|description=Adds encrypted swap file to the system.
|image=File-swap-promo.jpg
[[File:File-swap-promo.jpg|thumb|swap-file-creator logo]]
Adds encrypted swap file to the system.
<code>swap-file-creator</code> adds an encrypted swap file to the system. On every boot, it creates a new encrypted swapfile with a random password.
This is useful for systems with low RAM such as those inside virtual machines. Prevents common cases of freezing of VMs with low RAM during upgrades. <ref>
Such as during Linux kernel module building (VirtualBox guest additions) as well as kernel header package upgrades.
* https://forums.whonix.org/t/swap-swap-file-whonix-gateway-freezing-during-apt-get-dist-upgrade-encrypted-swap-file-creator/8317
* https://forums.whonix.org/t/whonix-xfce-for-virtualbox-users-ram-increase-required/8993
* https://forums.whonix.org/t/default-ram-setting/12312
It has an <code>ENOUGH_RAM</code> setting which defaults to <code>1950</code> MB. If there is more than enough RAM, it will not advice to increase RAM.
An optional option exists to shred the swapfile on shutdown but this is slow. <ref>
https://github.com/{{project_name_short}}/swap-file-creator/blob/master/etc/default/swap-file-creatorFor further information, see: https://github.com/{{project_name_short}}/swap-file-creator* [[{{project_name_short}}|{{project_name_short}}]]: Available. Installed by default. Otherwise, see footnote. <ref>package=swap-file-creator
* [[{{q project name short}}|{{q project name short}}]]: [[Unsupported]]. <ref>Setting up swap and/or encryption of any kind is completely up to Qubes. [[Unspecific|Unspecific to {{project_name_short}}]].The config file is located at [https://github.com/Kicksecure/swap-file-creator/blob/master/etc/default/swap-file-creator <code>/etc/default/swap-file-creator</code>]. Here you can change various parameters for the swapfile creation such as the path for where to create the swapfile at startup. <ref>
Useful in case you have a copy-on-write system like ZFS or BtrFS.
{{Open with root rights|filename=/etc/default/swap-file-creator
For example, to set a custom swap file size of 1024 MB, add.
SWAP_FILE_SIZE_CUSTOM_MB=1024
Done. Settings will be applied after reboot (or when swap-file-creator is restarted).
Other configuration options.
* {{CodeSelect|inline⁼true|code=sudo du -sh /var/swapfile
To check it is working correctly, check the amount of free and used memory in the system.
Next, enable swapping and display the swap usage summary.
For troubleshooting purposes, [[Troubleshooting#Daemon_Log|Check Daemon Log]] and search for unit-name: <code>swap-file-creator</code>.
<code>swap-file-creator</code> does not run if [[grub-live|live mode]] is detected. <ref>
Live mode is detected if file <code>/proc/cmdline</code> contains string <code>boot=live</code>.
Only required in case of issues. Otherwise the user can skip this wiki chapter.
In case swap-file-creator is failing at boot time, it does <u>not</u> break the boot process.
For example, <u>host</u> kernel versions other than the one recommended on the [[VirtualBox/Recommended Version|recommended VirtualBox version]] wiki page are are likely to break VirtualBox VMs [[Kernel#Kernel_Issues|in many ways]] if these are unsupported by VirtualBox. <ref>
https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/17055#comment:3
</ref> In this case, swap-file-creator might [https://forums.whonix.org/t/solved-swap-file-creator-breaks-with-whonix-16-for-virtualbox-and-newer-linux-host-kernel-version-5-18/13799 be broken] and this being the only [https://forums.whonix.org/uploads/default/original/2X/6/694af8fb74342a848d9fae832ba028c481e18a72.png visible] error but this still does <u>not</u> break the boot process. However, when using kernel versions unsupported by VirtualBox, many other things will be broken and the system will be unbootable anyhow.
Manual Swap File Creation
sudo systemctl stop swap-file-creator
sudo systemctl disable swap-file-creator
* main source code file: https://github.com/Kicksecure/swap-file-creator/blob/master/usr/share/swap-file-creator/swap-file-creator
* systemd unit file: https://github.com/Kicksecure/swap-file-creator/blob/master/usr/lib/systemd/system/swap-file-creator.service
* https://github.com/Kicksecure/swap-file-creator
* [[rads|RAM Adjusted Desktop Starter]]
[[Category:Documentation]]
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