xfce

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends non-qubes-whonix-gateway-cli

If you get a package conflict error that mentions console-common, run the following and then try again:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends console-common

If you get prompted with questions during package installation, you can choose the defaults.

The Whonix packages will install their own sources.list data in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list, which means you should delete the sources.list that Debian came with (in order to avoid warnings from apt-get about duplicated repos):

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list

Shut off the VM.

Set the VM's NIC to use the Whonix-External Network source.

Add a 2nd NIC to the VM, and set it to use the Whonix-Internal Network source.

Launch the VM again; Whonix-Gateway should be running.

If you get errors about the Tor service failing to start, this is probably an AppArmor issue. You can fix it by running the following:

sudo touch /etc/apparmor.d/local/system_tor.anondist

Restart the VM again and Tor should work.

Whonix-Workstation

Run one of the following, depending on whether you want the Whonix-Workstation to use XFCE or CLI-only:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends non-qubes-whonix-workstation-xfce

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends non-qubes-whonix-workstation-cli

If you get a package conflict error that mentions console-common, run the following and then try again:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends console-common

If you get prompted with questions during package installation, you can choose the defaults.

The Whonix packages will install their own sources.list data in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list, which means you should delete the sources.list that Debian came with (in order to avoid warnings from apt-get about duplicated repos):

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list

Shut off the VM.

Set the VM's NIC to use the Whonix-Internal Network source.

Launch the VM again; Whonix-Workstation should be running.

Known Issues

None.