http://forums.whonix.org/t/whonix-host-operating-system/3931/80
Dug around on how to modify XML settings on the fly via cli. Other options were too messy or required manual editing which are useless for scripting.
sudo virt-xml Whonix-Workstation --edit --disk readonly=onreadonly takes values on/off
I am not sure whonix-libvirt is the ideal place for detection of live mode and the adjustment of image write options. Perhaps the grub-live package is a better place.
However wouldn't doing this break VM usage since ro-mode-init is not our first choice for using it?