Re: [Tails-dev] Custominzing for out-of-the-bix use

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Author: intrigeri
Date:  
To: marcoc
CC: The Tails public development discussion list
Subject: Re: [Tails-dev] Custominzing for out-of-the-bix use
Hi Marco & all,

Marco Calamari wrote (27 Jun 2013 05:01:25 GMT) :
> We are interested to make preloaded usb keys for use of Globaleaks
> application for whisteblowers thru Tails.


I'm glad I read this :)

> We simply need to autoconnect to a secure web application in an
> automated fashion, using an https link or directly the .onion,
> not using the default startup page


The default startup page is here to convey important news about the
Tails project, that we feel to users need to read. So, you probably
need to find another way to convey this information to users, once
you've replaced the default browser homepage. Maybe this alternative
way could be shared between regular Tails and your fork, by the way :)

> I try to use persistence to make some trivial changes to the login
> process:
> 1) change login page URL for the autostarted iceweasel (important)


We set the homepage URL depending on the chosen locale with a custom
Firefox extension
(/etc/iceweasel/profile/extensions/branding@???/) that's
copied to ~/.mozilla/firefox/default/extensions/ at boot time.

Note that this implementation path may not work in the future:
conflicts might arise once Torbutton uses something similar itself, so
we might have to revisit this.

> 2) change desktop background (useful)


That's a GConf key. See how the NetworkManager persistent connections
preset works (it makes
/home/amnesia/.gconf/system/networking/connections persistent +
there's a hack in live-persist to make it work)

> 3) adding desktop icon for further documentation (nice-to-have)


Simply making ~/Desktop/ persistent may work.

However, it's likely that Tails based on Wheezy does not ship with
anything like a Desktop anymore (GNOME3 classic mode defaults), so
perhaps you instead want to anticipate this move, and find a better
long-term entry point for your additional doc? Good news is that the
existing link to Tails documentation can probably use the same path,
so your efforts will help Tails!

> I know (but not where to find instruction) that with a rebuild
> I can make changes and prepare a customized version of Tails,


https://tails.boum.org/contribute/build/

> but I woul prefere a lot to stick with the official version
> using persistence to do that


I'm curious how you intend to ship the Tails + persistence stack to
users. Will they share a common persistent volume encryption key?

> May you help in some way?


I'm happy to reply the occasional question, but we're terribly
overwhelmed and under-staffed.

Cheers,
--
intrigeri
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