Overview

This website documents my Google Summer of Code 2026 project for Qubes OS, on Graphical Package Manager Support in Templates.

Qubes OS has made major improvements in its UX in recent years, and providing graphical interfaces for almost every task is a key part of that. It’s becoming an easy and intuitive tool to achieve “reasonable” security, by relying on explicit compartmentalization that forces users to actively think about their own actions, avoiding mistakes.

As cyber threats continue to evolve, Qubes OS is becoming an essential tool for the general public too, reinforcing the need for UX-focused software.

Software installation

Software installation in Qubes can be complex, making it one of the most discussed topics on the Qubes Forum.

Apart from the background knowledge about Qubes architecture, users need to be comfortable with terminal and get familiar with a few linux distributions ahead. This process can get even more challenging if the desired app is not available in the distribution’s repositories.

✨ Goals

The main goal of this project is to provide a graphical interface for software installation in templates, as a step to improve UX and make it more accessible for people from diverse backgrounds. It aims to simplify installation from distribution repositories and Flatpak.