Management/pre-configuration stack. Configuration complexity is one of the major UX pain points in Qubes OS. This feature is going to make it really simple to enable even the most complex configurations with just a few clicks. In Qubes 3.1 we are providing management stack for basic VM management (like creating VMs, setting properties there, etc). In the near future we’ll enhance it to configure also templates (installation of additional software, keeping them up to date, modifying configuration files, etc).

The 3.1 installer already uses this new mechanism for:

Basic VMs creation (sys-net, sys-firewall, personal, vault, etc)

Whonix setup (both workstation and gateway, with all required settings)

USB VM, including handling of USB mouse

We are going to write a separate, much more detailed blog post about this major feature.