[tor-bugs] #7842 [Tor bundles/installation]: make a graphical TBB installer (extractor)

Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki blackhole at torproject.org
Tue Jan 1 12:41:10 UTC 2013


#7842: make a graphical TBB installer (extractor)
--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
 Reporter:  proper                    |          Owner:  erinn
     Type:  enhancement               |         Status:  new  
 Priority:  normal                    |      Milestone:       
Component:  Tor bundles/installation  |        Version:       
 Keywords:                            |         Parent:       
   Points:                            |   Actualpoints:       
--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------

Comment(by bastik):

 The TBBs for Windows are executables which ask where to extract, already.
 I don't know if the 7zip extractor is flexible enough to allow something
 to be launched after extraction.

 (How hard can it be to open the folder you extracted it in and click on
 the executable called start-tor-browser?)

 The FirefoxPortable "installer" (as well as the other executables, that
 aren't too old, from portableapps.com) optionally offers (via check-box)
 to launch the "installed" application. (The "installer" still allows to
 choose where to extract).
 (Indeed a handy feature to launch what you extracted, comfortable feature)

 Installers do a lot of things (wanted or not) like putting an icon on the
 desktop, add entries to the Start Menu (so people can start applications
 from there). (If I install, actually install, something I expect to find
 it in the Start Menu)(probably unwanted things for TBB anyway)

 If you talk about users are used to install something... what about
 [https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2012-December/026949.html
 un-installing] (user question on tor-talk)?

 Installing things usually makes changes to the system (registry, add
 libraries to the system folder), so programs come with an un-installer to
 undo the changes. Some people deleted folders and thought everything would
 be fine, some just deleted the desktop icon and believed the program would
 be gone (Windows tells users that they have to unistall it, when they
 delete an shortcut that points to an installed application). People got
 told, that when they install something, they have to uninstall it instead
 of just deleting the folder. Someone saying "just delete the folder" could
 confuse them.

 Maybe adding the word "portable" to the extractors filename would help a
 bit, because some people have learned that portable software behaves
 different than installed software. To be sure adding it to the folders
 name would be even better. (portableapss.com does that; Well, they also
 say "install", what I find misleading.)

 I hope people are going to realize that they can safely delete the TBB
 folder after "installing" it, while being taught for years that deleting
 the folder is not enough.
 (This seems to be a complex topic, diverting from my initial thought on
 how hard it would be, while assuming it's easy, to just execute start-tor-
 browser; why aren't we all robots.)

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/7842#comment:1>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online


More information about the tor-bugs mailing list