Feature #6841

Replace Vidalia

Added by intrigeri 2014-03-04 23:49:31 . Updated 2016-04-29 03:58:36 .

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Target version:
Start date:
2015-03-03
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:
feature/6841-replace-vidalia
Type of work:
Code
Blueprint:

Starter:
0
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

Vidalia is unmaintained upstream. This is a parent ticket meant to track whatever blocks us from removing it.


Subtasks

Feature #9002: Replace Vidalia's green onion feature Resolved

100

Feature #6842: Replace Vidalia's Tor streams and circuits view Resolved

100

Feature #11128: Update documentation to match Vidalia removal Resolved

100


Related issues

Related to Tails - Bug #5499: Make sure Vidalia always autostarts Rejected
Related to Tails - Bug #8856: After Tor restart, TorBrowser thinks it is not running and Vidalia also can't reconnect to it. Resolved 2015-02-04
Related to Tails - Bug #9013: Message log suggests to hit start button on vidalia which doesn't exist Rejected 2015-03-04
Related to Tails - Bug #10339: Are the security risks introduced by Vidalia-like tools worth it? Rejected 2015-10-06
Blocks Tails - Bug #9259: Stop installing libqt4-qt3support Resolved 2015-04-18
Blocks Tails - Bug #10807: Vidalia icon is sometimes not visible or hidden in the notification area Resolved 2015-12-31
Blocks Tails - Feature #8927: Replicate Vidalia's ability to close arbitrary circuits Confirmed 2015-02-21

History

#1 Updated by sajolida 2014-04-25 11:04:16

  • Status changed from New to Confirmed

#2 Updated by intrigeri 2014-04-25 11:29:49

> Status changed from New to Confirmed

FWIW, I was leaving this ticket in “New” state as we haven’t decided to remove Vidalia yet.

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2014-04-26 08:32:35

  • related to Bug #5499: Make sure Vidalia always autostarts added

#4 Updated by sajolida 2014-04-26 08:38:29

  • Status changed from Confirmed to New

#5 Updated by sajolida 2014-07-10 15:07:53

  • Subject changed from Remove Vidalia to Research how to Vidalia
  • Status changed from New to Confirmed

#6 Updated by sajolida 2014-07-10 15:08:20

  • Subject changed from Research how to Vidalia to Research how to replace Vidalia
  • Target version set to Sustainability_M1

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2014-11-26 10:04:15

Another reason to drop Vidalia is that its applet hijacks the notification area, and thus needs workarounds to work in GNOME Shell.

#8 Updated by BitingBird 2015-02-05 20:52:11

  • related to Bug #8856: After Tor restart, TorBrowser thinks it is not running and Vidalia also can't reconnect to it. added

#9 Updated by anonymous2 2015-02-06 00:02:17

Without Vidalia it is not certain how to:

1. View status of Tor;
2. Trigger “Use new IP address”;
3. Restart Tor.

TorBrowser’s “New identity” button is too deep: it also closes all the tabs while sometimes only new IP address is needed.

I think if Vidalia goes away without any simialar replacement, there can be new menu items like “Applications -> Networking -> Tor control -> {View Tor status/logs/graphs, Use new identity, Restart Tor}”. As a minimal stub those menu items can just open some help pages describing how to make this actions after Vidalia is no more.

#10 Updated by intrigeri 2015-02-07 11:26:21

> Without Vidalia it is not certain how to:

> 1. View status of Tor;

Vidalia only reports duplicate info that we already provide with the “Tor is ready” notification. If you need other status info, please look into arm that is included in Tails too. We’ll need to document that when we remove Vidalia.

> 2. Trigger “Use new IP address”;

This can be triggered with arm and from Tor Browser. We’ll need to document the former when we remove Vidalia.

> 3. Restart Tor.

This can be triggered with NetworkManager applet, by disconnecting from the network and reconnecting. Granted, this is non-obvious and could be documented.

#11 Updated by anonymous2 2015-02-15 13:07:57

>> 3. Restart Tor.
> This can be triggered with NetworkManager applet, by disconnecting from the network and reconnecting. Granted, this is non-obvious and could be documented.

Maybe there can be a menu entry “Restart Tor” that does exaclty this (trigger NM disconnect, then connect again)?

