[tor-talk] Invitation to try experimental Snowflake Tor Browser packages

[David Fifield]

On Wed, Feb 26, 2020 at 11:02:10PM -0700, David Fifield wrote:
> The anti-censorship team is looking for people to try Tor Browser
> packages built from an experimental branch of Snowflake that is supposed
> to make Snowflake more reliable. There are two versions; you can try
> either one or both of them. If you have feedback, tell us whether you
> are using the "kcp" or "quic" version.

https://people.torproject.org/~dcf/pt-bundle/tor-browser-snowflake-turbotunnel-kcp-9.5a8-20200319/
https://people.torproject.org/~dcf/pt-bundle/tor-browser-snowflake-turbotunnel-quic-9.5a8-20200319/

Here is a small update to the experimental Snowflake packages. They fix
a hang that would happen if tor opened more than one connection through
the pluggable transport client. More details: https://bugs.torproject.org/33519

To enable Snowflake the first time you run the browser:
 * Click "Configure"
 * Click "Tor is censored in my country"
 * Click "Select a built-in bridge"
 * Select "snowflake" from the menu
If the browser is already running:
 * Go to about:preferences#tor (open the Preferences menu then click Tor
   on the left side)
 * Look at the "Bridges" section
 * Click "Use a bridge"
 * Click "Select a built-in bridge"
 * Select "snowflake" from the menu

These packages are set not to automatically install updates, because an
update would remove the features of the branch we are testing. The
browser will still download updates and ask to install them, so you'll
have to click "Not Now" whenever it asks.

You can see what's going on by watching the log file:
	linux:   Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor/pt_state/snowflake-client.log
	windows: Browser\TorBrowser\Data\Tor\pt_state\snowflake-client.log
	mac: Tor Browser.app/Contents/Resources/TorBrowser/Tor/pt_state/snowflake-client.log

Here's a guide to reading the log file:
Traffic Bytes (in|out): 0 | 972
Traffic Bytes (in|out): 52457 | 7270
	If the number on the left stays at 0, the proxy isn't working.
	If it's nonzero, the proxy is working.
WebRTC: No messages received for 30s -- closing stale connection
redialing on same connection
	This means that your proxy died and the system is switching to a
	new one.