On 05/26/2015 09:52 AM, intrigeri wrote:
> Hi,
>
> for the record, #8711 ("Investigate how we could improve the error
> message when browsing LAN from usual Tor Browser") was initially seen
> as blocking this work, and anonym's current proposal is to postpone
> that part, and to treat with with a priority level "depending on how
> much trouble it causes our front desk team".
>
> I'm personally fine with this proposal.
>
> Note that #8711 is about *investigating*, not about actually fixing
> the problem. I suspect this investigation will show that fixing the
> problem is non-trivial, and if that's the case, then IMO it should be
> low-priority.
I did my homework:
https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7976
So, while not exactly trivial, it's not hard either. The most awkward
parts will be:
1. Parse the URI and check if the destination address (the @u@ element)
is a local address so we don't show the error all the time, e.g. when
mistyping a domain. This is awkward because at least *I* do not know
of any library functionality present in this context to do that check
so we have to resort to a IPv4 regex (and IPv6? :S) or something
ugly like that.
2. To get this into Torbutton in time for the 1.4.1 release, which
includes reaching an agreement of how the error should be phrased so
it works for both of us.
I guess we could see 1 as optional:
* If we skip 1, then we can simply do what FoxyProxy does, i.e. add
another bullet in the list of possible explanations for the
connection error, e.g. "The Tor Browser blocks access to the local
network bla bla".
* If we do 1, then we could dynamically change the page completely
to something more specific given that we now know exactly what the
error is, e.g.:
The local network is blocked
============================
The Tor Browser blocks access to the local network bla bla
...
In Tails we'd like to also refer users to the Unsafe Browser here,
which of course doesn't make sense in general for Torbutton. I guess
the Tor Browser folks may be fine with a
extensions.torbutton.running_tails pref that, when true, adds an
additional paragraph (and I'm sure we'll find other uses for such a
pref in the future):
To access the local network, please use the Unsafe Browser bla bla
where we even could link to the local docs we ship in Tails for the
Unsafe Browser. Any way, this coordination/communication work will
make 2 a bit more expensive as well.
What do you think? I added tails-ux@ to Cc since they probably have some
opinions on all this.
Personally I suspect that most users are trained to ignore the "Unable
to connect" page, and would miss any small bullet we add there, making
all this pretty pointless. Hence I suspect this will only be worth doing
if we go all the way and do 1 + a custom error page for when a local
address was blocked. However, I guess skipping 1 still is a viable
*initial* goal for an incremental path to that, if time is scarce ("if",
ha ha!).
Lastly, my plate is really full for Tails 1.4.1, and I expect some of it
to be post-poned to 1.5 and maybe even 1.5.1 (given my vacation plans),
so if I'm to do anything more here it may have to wait until Tails 1.6.
Cheers!
