[tor-reports] Pearl Crescent Report - February 2016

[Mark Smith]

Work completed by the Pearl Crescent team during February 2016
(Kathy Brade and Mark Smith):

* Tor Browser Updater:

We debugged the problem described in the following ticket and developed 
a fix which has been merged:
   "After an update to Tor Browser 5.5 only changelog tab is shown"
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18170

We also filed the following Windows-specific ticket and created a 
stop-gap fix:
   "staged updates fail on Windows"
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18292


* Tor Browser and Torbutton:

We spent a lot of time developing patches and chasing various problems 
related to Mac OS code signing (still a work in progress):
  "Tor Browser on OS X should not store data into the
     application bundle"
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13252

We revised our patch for the following issue (the fix has been merged):
   "about:tor update arrow position is wrong (Retina and zoom)"
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18144

We triaged various tickets and reviewed the fix for #18030

And we spent a little time on the following tickets:
   "Firefox icon for browser after update"
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18199

   "remove unused code and strings from Torbutton"
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18238


* Tor Launcher:

Minimal activity this month. We did spend a little time looking at the 
following bug:
   "Tor Launcher only accepts HEXDIGIT passwords for controller"
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18330


* Miscellaneous Activities:
    We participated in the weekly Tor Browser meetings, UX meetings,
    and app team meetings on IRC, and in various design discussions
    on IRC as well as on the mailing lists.


* Planned for March:
  - Read notes from the Valencia developer meeting (we were not
    able to attend in person).

  - Complete the Tor Browser changes for Mac OS that are necessary to
    meet Apple's code signing requirements (see #13252).

  - Assist with backporting of patches to the Firefox ESR 45 codebase
    and with the other work related to ESR 45. See: 
https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status!=closed&keywords=~ff45-esr&order=id

  - Assist with Tor Browser 5.5.x maintenance.


* As Time Permits:
  - Develop a fix for #18292 (staged updates fail on Windows).

  - Work with UX researchers to ensure that their Tor Launcher
    research is productive. See the discussions on the UX
    mailing list or visit:
    https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TorLauncherUX2016

  - Work on other Tor Browser, Tor Launcher, and Torbutton usability
    issues.

-- 
Mark Smith
Pearl Crescent, LLC
http://pearlcrescent.com/