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2015-02-21 09:35:42

  • Subject changed from Research how to replace Vidalia to Replace Vidalia

#13 Updated by BitingBird 2015-03-03 15:30:37

  • related to Feature #9002: Replace Vidalia's green onion feature added

#14 Updated by intrigeri 2015-03-03 16:26:10

  • related to deleted (Feature #9002: Replace Vidalia's green onion feature)

#15 Updated by BitingBird 2015-03-04 16:43:25

  • related to Bug #9013: Message log suggests to hit start button on vidalia which doesn't exist added

#16 Updated by BitingBird 2015-03-27 19:52:39

  • Description updated

Removed the “we haven’t’ decided to remove it (yet)” sentence from the description.

#17 Updated by intrigeri 2015-04-18 07:40:52

  • blocks Bug #9259: Stop installing libqt4-qt3support added

#18 Updated by alant 2015-08-17 16:17:27

  • blocked by deleted (Bug #9259: Stop installing libqt4-qt3support)

#19 Updated by alant 2015-08-18 09:20:52

  • blocks Bug #9259: Stop installing libqt4-qt3support added

#20 Updated by sajolida 2015-09-07 10:48:51

  • Target version changed from Sustainability_M1 to 2016

#21 Updated by sajolida 2015-11-08 02:46:55

  • blocked by Bug #10339: Are the security risks introduced by Vidalia-like tools worth it? added

#22 Updated by intrigeri 2016-01-10 21:57:12

  • blocks Bug #10807: Vidalia icon is sometimes not visible or hidden in the notification area added

#23 Updated by alant 2016-01-17 19:51:25

  • Feature Branch set to feature/6841-replace-vidalia

I made a branch that removes vidalia and replaces it by tor-monitor (Feature #6842) and a custom shell extension(Feature #9002). Please note that this branch won’t build unless you drop a tor-monitor package in chroot_local-packages or the package gets uploaded (Feature #9580).

The resulting iso works fine, has an onion in the top right corner and has a working tor-monitor application that can be opened from this icon od from the Applications - Interent menu.

#24 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-20 12:13:57

  • blocks Feature #8927: Replicate Vidalia's ability to close arbitrary circuits added

#25 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-20 12:14:13

  • Status changed from Confirmed to In Progress

#26 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-21 11:06:42

  • blocks deleted (Bug #10339: Are the security risks introduced by Vidalia-like tools worth it?)

#27 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-21 11:06:51

  • related to Bug #10339: Are the security risks introduced by Vidalia-like tools worth it? added

#28 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-23 01:42:30

I’ll upload Onion Circuits 0.3 to replace Tor Monitor, will ask anonym to merge in time for 2.2~rc1, and he’s OK if I adjust the doc post-RC, in time for 2.2.

#29 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-23 01:42:43

  • Assignee set to intrigeri
  • Target version changed from 2016 to Tails_2.2

#30 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-23 12:29:52

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to anonym
  • QA Check set to Ready for QA

Please review & merge for 2.2~rc1, I’ll deal with Feature #11128 in time for the final 2.2, and will get Feature #11160 and Feature #11161 started in the next few weeks as well.

#31 Updated by anonym 2016-02-24 00:29:43

Some initial thoughts, and non-blockers, after using torstatus and Onion Circuits:

  • I find the hard minimum width slightly troublesome. Onion Circuits sometimes expands the width of the Path column signifucantly, to the point where the window becomes quite unusable with a 800xY resolution, and barely passable with with 1024xY. It seems to occur when Tor does a directory fetch or tries to connect to a hidden service, since a very long will appear in the circuit list. Pruning the fingerprint (which is pretty useless information in the list, and fits better in the “details” view to the right, if we really want to show it anywhere) should be enough to fix this instance of the width problem, but perhaps overly long relay names can trigger it too.
  • Perhaps we should consider disabling the torstatus extension when the user disables networking completely in Tails Greeter? The onion icon is of doubtful value in this configuration (well, it tells that Tor is not bootstrapped) and can perhaps make users worry that Tor is running…
  • … because the two torstatus icon states are pretty hard to distinguish for someone with poor eye sight. Info leak: e.g. for someone like me currently. For me the “X” just melts into the shade of the onion on the right side, and I have to look quite carefully, and squint a bit, to be sure about what the stat is. IMHO we need something more distinct, like a larger “X” that extends well outside of the shade, or something completely different like the onion being split into two jagged (=> broken) pieces. I know that the current design with the “X”, including its size, is consistent with the one used when the network connection is disabled, but frankly I have issues distinguising that one too. I don’t think we should optimize for slick design and people with hawk vision. :)

I’ll file tickets unless someone disregards them outright, before this ticket is closed. Code review will follow.

