Bug #15917

General tab in Tor Browser preferences not displaying

Added by Anonymous 2018-09-06 09:54:45 . Updated 2018-10-04 10:42:57 .

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Elevated
Assignee:
Category:
Accessibility
Target version:
Tails_3.9.1
Start date:
2018-09-06
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:
torbrowser-launcher:bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs, bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs+force-all-tests
Type of work:
Code
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Browser
Deliverable for:

Description

The Search and Privacy & Security tab display options but when switching to the general nothing no settings displays

Subtasks

Related issues

Blocks Tails - Feature #15334: Core work 2018Q3: Foundations Team Resolved 2018-02-20

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-06 10:48:28

  • Affected tool set to Browser

#2 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-06 10:52:03

  • Status changed from New to Confirmed

I cannot reproduce this on Tor Browser 8.0 outside of Tails. I can reproduce this on Tails 3.9: about:preferences#general displays the same content as about:preferences#search.

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-06 10:54:03

  • QA Check set to Info Needed

I’d like to know more about the practical consequences of this bug in order to prioritize it accordingly. What exactly do you want to change in the General tab?

#4 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-06 11:06:16

I think that bug has at least one of these causes:

  • Tor Browser tries to run /usr/bin/lsb_release, denied by AppArmor. But the bug is still there if Tor Browser runs unconfined so that’s not the only problem.
  • Tor Browser tries to create stuff under /usr/local/lib/tor-browser/TorBrowser/Data/Browser/.mozilla/, which is blocked both by DAC permissions and by AppArmor. 
    JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/FileUtils.jsm, line 67: NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED: Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsIFile.create]
JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XPCOMUtils.jsm, line 261: NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80570016 (NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE) [nsIJSCID.getService]
  • Tor Browser tries to read stuff in /usr/local/share/mime because of config/chroot_local-hooks/55-update-mime-database and AppArmor denies that (iirc the freedesktop.org abstraction was updated upstream to support these paths but we did not backport that yet). But the bug is still there if Tor Browser runs unconfined so that’s not the only problem.

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-06 11:16:27

  • Target version set to Tails_3.10.1
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

I’ve managed to “fix” this with:

  • install -d -o root -g root -m 0755 /usr/local/lib/tor-browser/TorBrowser/UpdateInfo/
  • giving read-only access to that directory in the AppArmor profile

#6 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-06 11:17:54

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-06 11:21:49

  • Status changed from Confirmed to In Progress
  • Assignee set to intrigeri
  • % Done changed from 0 to 10
  • Type of work changed from Research to Code

OK, I now have a clean enough fix (see updated previous comment), will implement it.

#8 Updated by Anonymous 2018-09-08 04:28:07

intrigeri wrote:
> I’d like to know more about the practical consequences of this bug in order to prioritize it accordingly. What exactly do you want to change in the General tab?

Smooth scrolling gives me motion sickness and the option to disable it is in the General tab.

#9 Updated by Anonymous 2018-09-08 18:14:19

Quick workaround: search for the settings you’d like to change in the “find in preferences” tab. The settings included in the general tab will appear,

Examples: search smooth to change smooth scrolling option

#10 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-10 12:03:56

> Smooth scrolling gives me motion sickness and the option to disable it is in the General tab.

Thanks!

#11 Updated by letthemeatpie 2018-09-11 02:13:30

I just wanted to confirm this bug. (Thanks for the temporary workaround, it works for me!)

It was driving me up the wall! I tried using TBB/8.0 on a separate *nix distro and this bug wasn’t present. It does appear in Tails 3.9. At first I thought it was a bug with an update, so I tried a clean and verified ISO
but the problem occurred on both the updated and the clean install, so here I am. My fingers are crossed, I can’t wait for the fix!

While these are unrelated fixes (I tried the suggestions within but they were of no help) which apply to Firefox and not Tor Browser in Tails 3.9, I discovered them when researching this issue and thought I may as well include them FWIW:

about:preferences#general is broken if identity.fxaccounts.enabled=false on Firefox Developer Edition
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1445028

Cannot customize about:preferences#home content when sync or preference searching is disabled
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1447879

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-19 09:06:13

  • Category set to Accessibility
  • Priority changed from Normal to Elevated

(This is a regression and a valid use case was provided. It’s about a11y so classifying accordingly.)

#13 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-19 12:01:33

  • Feature Branch set to torbrowser-launcher:bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs, bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs+force-all-tests

#14 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-19 13:56:22

  • % Done changed from 10 to 50
  • QA Check set to Ready for QA

Works for me, let’s see what Jenkins thinks.

#15 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-20 04:38:31

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to segfault

Only unrelated failures in a full test suite run.

Dear reviewer, in the torbrowser-launcher repo, the base branch to compare to is stable, not master.

(Note to myself for when I’ll merge: this is going to conflict in awful ways with Bug #15929 because there I’ve changed the way I’m managing the torbrowser-launcher branch, i.e. I’m now merging the generated patch-queue/debian/sid branch. Our approach to maintaining this AppArmor profile for Tails is a PITA and I have ideas of drastically different approaches that may make it much better, but first I want to try this cheap, incremental change and see how it goes.)

#16 Updated by segfault 2018-09-22 09:31:32

  • Assignee changed from segfault to intrigeri
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Pass

LGTM.

intrigeri wrote:
> Dear reviewer, in the torbrowser-launcher repo, the base branch to compare to is stable, not master.

The diff is the same (git show origin/master..origin/bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs vs git show origin/stable..origin/bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs).

> (Note to myself for when I’ll merge: this is going to conflict in awful ways with Bug #15929 because there I’ve changed the way I’m managing the torbrowser-launcher branch

And because of these merge conflicts, I couldn’t merge this in a tmp branch with the other branches I’m currently reviewing :/

#17 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-27 12:59:33

  • % Done changed from 50 to 70

Merged into stable. Next step: merge stable into devel and resolve the merge conflict.

#18 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-27 21:43:00

  • Status changed from In Progress to Fix committed
  • % Done changed from 70 to 100

Applied in changeset commit:1a73ae3151ae9d664e3c4fd8f47ccdc48d17b7eb.

#19 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-28 07:18:18

  • Status changed from Fix committed to In Progress
  • % Done changed from 100 to 70

#20 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-28 07:27:19

  • % Done changed from 70 to 80

I’ve merged stable into bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs-devel+force-all-tests (initially forked off devel) and resolved the merge conflict. Let’s see what Jenkins thinks.

#21 Updated by intrigeri 2018-09-30 14:26:03

  • Status changed from In Progress to Fix committed
  • Assignee deleted (intrigeri)
  • % Done changed from 80 to 100

intrigeri wrote:
> I’ve merged stable into bugfix/15917-torbrowser-general-prefs-devel+force-all-tests (initially forked off devel) and resolved the merge conflict. Let’s see what Jenkins thinks.

Jenkins is happy enough => merged.

#22 Updated by intrigeri 2018-10-01 13:29:42

  • Target version changed from Tails_3.10.1 to Tails_3.9.1

#23 Updated by anonym 2018-10-04 10:42:57

  • Status changed from Fix committed to Resolved