Re: [Tails-dev] [tor-dev] [GSoC] Tails Server - status repor…

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Autore: segfault
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To: George Kadianakis, tails-dev
Nuovi argomenti: [Tails-ux] feedback on testing Tails Server [was: Tails Server - status report 4]
Oggetto: Re: [Tails-dev] [tor-dev] [GSoC] Tails Server - status report 4
Hi,

George Kadianakis:
> segfault <segfault@???> writes:
>
>> [ text/plain ]
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> this is the fourth status report on the Tails Server GSoC project.
>>
>> First off: There are nightly images of Tails with integrated Tails
>> Server available for download [1]. Some notes if you want to test it:
>
> Hey segfault,
>
> I gave your iso a try! The application seems to work pretty well!


Thanks for testing it!

>
> Here are some nitpicking comments. Feel free to ignore comments that involve
> parts you have not yet implemented.
>
> - When Mumble starts it just says "Online". There is no indication on how to
> use it, what's the onion address, or how you connect to it.
>
> - Why is the reset button available only for Gobby?
>
> - Mumble has no options? Not even port or onion address like Gobby?


That should not happen. Seems like you discovered a bug. But I can't
reproduce it in the current version. :/

>
> - OTOH, Gobby provides useful information when it starts, like the onion
> address and the port.
>
> However, in both cases I was actually not sure how to test or use the
> service. I wonder if it would make sense to have a small paragraph for each
> type of service pointing to resources on the internet, or a small guide on
> how your friends can connect to you... (hm, localization issues?)


I plan to relay on the documentation for this (the question mark).

>
> I guess the client-side of Mumble is also installed on Tails right? So
> testing it from inside Tails should be quite easy.


Right.

>
> - I tried starting up (installing) Mumble for the first time without
> Internet. The startup blocked for a while and then it displayed a message
> that said "An error occured. See the log for details." How is the user
> supposed to find this log?


Installing services won't work without Internet, because the packages
are downloaded and installed on the fly. I didn't implement logging to a
file yet, only to stdout (so no log if you didn't start tails-server
from the command line). I think I should catch the error caused by
missing Internet connection and set the status message accordingly.

> - In Gobby, is the server password securely auto-generated? Can we make this
> more obvious maybe? Or maybe can we have an opt-in "auto-generate" button
> that generates a password only if the user wants?


In both Mumble and Gobby the server password is a 20 character random
string. We could implement a button to generate a new (secure) password,
but I kinda like the secure default. Do you think explaining this in the
documentation would be acceptable?

>
> Or maybe the current auto-generate by default approach is best for UI. Not sure.
>
> BTW, did you write the password generation routine yourself or is it a
> module? You don't have one that uses readable words instead of random base64?


I use Python's random module:
import random; import string;
''.join(random.SystemRandom().choice(string.ascii_letters +
string.digits) for _ in range(20))

I kinda expect users to copy-paste the `Connection Info` (including
onion address and password). But I think you're right and it wouldn't
hurt to use something more readable. I did a quick search and didn't
find any Python module in Debian that provides such a function. Do you
know one?

>
> - When Gobby is offline, the "Connection info" says "None". Maybe it should say
> "Service has not been started" or sth?


A status message is already displayed above, in the status line. The
onion address is also "None" if the service was not started yet. I don't
know if it makes sense to set them both to status messages instead.

>
> - I pressed the "Help" question mark button, but it did nothing. I assume it's
> not yet implemented.


Yeah, I only implemented this for Mumble two days ago. It will be
avaible in one of the next nightlies.

>
> Hope some of these comments are useful, and I did not duplicate the discussions
> you've been having on the other thread.


They were helpful :) Thanks again

Cheers