Tails

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2019-08-22 18:56:39

Meta: we should discuss whether this circuit view is part of “the core Tails system”. It’s for sure very nice (even though we have OnionCircuits for a reason) but in general I’d rather not see every feature added on a hunch without much coordination, by someone on their spare time, automatically become something we have to maintain forever.

#5 Updated by sajolida 2019-08-23 10:34:37

I think that we should keep the UX of Tor Browser in Tails as close as
possible from the UX of Tor Browser outside Tails.

Assuming that most of our users were Tor Browser users first outside of
Tails, they will look for the same features and might be confused or
worried if they are not in Tails without any further indication.

Michael’s report could illustrate that. It seems like:

• He relied on the embedded circuit views before Onion Circuits,
  possibly because he learned it outside of Tails.
• He got worried when some tabs didn’t display it.

Of course, that’s too little information to draw clear conclusion of how
would users feel if the embedded circuit view wasn’t here in Tails in
the first place.

Another solution would be to replace the embedded circuit view with a
hint to use Onion Circuits instead.

#6 Updated by op_mb 2019-08-28 12:13:21

Onion Circuits, as far as i can tell, do not allow to actively select a new circuit -

some websites block certain exit nodes and/or countries,
if the “new circuit for this website” button not showing, your stuck on the denied webpage without ability to actively change the circuit, so you are forced to wait until the circuit changes automatically, or you have to restart the browser.

in any case, as long as the is no other option to actively change the circuit, the button should stay.

#7 Updated by op_mb 2019-08-28 12:25:01

also,

because the circuits are still active after sleep/disconnect, but the button is not there,
it is possible that it is just an object.draw refresh issue, so it might not be that hard to fix.

was working a year ago or so, before new interface was introduced, maybe go through old code have a look?

#9 Updated by intrigeri 2019-11-10 15:42:16

FWIW, I’ve seen circuits view disappear (or not be present at all right from the beginning) on a pristine Tor Browser 9.0.1 outside of Tails.
I was focused on something else so I did not debug this further.

#10 Updated by geb 2020-04-08 11:42:20

I also regularly encounter this issue when doing training sessions, with roughly 1/4 or 1/5 chances. No precise pattern found. Restarting the Tor browser solves the issue (or at least, never saw it after one restart).