Re: [Tails-dev] Arbitrary DNS queries... and Tor 0.2.2.x

07/27/2011 12:47 PM, intrigeri:
> Hi,
>
>> While I'm not against it in principle, I wonder if this specific
>> feature is important enough to break our policy of keeping Tor at
>> the latest stable in every release. To me this move seems a bit
>> arbitrary; I'd expect most future RCs to contain features of at
>> least as much importance, so if we'd be consistent we'd basically
>> always ship an RC when available.
>
> If we feel the -rc is as good (or even better) for Tails users than
> the -stable is, then I think it shows our policy would be enhanced if
> it were changed to "latest stable or RC release, as we think is best
> for Tails users at freeze time". I could easily back it off if others
> have problems with it, though.

Sounds reasonable to me. However, I interpret a Tor stable release as
having a mark of quality, so I'd like to have some thorough
investigation on the stability of an RC before shipping it, like
scouring the bug tracker and maybe even asking the Tor devs of their
impression.

>> Or am I missing something? Is the current inability to query non-A
>> records breaking something for the average Tails user?
>
> I fully agree the average Tails user uses the WWW, does not care about
> the Internet, and thus does not care about non-A records. For ethical
> reasons, I'd rather not to see Tails contribute too much in this
> trend, and I'd love to see Tails able to perform basic Internet
> non-WWW tasks such as resolving MX requests. OTOH, I've been living
> with this inability since Tails beginnings, so solving it is for sure
> no emergency at all :)

I agree -- my point was solely about focus. I think the main focus
should be Joe Sixpack, so if pulling an RC fixes something in his use
case I'm all for breaking our policy. But for this one I'm not sure,
although I have no strong feelings against doing so.