Hello!
After months of work we are happy to announce that a release candidate for Tor Browser 8.5 is ready for testing. Bundles can be found at:
https://people.torproject.org/~boklm/builds/8.5-build2/
(Note: we plan to do a build3 soon to pick up last minute mobile fixes and maybe some for Windows accessibility support, but otherwise those bundles should match what we intend to ship if no blockers are found during testing)
Among the many changes we made three ones are particularly worthy of getting mentioned:
1) Tor Browser 8.5 is the first stable release that comes to Android. During the past few months we worked to provide the protections users already enjoying on desktop to the Android platform by making sure there are no proxy bypasses, first-party isolation is working as expected and most of the fingerprinting defenses are working. While there are still feature gaps[1] between the desktop and mobile Tor Browser we are confident that Tor Browser for Android provides essentially the same protections that can be found on desktop platforms. Thanks to everyone working on getting our mobile experience into shape, in particular to Antonela, Matt, Igor, and Shane.
2) Our security slider is an important tool for Tor Browser users, especially for those with particular security requirements. However, so far it was hidden behind the Torbutton menu and hard to access. During the Tor Browser 8.5 development period we revamped the experience showing now the chosen security level on the toolbar and making interactions with the slider easier. For the fully planned changes check out proposal 101.[2]
3) We made Tor Browser 8.5 compatible with Firefox's Photon UI and redesigned our logos and about:tor page across all the platforms we support to provide the same look and feel and better accessibility.
All the changes made between Tor Browser 8.0.9 and 8.5 are:
Tor Browser 8.5 -- May 21 2019 * All platforms * Update Firefox to 60.7.0esr * Update Torbutton to 2.1.8 * Bug 25013: Integrate Torbutton into tor-browser for Android * Bug 27111: Update about:tor desktop version to work on mobile * Bug 22538+22513: Fix new circuit button for error pages * Bug 25145: Update circuit display when back button is pressed * Bug 27749: Opening about:config shows circuit from previous website * Bug 30115: Map browser+domain to credentials to fix circuit display * Bug 25702: Update Tor Browser icon to follow design guidelines * Bug 21805: Add click-to-play button for WebGL * Bug 28836: Links on about:tor are not clickable * Bug 30171: Don't sync cookie.cookieBehavior and firstparty.isolate * Bug 29825: Intelligently add new Security Level button to taskbar * Bug 29903: No WebGL click-to-play on the standard security level * Bug 27290: Remove WebGL pref for min capability mode * Bug 25658: Replace security slider with security level UI * Bug 28628: Change onboarding Security panel to open new Security Level panel * Bug 29440: Update about:tor when Tor Browser is updated * Bug 27478: Improved Torbutton icons for dark theme * Bug 29239: Don't ship the Torbutton .xpi on mobile * Bug 27484: Improve navigation within onboarding (strings) * Bug 29768: Introduce new features to users (strings) * Bug 28093: Update donation banner style to make it fit in small screens * Bug 28543: about:tor has scroll bar between widths 900px and 1000px * Bug 28039: Enable dump() if log method is 0 * Bug 27701: Don't show App Blocker dialog on Android * Bug 28187: Change tor circuit icon to torbutton.svg * Bug 29943: Use locales in AB-CD scheme to match Mozilla * Bug 26498: Add locale: es-AR * Bug 28082: Add locales cs, el, hu, ka * Bug 29973: Remove remaining stopOpenSecuritySettingsObserver() pieces * Bug 28075: Tone down missing SOCKS credential warning * Bug 30425: Revert armagadd-on-2.0 changes * Bug 30497: Add Donate link to about:tor * Bug 30069: Use slider and about:tor localizations on mobile * Bug 21263: Remove outdated information from the README * Bug 28747: Remove NoScript (XPCOM) related unused code * Translations update * Code clean-up * Update HTTPS Everywhere to 2019.5.6.1 * Bug 27290: Remove WebGL pref for min capability mode * Bug 29120: Enable media cache in memory * Bug 24622: Proper first-party isolation of s3.amazonaws.com * Bug 29082: Backport patches for bug 1469916 * Bug 28711: Backport patches for bug 1474659 * Bug 27828: "Check for Tor Browser update" doesn't seem to do anything * Bug 29028: Auto-decline most canvas warning prompts again * Bug 27919: Backport SSL status API * Bug 27597: Fix our debug builds * Bug 28082: Add locales cs, el, hu, ka * Bug 26498: Add locale: es-AR * Bug 29916: Make sure enterprise policies are disabled * Bug 29349: Remove network.http.spdy.