[tor-bugs] #4460 [Thandy]: Extend and integrate Vidalia and Thandy to install or update TBB components

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#4460: Extend and integrate Vidalia and Thandy to install or update TBB components
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    Reporter:  karsten  |       Owner:  chiiph                      
        Type:  project  |      Status:  closed                      
    Priority:  normal   |   Milestone:  Sponsor Z: December 31, 2011
   Component:  Thandy   |     Version:                              
  Resolution:  fixed    |    Keywords:                              
      Parent:           |      Points:                              
Actualpoints:           |  
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Changes (by chiiph):

  * status:  new => closed
  * resolution:  => fixed


Comment:

 Executive summary:

 Thandy is a package manager focusing on security against package
 tampering.  As of a couple of months ago, Thandy was only able to
 handle exe and rpm files. That's why Nick and Erinn wrote a
 specification for a package format called Thp to be a secure
 replacement for exe and rpm.  I implemented that specification, there
 were a couple of things that weren't completely defined in it (that's
 why it's still a draft), for example, the uninstall process isn't
 specified nor implemented; but that was acceptable for a first
 approach. This code was reviewed by Nick in #3895. Once that code was
 merged, there were a couple of issues (#4402, #4403, #4414) that
 needed a quick fix or just more thought.

 Thandy itself isn't easy to use, so the first thought was to wrap it
 under a Vidalia plugin, but the issue of "who updates Vidalia on
 Windows if Vidalia is running Thandy?" made us come up with the idea
 of a bootstrap application. The bootstrap application is a GUI app
 that runs Thandy and translates its output into graphical
 representations like download progress bars, and colored
 messages. With it, Vidalia uses Thandy through this bootstrap
 application, which in case of an update for Vidalia, it will wait a
 few seconds to let Vidalia exit properly, and then update it. If
 there's an update for bootstrap application available, Vidalia will
 use Thandy directly to update the bootstrap application, and then use
 the new bootstrap application to update the other applications. The
 ticket for the bootstrap app is #3896.

 Vidalia handles all the communication to Thandy and the bootstrap
 applicationthrough a separate plugin. This plugin periodically checks
 for updates and behaves as specified in the former paragraph. This
 plugin doesn't have a ticket.

 Thandy is a Python app, so the last issue is how to distribute it as
 an executable, for that PyInstaller was selected among the
 possibilities.  The ticket for this is #4418.

 There are a couple of core features, like updating Thandy itself, that
 aren't a part of this milestone. But it can be adapted to be a part of
 the bootstrap application behavior.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/4460#comment:2>
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