[tor-bugs] #13252 [Tor Browser]: Tor Browser on OS X should not store data into the application bundle

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#13252: Tor Browser on OS X should not store data into the application bundle
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 Reporter:  torosx                 |          Owner:  mcs
     Type:  defect                 |         Status:  needs_revision
 Priority:  Medium                 |      Milestone:
Component:  Tor Browser            |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                 |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  TorBrowserTeam201603R  |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:  #6540                  |         Points:
 Reviewer:                         |        Sponsor:  None
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Changes (by mcs):

 * status:  needs_review => needs_revision


Comment:

 An issue was raised on IRC yesterday that we need to address: if a non-
 admin user installs TorBrowser.app into /Applications (as suggested by our
 disk image), they will not have permission to create /Applications
 /TorBrowser-Data. In that situation, we need to put the user data
 somewhere else.

 Kathy and I suggest we use ~/Library/Application\ Support/TorBrowser-Data

 If everyone agrees with that choice, then we need to decide what criteria
 to use at runtime to determine whether to use the ~/Library/Application\
 Support approach or the "side-by-side" approach. We could do the same
 thing that Ricochet does, which is to put user data under
 ~/Library/Application\ Support whenever the .app's path contains
 "/Applications". We could also use an algorithm that is purely based on
 whether Tor Browser can write to the location it would use for side-by-
 side data (in other words, the strategy would be to use side-by-side
 whenever possible and use ~/Library/Application\ Support/ only if
 necessary).

 The best solution is probably a combination: if the .app path contains
 /Applications or if we do not have write access, store the user data
 under~/Library/Application\ Support/TorBrowser-Data.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13252#comment:53>
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