Hi Everyone,
Just sent out an announcement email for Tor Browser 12.0a5. This should be the last alpha before 12.0, so we'd really
appreciate it if you all took some time to download the update and try out some of the major changes outlined in the
blog post:
- https://blog.torproject.org/new-alpha-release-tor-browser-120a5/
If you run into any issues with the alpha please open an issue in the tor-browser gitlab (
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser ) or ping us on IRC.
Stay tuned next week for stable. Huge thanks to the applications team for all the great work this year. The changelog
between 11.5 and 12.0 is truly going to be something to behold.
best,
-Richard
Hi everyone!
Here is my status report for November 2022.
At the beginning of the month, I attended the Reproducible Build 2022
Summit in Venice [0]. I discovered a lot of new stuff there, and
hopefully, we might apply some to Tor Browser, too.
Then, for the rest of the month, I mostly worked on refinements to Tor
Browser 12.0 series.
One of the most important features I have worked on is improving the
experience with the multi-lingual builds. For example, I have
implemented a notification to explain to the user why Tor Browser chose
that language, with a button to go directly to the language preferences [1].
I have also fixed a few bugs introduced by the tor-launcher refactor [2][3].
I also managed to get yet another patch upstreamed to Firefox [4].
I had another important task, too: reviewing the profile files with our
custom Firefox configuration [5]. I removed some old settings, added new
ones, and tried to add missing links to our bug tracker for the ones
that we already had. I hope this will help us with future documentation
and review work.
Finally, I helped to prepare some releases and to verify the
reproducibility of the ones we released.
We should be very close to 12.0 becoming stable: we are very excited
about it, and we would love to get any feedback. So, please, consider
downloading [6] the fifth alpha of 12.0 (we are publishing it later
today) and giving it a test ride 😄️.
Thank you very much,
Pier
[0] https://reproducible-builds.org/events/venice2022/
[1]
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/41378
[2]
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/41436
[3]
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/41429
[4] https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D161264
[5]
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40783
[6] https://www.torproject.org/download/alpha/
Hi everyone,
Some of us have some conflicts this week so we'll push the weekly Tor Browser
meeting back to the 22nd at 1500 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC IRC.
best,
-Richard
Apologies for crossposting
Fellow translators: Tomorrow we hangout!
----------------------------------------
Every 3rd Friday of the month the Tor L10n Team meets on the Localization Hangout,
from Noon UTC, on the #tor-l10n channel in OFTC and matrix
At 13 UTC we make a call on Big Blue Button.
Tomorrow we will be testing the new multilocale Tor Browser.
That's right: The same app for all locales!
The first multi-locale release of Tor Browser Alpha for desktop is out.
All supported languages are now included in a single bundle, and can be
changed without requiring additional downloads via the Language menu in
General settings.
Download: https://www.torproject.org/download/alpha/
What to test:
* Tor Browser Alpha should default to your system language on first launch
if it matches a language we support (list of languages supported:
https://support.torproject.org/tbb/tbb-37/ ).
* Changing language within about:preferences#general
* Any new bugs with localization in general.
For more information about the hangout, please see:
https://community.torproject.org/localization/hangouts/
Note: Tor Browser Alpha is an unstable version of Tor Browser and should not
be used for activities that could put you at risk. Instead, please limit your
use of alpha to preview new features, test their performance and provide
feedback before their release.
Tails report for September and October 2022
<https://tails.boum.org/news/report_2022_10/>
Highlights
Here's a glimpse at what happened in Tails in September and October.
Analyzing results of usability tests
We analyzed the results of the usability tests we did in São Paulo:
* first-time use
<https-everywhere://lists.autistici.org/message/20221012.181235.a673efeb.en.html>
* Tor Connection
<https://lists.autistici.org/message/20221012.140611.7e58f067.en.html>
Then we prioritized the issues identified there and planned to fix a
bunch of them in the next few months.
New features
Our developers brought 3 major new features to beta quality:
*
New Persistent Storage, completely redesigned and vastly more usable
*
Wayland and better Unsafe Browser, for better security in depth and
usability
*
QR code scanning for Tor bridges
We will only release these features officially in Tails 5.8 (December
2022), but you cantry them already in Tails 5.8~beta1
<https://tails.boum.org/news/test_5.8-beta1/>!
Donation campaign
We launched our end-of-year donation campaign.
Donations from passionate people like you are our most valuable source
of funding because they guarantee our independence. We are a very small
nonprofit and our yearly budget is ridiculously small compared to the
value of Tails.
Donate now <https://tails.boum.org/donate/index.en.html>to fight
surveillance and censorship!
Releases
Tails 5.5 was released on October 17
<https://tails.boum.org/news/version_5.5/index.en.html>, including:
*
Update/Thunderbird/to102.3.0
<https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/102.3.0/releasenotes/>.
/Thunderbird/102 is a major update withmany changes to the
navigation, folder icons, and address book
<https://blog.thunderbird.net/2022/06/thunderbird-102-released-a-serious-upg…>.
/Thunderbird/102 also includes important usability improvements to
the OpenPGP feature. When composing an email, you can now see
whether it will be encrypted or not. If encryption is impossible, a
key assistant helps you solve key issues.
Thunderbird composer window with encryption turned on and
notification about a missing key and how to resolve the issue.
*
Always ask to configure a screen locking password when pressing
Ctrl+L and no administration pasword was set. (#19090
<https://gitlab.tails.boum.org/tails/tails/-/issues/19090>)
Tails 5.6 was released on October 25
<https://tails.boum.org/news/version_5.6/index.en.html>.
Metrics
Tails has been started more than 698 160 times in September, and 736 378
times in October. This makes 23 517 boots a day on average.