#32 Updated by anonym 2016-02-24 14:19:23

  • Assignee changed from anonym to intrigeri
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Dev Needed
  • Type of work changed from Research to Code

Looks great up to commit:b0a0e20, which I’ve merged. I’m eagerly anticipating the doc updates! :) (And possibly some commentary for my remarks above.)

#33 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-27 12:50:50

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to anonym
  • QA Check changed from Dev Needed to Ready for QA

(The remaining subtask is on anonym’s plate now.)

#34 Updated by intrigeri 2016-02-27 12:58:00

> * I find the hard minimum width slightly troublesome.

Fully agreed ⇒ please report it to Alan as a bug. The workaround you’re suggesting seems acceptable to me.

> * Perhaps we should consider disabling the torstatus extension when the user disables networking completely in Tails Greeter? The onion icon is of doubtful value in this configuration (well, it tells that Tor is not bootstrapped) and can perhaps make users worry that Tor is running…

I don’t care much either way. But I’m scared of modifying the list of GNOME Shell extensions programmatically at login time: it’s hard to do that in a robust way. So frankly, I doubt that the pros are worth the risk of breaking unrelated stuff. If anyone wants to work on this, fine with me, but they get to deal with the fallout if this causes subtle GNOME Shell breakage :D

> * … because the two torstatus icon states are pretty hard to distinguish for someone with poor eye sight.

I would be surprised if this were the only part of Tails that by default is hard to see for someone with poor eye sight. I’m tempted to suggest you retry with the “Large Text” accessibility feature turned on, since it’s here precisely to address this class of problems.

#35 Updated by anonym 2016-03-06 13:07:34

intrigeri wrote:
> > * I find the hard minimum width slightly troublesome.
>
> Fully agreed ⇒ please report it to Alan as a bug. The workaround you’re suggesting seems acceptable to me.

Bug #11192

> > * Perhaps we should consider disabling the torstatus extension when the user disables networking completely in Tails Greeter? The onion icon is of doubtful value in this configuration (well, it tells that Tor is not bootstrapped) and can perhaps make users worry that Tor is running…
>
> I don’t care much either way. But I’m scared of modifying the list of GNOME Shell extensions programmatically at login time: it’s hard to do that in a robust way. So frankly, I doubt that the pros are worth the risk of breaking unrelated stuff. If anyone wants to work on this, fine with me, but they get to deal with the fallout if this causes subtle GNOME Shell breakage :D

Alternatively, the extension could be visible iff networking is enabled. Whatever, this is not so important.

> > * … because the two torstatus icon states are pretty hard to distinguish for someone with poor eye sight.
>
> I would be surprised if this were the only part of Tails that by default is hard to see for someone with poor eye sight.

IMHO, that is a poor implicit justification to introduce more such issues. For the record, nothing else in Tails (except perhaps the network icon) is unclear to me.

> I’m tempted to suggest you retry with the “Large Text” accessibility feature turned on, since it’s here precisely to address this class of problems.

Sure, then it is clearer, but I’m obviously not going to enable this myself because of this single issue I have.

BTW, I think a pretty easy solution would be to put the X a bit further to the right, so it’s more separate from the shaded part of the onion.

#36 Updated by anonym 2016-03-06 19:12:00

  • Status changed from In Progress to Fix committed
  • % Done changed from 75 to 100

Applied in changeset commit:227ead1d84a8e2db214d0fd786b1001831294dfe.

#37 Updated by anonym 2016-03-06 19:47:52

  • Assignee deleted (anonym)
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Pass

#38 Updated by anonym 2016-03-08 19:03:28

  • Status changed from Fix committed to Resolved