* overrides from meek helper user.js * Bug 29327: TypeError: hostName is null on about:tor page * Bug 30425: Revert armagadd-on-2.0 changes * Windows + OS X + Linux * Update OpenSSL to 1.0.2r * Update Tor Launcher to 0.2.18.3 * Bug 27994+25151: Use the new Tor Browser logo * Bug 29328: Account for Tor 0.4.0.x's revised bootstrap status reporting * Bug 22402: Improve "For assistance" link * Bug 27994: Use the new Tor Browser logo * Bug 25405: Cannot use Moat if a meek bridge is configured * Bug 27392: Update Moat URLs * Bug 28082: Add locales cs, el, hu, ka * Bug 26498: Add locale es-AR * Bug 28039: Enable dump() if log method is 0 * Translations update * Bug 25702: Activity 1.1 Update Tor Browser icon to follow design guidelines * Bug 28111: Use Tor Browser icon in identity box * Bug 22343: Make 'Save Page As' obey first-party isolation * Bug 29768: Introduce new features to users * Bug 27484: Improve navigation within onboarding * Bug 25658+29554: Replace security slider with security level UI * Bug 25658+29554: Replace security slider with security level UI * Bug 25405: Cannot use Moat if a meek bridge is configured * Bug 28885: notify users that update is downloading * Bug 29180: MAR download stalls when about dialog is opened * Bug 27485: Users are not taught how to open security-slider dialog * Bug 27486: Avoid about:blank tabs when opening onboarding pages * Bug 29440: Update about:tor when Tor Browser is updated * Bug 23359: WebExtensions icons are not shown on first start * Bug 28628: Change onboarding Security panel to open new Security Level panel * Bug 27905: Fix many occurrences of "Firefox" in about:preferences * Bug 28369: Stop shipping pingsender executable * Bug 30457: Remove defunct default bridges * Windows * Bug 27503: Improve screen reader accessibility * Bug 27865: Tor Browser 8.5a2 is crashing on Windows * Bug 22654: Firefox icon is shown for Tor Browser on Windows 10 start menu * Bug 28874: Bump mingw-w64 commit to fix WebGL crash * Bug 12885: Windows Jump Lists fail for Tor Browser * Bug 28618: Set MOZILLA_OFFICIAL for Windows build * Bug 21704: Abort install if CPU is missing SSE2 support * Bug 28002: Fix the precomplete file in the en-US installer * OS X * Bug 27623: Use MOZILLA_OFFICIAL for our builds * Linux * Bug 28022: Use `/usr/bin/env bash` for bash invocation * Bug 27623: Use MOZILLA_OFFICIAL for our builds * Android * Bug 5709: Ship Tor Browser for Android * Build System * All platforms * Bug 29868: Fix installation of python-future package * Bug 25623: Disable network during build * Bug 25876: Generate source tarballs during build * Bug 28685: Set Build ID based on Tor Browser version * Bug 29194: Set DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive * Bug 29167: Upgrade go to 1.11.5 * Bug 29158: Install updated apt packages (CVE-2019-3462) * Bug 29097: Don't try to install python3.6-lxml for HTTPS Everywhere * Bug 27061: Enable verification of langpacks checksums * Windows * Bug 26148: Update binutils to 2.31.1 * Bug 27320: Build certutil for Windows * OS X * Bug 27320: Build certutil for macOS * Linux * Bug 26323+29812: Build 32bit Linux bundles on 64bit Debian Wheezy * Bug 26148: Update binutils to 2.31.1 * Bug 29758: Build firefox debug symbols for linux-i686 * Bug 29966: Use archive.debian.org for Wheezy images * Bug 29183: Use linux-x86_64 langpacks on linux-x86_64 * Android * Bug 29981: Add option to build without using containers
Georg
[1] https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=as...
[2]https://gitweb.torproject.org/tor-browser-spec.git/tree/proposals/101-securi...