Hi,
With relatively low effort I could add a "Tails mode" to Whonix's
torbrowser update, download, and start script. [1 I tested it on Tails
0.13.
Outcome:
- everything tested at Tails run time...
- downloads Tor Browser
- verifies Tor Browser
- extracts Tor Browser
- should handle and inform about any possible failures (network down,
gpg verify failed)
- has with graphical user interface (at the moment zenity for Tails)
- creates a startup script which only starts Tor Browser (not
Tor/Vidalia) in Tor Browser folder
- creates user.js in Tor Browsers profile folder to configure the
proxy settings and other misc stuff
- export TB_LANG="vi" etc. can set any supported language from the Tor
Brower Bundle Linux download page [2] (Currently 14 languages.) or
torbrowser -lang
- switches...
torbrowser -help
torbrowser -lang language help
torbrowser -new-tab either opens Tor Browser + extra tab or if Tor
Browser is already running, opens extra tab
torbrowser -readme opens a readme file which must be pre-configured in
the script itself, currently set to the Tails news page
torbrowser -noreadme just opens Tor Browser
- (It could be also used at build time, but I guess this is not what
you want, due to limited language support.)
- (The script could also easily support plain Linux TBB users, who
wish to have an update script.)
- Open for suggestions/patches.
Currently required Steps inside Tails:
sudo apt-get install curl
torbrowser script [1] to /usr/local/bin/torbrowser (or anywhere else)
chmod o+rx /usr/local/bin/torbrowser
torbrowser -update
That's all.
Needed to install curl (~1 MB), I wonder why it wasn't installed by
default? I guess it will be in 0.14 so or so?
It works well with kdialog in Whonix, but since Whonix is KDE based an
Tails on Gnome, kdialog is no option for Tails. (It would be another ~
140 MB for kde-baseapps, just for kdialog.)
I also found a nice icon for Tor Browser [4] (Tor Browser license) [6]
and a nice Readme icon [5] (GNU/GPL) [6]. I don't know if they work in
gnome. Yet I haven't found a good torbrowser update script icon.
Minor open questions in the script (marked as TODO):
- "elif [ -f "/etc/whisperback/config.py" ]; then" is used to detect
Tails. Should I use another file?
- Does Tails need any Tor Button banned ports? [3]
Biggest problem:
- zenity has a bug (or I am not using it right). The yes/no buttons
are outside the visible range. Do you know any alternative for Tails?
The plan:
This is a stop gap solution. Let's sort the zenity problem, fix minor
issues, install curl and add the torbrowser script to
/usr/local/bin/torbrowser. Users who want can download Tor Browser and
use it in Tails. The script can be moved to tbb-scripts [6] or to any
other git repo. This shouldn't block your long term plans. After there
is a better Tor Browser solution, this can be retired.
How does that sound?
Cheers,
adrelanos
[1]
https://github.com/adrelanos/Whonix/blob/master/whonix_workstation/usr/local/bin/torbrowser
[2]
https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/linux/
http://idnxcnkne4qt76tg.onion/dist/torbrowser/linux/
[3]
https://www.torproject.org/torbutton/en/design/
http://idnxcnkne4qt76tg.onion/torbutton/en/design/
and search for extensions.torbutton.banned_ports
[4]
https://github.com/adrelanos/Whonix/blob/master/whonix_shared/usr/local/share/whonix/torbrowser.ico
[5]
https://github.com/adrelanos/Whonix/blob/master/whonix_shared/usr/local/share/whonix/readme.ico
[6]
https://github.com/adrelanos/Whonix/blob/master/LICENSE
[7]
https://github.com/adrelanos/tbb-scripts
