[tor-reports] Tails report for May, 2014
Tails folks
tails at boum.org
Fri Jun 13 16:09:08 UTC 2014
Releases
========
Late May we decided to postpone the release of Tails
1.1, based on Debian Wheezy, to the next release cycle. And instead
have Tails 1.0.1 released on June 10.
https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2014-May/005901.html
Tails 1.1~beta1, the first beta version of Tails based on Debian
Wheezy, was released on May 30.
Metrics
=======
- Tails has been started more than 344 328 times this month.
This make 11 107 boots a day in average.
- 31 698 downloads of the OpenPGP signature of Tails ISO.
- 64 bug reports were received through WhisperBack.
FAQ
===
- The development of TrueCrypt was
discontinued but our position regarding
TrueCrypt has remained the same for years: Tails includes TrueCrypt
only for backward compatibility and we are working on choosing a free
software as replacement to open TrueCrypt volumes. We hope
that this recent announcement encourages users to migrate to other
encrypted storage formats such as LUKS, and
developers to better support the TrueCrypt on-disk format in Free
Software tools.
http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/
https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/replace_truecrypt/
https://tails.boum.org/support/faq/#luks
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6337
Code
====
Still, a lot of work has been done to prepare Tails 1.1:
- The Windows Camouflage has been upgraded to Windows 8. It mostly
works but some visual improvements would make it nicer.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6342
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7377
- Fixed the build of VirtualBox guest modules.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/5972
- Fixed the starting of ORCA screen reader.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7251
- Fixed the keymap selection from Tails Greeter.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7065
- Set the background of Tails Greeter to our usual blue color.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7126
- Fixed OpenPGP signature verification in Nautilus.
That implied installing a backport of shared-mime-info 1.2+.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6608
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7058
- Worked on upgrading liferea and adding a persistence,
but we discovered that Liferea > 1.10.3
includes a general-purpose web browser with JavaScript, and we
don't want that. We are now considering to wait for Icedove, which
also has a feed reader, before we add a persistent feeds feature.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/log/?h=feature/7154-install-liferea-above-1.10.3
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7154
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/log/?h=feature/5711-liferea-persistence-preset
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/5711
- Fixed the display of non-Latin script in Florence.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7279
- Used a solid blue background color to workaround a display bug in
GNOME Fallback.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7248
- Adapted the test suite to Wheezy was completed.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/log/?h=test/6559-adapt-test-suite-for-Wheezy
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6559
- Used the regular GnuPG agent instead of the one from GNOME Keyring.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7330
- Fixed emergency shutdown before login.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7333
- Prevented `iproute2` from being installed from wheezy-backports.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7337
- Purged `dselect`.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7336
- Worked on fixing the migration of NetworkManager persistence
settings.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7338
- Tails devices are now converted to UEFI on full upgrade.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6577
- Imported I2P 0.9.13 packages for Wheezy.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6731
Apart from all the work directly related to the migration to Wheezy, we
also:
- Backported python-stem.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7318
- Installed Linux 3.14.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7150
- Decreased the memory requirements while checking for upgrades.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7235
- Disabled the update check mechanism of Torbutton.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7097
- Installed Tor 0.2.4.22.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7342
- Included GtkHash to allow checksum computation from Nautilus.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6763
- Updated Tor launcher to 0.2.5.4.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/log/?h=feature/tor-launcher-0.2.5.4
- Worked on using static UID for `tails-persistence-setup`.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7343
- Started evaluating debpkg xserver-xorg-video-modesetting, for
"KMS support" with the Cirrus (used e.g. in QEMU), MGA, and maybe
other video adapters.
https://packages.debian.org/source/wheezy/xserver-xorg-video-modesetting
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7394
Documentation and website
=========================
- Many parts of our documentation were adapted to Tails Wheezy.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/log/?h=doc/wheezy
- Parts of our download page were reworked and simplified.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7163
- Removed the "Why do you need anonymity?" page, which was outside of
the scope of our documentation.
