Hi, here is the report for my testing session.
- liveusb-creator 3.11.4-6
- tails-persistence-setup 0.6-1
- tails-greeter 0.3.0
intrigeri:
> USB installer
> =============
>
> * wiki: https://tails.boum.org/todo/usb_install_and_upgrade/
> * todo: https://tails.boum.org/todo/usb_install_and_upgrade/todo/
>
> Testing:
>
> 1. boot Tails 0.10.x
> 2. get the latest liveusb-creator snapshot package in the
> feature/usb_installer branch of the main Tails
> 3. install this .deb into Tails
> 4. run "Clone Tails" from Applications -> Tails menu.
> 5. try other options (install from ISO, upgrade from ISO) that can
> be found in Applications -> Tails menu.
1. liveusb-creator doesn't work when working running from RAM (I guess
that's no big surprise):
- "Clone Tails" silently crashes
- "Upgrade from ISO" doesn't show anything in the list of devices
If it's not possible at this point to use it from RAM then the user
should be warned about it.
2. I actually tried to do that from RAM because I was stuck in the
following situation: the PC I used has only 2 USB ports, and in the
current situation, in order to install a new ISO to a USB (without going
through the CLI) I needed 3 USB sticks:
- a first one booting Tails with liveusb-creator
- a second one containing my new ISO (experimental in my case but that
could be any new version in the future)
- a third one that I wanted to install
So I really wished `toram` would work so I could do all that with only 2
sticks (the one for the ISO and the old I wanted to reinstall).
We could end-up needing just one stick if I can store my new ISO in the
persistence storage, boot with `toram` and install the new ISO on the
same USB.
I understand the need to go through a special bootstrap procedure (burn
a CD or run isohybrid, etc.) while installing Tails for the first time
but that will be a pain if it has to be done for every new ISO. It seems
to be the case so far if you don't have 3 sticks and 3 ports.
3. Quite often while doing my tests, the emergency shutdown would not
work. I didn't managed to find an exact procedure to reproduce it but:
- it seems to happen after using the liveusb-creator
- it happened on both Tails 0.10.1 and Tails experimental
- sometimes it happens while doing:
- boot Tails experimental on a isohybrid
- "Clone Tails" onto another stick
- unplug the running Tails
- sometimes the screen turns black with a cursor on the top-left corner
and nothing else
- sometimes the screen stays the same, the system is still somehow
responsive but doesn't shutdown
- once I couldn't even shutdown with the red button or by doing `sudo
halt` in a terminal once I reached this weird state
- once I checked and udev-watchdog was still running on the right device
but the emergency shutdown still didn't work
4. liveusb-creator ends up displaying weird listing of devices:
- listing an unplugged device twice or three times:
- boot Tails experimental from a manually installed Tails
- open "Clone Tails"
- plug in a GTP Tails → sdc listed twice
- unplug sdc → sdc listed three times!
- listing persistence storage:
- boot Tails experimental from a manually installed Tails
- open "Upgrade a non-running Tails from ISO"
- plug in a GTP Tails → both sdc1 and sdc2 are listed twice
5. "Upgrade from ISO" upgrade from ISO doesn't warn me when I can see
the ISO but don't have permissions to read it. I thought I selected the
ISO but the "Create Live USB" button remained disabled.
> bootstrap persistent storage
> ============================
>
> * wiki: https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index9h3
> * todo: https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index1h4
>
> Status: Mostly working.
> Testing: https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index2h4
1. The label of the partition was not set to TailsData.
2. The encrypted partition was created but nothing was written in it.
3. When rebooting I'm not asked for the passphrase of the persistent
storage by Tails greeter.
4. If I try to delete this partition (from another system), then I can't
boot on the USB anymore.
5. When trying "Configure persistent storage" on a manually installed
USB stick the error message says "Error: Device
/org/freedesktop/UDisks/devices/sdb does not appear to be a Tails
device". Which somehow is wrong: it's a Tails device, but just not a GTP
one. If we don't want to detect whether the stick is a manually
installed Tails or something else we could instead say "Error: Device
/org/freedesktop/UDisks/devices/sdb was not created using Tails USB
creator." or something like this.
> tails-greeter / enable persistence at boot time
> ===============================================
>
> * wiki:
> - https://tails.boum.org/todo/TailsGreeter/
> - https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index11h3
> * todo:
> - https://tails.boum.org/todo/TailsGreeter/issues/
> - https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index7h4
>
> Status: Mostly working.
> Testing: https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index8h4
1. When trying to boot Tails experimental in VirtualBox the window is
much bigger than it used to be. I liked the previous size better.
2. Minor suggestion: offer a "other…" option in the keyboard selection.
You might want to use another keyboard layout than the ones
corresponding to the locale you are using.
3. UI suggestion: the current layout of welcoming windows has three
buttons: "Yes", "No" and "Forward/Login". I usually tend to think that:
- actions are triggered by clicking on buttons
- options are chosen by using radios or checkboxes
So for me those "Yes", "No" toggle buttons feel weird. We could instead
match the behavior I described by either:
- removing the "Forward/Login" button and just have the "Yes" and "No"
buttons actually trigger the corresponding action (that would be 1
button less, and 1 click to login instead of 2)
- change the "Yes" and "No" buttons for radios and keep the
"Forward/Login" as it is right now (that would still be 2 clicks to
login but feel less weird)
But maybe this was designed in prevision of something else that will
happen next.
4. It uses the default Debian squeeze background. I'm far from being
part of the crusade against it but ours should rather match the default
blue background.
5. When doing a minimal boot (booting from a isohybrid and clicing
'Login' on the welcoming window), I can't do `sudo -i` without having to
enter a password which I never set!
6. I don't understand this sentence of the "Administration password" of
Tails greeter: « Leave this blank for better security unless you need to
perform administration operations. »
> persistence backend
> ===================
>
> * wiki: https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index6h2
>
> Status: done, needs to be merged upstream.
>
>
> configure which bits are persistent
> ===================================
>
> * wiki: https://tails.boum.org/todo/persistence/#index10h3
>
> Nothing done yet but a bit of drafting / scoping. See wiki page,
> comments welcome, but please keep in mind this is very early.
>
>
> Cheers,
