Re: [Tails-ux] documentation installation guide MAC

Merel Koning:
> Hello Tailless,
>
> I installed a new version of Tails yesterday via a Mac OS X. I have a
> few improvements for the installation guide. But first: You peeps did
> an amazing job in making it easier to install Tails. I remember the
> struggle I had with it years ago. It is very smooth now. I believe
> you are on the right track. Thank you!

Thanks for the nice words and even more for the feedback and proposals!
Unfortunately, for Mac the tools themselves didn't change much and it's
still the most complicated case, but I'm happy to learn that the new
installation guide made it easier.

> Suggestions for improvements:
>
> __ In step 1/7 The two option are not clear because the firefox
> Add-on has a much bigger button than the Download via bit torrent
> option. So I got confused about the options. Perhaps both in a button
> or describing the option in the manual would help.

You're right. We have a different layout for people not on Firefox and
without Javascript. See the screenshot in attachment. But indeed, people
on Firefox could be presented with the BitTorrent option in equal
weight. Would this solve your concern?

> __ In step 2/7-7 The instruction is given without [sudo] in the
> beginning. Sudo is later added in case permission is denied. I think
> you can skip the step that commits [sudo] because Mac OS X users that
> follow this guide step by step are usually not permanent sudo.
>
> So it would look like this:
>
> sudo dd if=[tails.iso] of=[device] bs=16m && sync
>
> You should get something like this:
>
> sudo dd if=/Users/me/tails-i386-1.3.iso of=/dev/rdisk9 bs=16m &&
> sync
>
> Type in your password. Wait. The installation is complete once the
> command prompt ($) reappeared.

Ok. I'm all for simplifying and removing special cases when possible.
Here I probably lack technical knowledge on how Mac OS X handles sudo.
What do you mean by "usually not permanent sudo" exactly?

We initially added the "sudo" as a troubleshooting method because we
thought that:

1. People should not need "sudo" to write on a USB stick. Is it the case
for you? What happened without sudo?

2. Using "sudo" opens more possibility to overwrite internal hard disks
and cause serious damage. What would happen if you did `dd` on
/dev/rdisk0 or whatever is the internal hard disk of the system? Do you
think Mac OS X has safeguards against this?

Given this:

- If everybody needs sudo, then we should of course make this the first
and only option.
- If nobody needs sudo, then we should get rid of it all the way.