Bug #15692

Tell users they have to go through Enigmail Wizard at every session

Added by mercedes508 2018-06-29 14:20:48 . Updated 2018-08-08 13:30:42 .

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Target version:
Tails_3.9
Start date:
2018-06-29
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:
doc/15692-avoid-enigmail-wizard
Type of work:
End-user documentation
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Email Client
Deliverable for:

Description

Release notes should be notified because it says that “When starting Thunderbird for the first time after upgrading to Tails 3.8, you have to go through the Enigmail Setup Wizard again.” Buta ctually it’s eveytime you start Tails and launch thunderbird.

Subtasks

Related issues

Related to Tails - Bug #15602: Fix EFAIL Resolved 2018-05-14
Related to Tails - Bug #15693: Enigmail Wizard Setup shows up at every Tails session Resolved 2018-06-29

History

#1 Updated by mercedes508 2018-06-29 14:21:13

#2 Updated by mercedes508 2018-06-29 14:42:52

  • Assignee changed from mercedes508 to sajolida
  • QA Check set to Ready for QA
  • Feature Branch set to doc/15692

proposing a fix here: mercedes508 doc/15692 c4dffd

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2018-06-29 14:54:16

  • Affected tool set to Email Client

#4 Updated by intrigeri 2018-06-29 15:06:09

  • related to Bug #15693: Enigmail Wizard Setup shows up at every Tails session added

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2018-07-01 07:36:27

  • Status changed from Confirmed to In Progress
  • % Done changed from 0 to 50

FYI the bug (Bug #15693) is fixed on stable and devel so won’t be part of our next release.

#6 Updated by sajolida 2018-07-02 16:36:52

  • Assignee changed from sajolida to intrigeri
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Info Needed

Thanks for the draft.

I modified the note we have in the release notes directly on master as a temporary measure.

Now, telling people that we fucked up is good but I’d much prefer proposing solutions or workarounds.

intrigeri: is there any way people can workaround that? Even 1 or 2 command lines would be useful. Maybe something like (or probably a bit smarter):

echo 'pref("extensions.enigmail.configuredVersion", "2.0.7");' >> ~/.thunderbird/profile.default/preferences/0000tails.js

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2018-07-03 10:12:06

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to sajolida
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

I can’t think of a workaround that would either work in a persistent manner or be cheaper than going through the wizard, sorry:

  • we delete preferences/0000tails.js when activating the persistence so your example command line won’t work
  • we remove this pref from prefs.js when activating the persistence (which is exactly the cause of the bug) so adding it there manually won’t help; Enigmail does that already and we see that it’s not enough
  • if we add the pref to another preferences/*.js or to user.js, it’ll break stuff later as Enigmail won’t be able to update the value anymore
  • other workarounds I can think of require to run a command every time one starts Tails, before starting Thunderbird, which is not better IMO than going through the wizard again

Too bad :/ Now, once one has gone through the wizard a few times, muscle+brain memory kicks in and one becomes very fast at going through it.

#8 Updated by sajolida 2018-07-03 14:33:49

Sorry for being unclear yesterday but I’m precisely thinking about a
workaround that is not persistent and that could be applied every time.
At least for me it’s much much faster to copy/paste a command line right
after starting Tails than to go through the Enigmail Setup Wizard.

The wizard is not super fast and, after going through the wizard, I also
have to go through the OpenPGP settings of my account in a different
window. There are about 10 different settings in total and I want to
make sure that Enigmail behaves the way I want. Basically to prevent me
from sending unsigned or unencrypted emails by mistake as part of my
job, which is not the default configuration.

Today I tried my workaround and it seems to have worked. I’ll try it again
tomorrow and might propose a branch to add it to the release notes.

> * we delete preferences/0000tails.js when activating the persistence so your example command line won’t work

By “won’t work”, you mean it won’t be persistent, right?

> * other workarounds I can think of require to run a command every time one starts Tails, before starting Thunderbird, which is not better IMO than going through the wizard again

In my personal experience it’s really much much better. Of course, it
might not be the case for everybody but it might be for all of our users
who are comfortable pasting a command line in terminal, which I think is
currently ~30-40% (very rough guess).

> Too bad :/ Now, once one has gone through the wizard a few times, muscle+brain memory kicks in and one becomes very fast at going through it.

In terms of emotions, having to click through this window reminds me
that my settings are lost while they shouldn’t. And it’s not only this
window. Applying the workaround makes me feel smarter than a robot.

#9 Updated by intrigeri 2018-07-04 07:46:46

> So for being unclear yesterday but I’m precisely thinking about a workaround that is not persistent and that could be applied every time. At least for me it’s much much faster to copy/paste a command line right after starting Tails than to go through the Enigmail Setup Wizard.

> The wizard is not super fast and, after going through the wizard, I also have to go through the OpenPGP settings of my account in a different window. There are about 10 different settings in total and I want to make sure that Enigmail behaves the way I want. Basically to prevent me from sending unsigned or unencrypted emails by mistake as part of my job, which is not the default configuration.

OOOOOOOK, I totally misunderstood what you were expecting from me! Now it’s clearer.

> Today I tried my workaround and it seems to have work. I’ll try it again tomorrow and might propose a branch to add it to the release notes.

>> * we delete preferences/0000tails.js when activating the persistence so your example command line won’t work

> By “won’t work”, you mean it won’t be persistent, right?

Yes. Other than that it looks good, so if it works for you, go ahead! :)

#10 Updated by sajolida 2018-07-04 11:56:29

  • Assignee changed from sajolida to intrigeri
  • QA Check set to Ready for QA
  • Feature Branch changed from doc/15692 to doc/15692-avoid-enigmail-wizard

intrigeri: Do you might having a look for technical correctness and merge it my branch is correct?

I tested again the command line:

  • Running it before starting Thunderbird works.
  • Running it after starting Thunderbird and closing it before going through the wizard works.
  • Running the command several times (having the pref set several times) doesn’t seem to break anything.

#11 Updated by intrigeri 2018-07-04 17:51:44

  • Status changed from In Progress to Resolved
  • Assignee deleted (intrigeri)
  • Target version set to Tails_3.9
  • % Done changed from 50 to 100
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Pass

sajolida wrote:
> intrigeri: Do you might having a look for technical correctness and merge it my branch is correct?

Merged and fixed the ticket ID about fixing in 3.9 (commit:71d4a43f5d827d83405e35d995f7fdc01fbf2509).

I would maybe have split the command on two lines so that it fits on the screen (currently there’s a scrollbar) but you asked me only about technical correctness and I trust you’ve tested this and decided it was the best way to do it.

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2018-08-08 13:30:42

FTR, the workaround we’ve documented here conflicts with the way I’ve fixed the actual bug (Bug #15693): if we do nothing about it, users who have followed these instructions will be stuck forever with their persistent, manually set value of configuredVersion, which will override the value Enigmail itself would try to maintain correctly. I’ll fix that via Bug #15746 somehow.