- Explain that NoScript is disabled by default.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/commit/?id=8d7979744419198ed880560a3f45a2ac33284768
- Put it more clearly that most bug reports without an email address
are useless.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/commit/?id=5439823574c7780eb1483bbce989fce7c34eeee9
- Documented that OTR is not activated by default.
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7355
Infrastructure
==============
- As our mirror pool grew, we finally hit a bug in the Tor
DNS resolver that prevents us from adding more than about
25 servers in our DNS pool. Thanks to
foob we put up a blueprint to fix that issue on
the long-run. See ticket 7161 and some research about mirror
infrastructure.
https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/11741
https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/HTTP_mirror_pool/
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7161
https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2014-May/005748.html
- Contributors were encouraged to migrate their custom build systems to
Wheezy, as was done for our Jenkins autobuilder already, and to
update our Vagrant basebox to Wheezy.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/commit/?id=65967ea46add442a40d16b99a5b1ed5114a248a6
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7218
On-going discussions
====================
- Create a donation form to receive fiat currencies
https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2014-May/005633.html
- Sharing wiperam package between Freepto and Tails?
https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2014-May/005787.html
- Reworking the I2P documentation
https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2014-May/005808.html
- Signing of the ISO and key material
https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2014-May/005931.html
Funding
=======
- Special thanks to all the people who donated. We received more than
60 bitcoins in May!
https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/donate
https://blockchain.info/address/1BvBMSEYstWetqTFn5Au4m4GFg7xJaNVN2
- Received a grant from Debian to fund our yearly summit.
- Received a grant from Mozilla to pay some travel expenses for our
yearly summit.
- Received a first batch of money from the FPF crowd-funding campaign.
- Added a donate button in our sidebar, and point it to the FPF
crowd-funding campaign which is still running.
http://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/log/?h=doc/donate
- Finally signed a contract for the OpenITP grant that we were awarded
at the end of 2013.
- We are still in the process of getting the contract signed for the
Access Innovation Prize.
- Were contacted for partnership by the User Verifiable Social
Telematics R&D Project.
http://www.openmediacluster.com/en/user-verifiable-social-telematics-project/
Outreach
========
- Passed a call for help on sysadmin.
https://tails.boum.org/news/Call_for_help:_improve_the_infrastructure_behind_Tails
- Organized a first usability testing session in Paris.
https://tails.boum.org/news/usability_testing_2014_05
- Organized a Tails 1.0 Launch Party in Washington DC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz1rAHzo9eM
- Organizing the upcoming Tails HackFest and yearly summit: agenda,
accommodation, traveling sponsorship, venue, food, etc.
https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/HackFest_2014_Paris
Press and testimonials
======================
In late April and early May, many press articles covered the Tails 1.0
release, including:
- Tails 1.0 – La distrib sécurisée sort enfin en version stable (in
French).
http://korben.info/tails-1-0.html
- Anonymisierungs-OS Tails wird erwachsen in heise Security (in
German).
http://www.heise.de/security/meldung/Anonymisierungs-OS-Tails-wird-erwachsen-2180167.html
- Secure OS Tails Emerges From Beta by David Murphy in PCMAG.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2457452,00.asp
- Edward Snowden's OS of choice, the Linux-based Tails,
is now out of beta by Steve Dent in Engadget.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/01/tails-linux-os-version1-0/
- Tails 1.0: Sicherheit und
Anonymität by Ferdinand Thommes in PRO-LINUX.DE (in German).
http://www.pro-linux.de/news/1/21038/tails-10-sicherheit-und-anonymitaet.html
- Tails, l'OS dédié à la confidentialité, passe en
version 1.0 by Julien L. in Numerama (in French).
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/29251-tails-l-os-dedie-a-la-confidentialite-passe-en-version-10.html
- Anonymous Linux Distribution TAILS Reaches Release Version
1.0 by Max Smolaks in TechWeek Europe.
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/tails-anonymous-linux-distribution-reaches-release-version-1-0-144823?ModPagespeed=noscript
- Snowden's Beloved Tails OS Reaches v1.0
Milestone by Richard Adhikari in LinuxInsider.
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/Snowdens-Beloved-Tails-OS-Reaches-v10-Milestone-80386.html
--
Tails folks
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