[[!meta title="Tails report for December, 2013"]]

Releases
========

Tails 0.22 was released on December 11.

Tails 0.22.1 is scheduled for January 21. The schedule for the next
releases is on our [[contribute/calendar]].

Metrics
=======

- Tails has been started more than 218 512 times in December.
  This make 7 049 boots a day in average.
- 17 791 downloads of the OpenPGP signature of Tails ISO.
- 103 reports were received through WhisperBack.

Code
====

New features:

- Huge progress was made on the [[!tails_gitweb_branch
  feature/spoof-mac desc="MAC spoofing feature"]], that [[can now be
  tested|news/spoof-mac]] ([[!tails_ticket 5421]]).
- Experimental UEFI support was completed and is been tested. A bit
  more work [[!tails_ticket 5739 desc="is needed"]], though.
- The last mile was basically [[!tails_gitweb_branch
  feature/incremental-upgrades-integration desc="completed"]]
  regarding incremental upgrades, that will be enabled by default
  starting with Tails 0.22.1 ([[!tails_ticket 6014]]).

Work in progress:

- David Wolinsky has [started
  porting](https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2013-December/004517.html)
  the WiNoN design to Tails: multiple, independent VMs connected to
  independent paths through the Tor network in order to wear multiple
  hats. Also, as David put it: "There are other benefits of using VMs
  as the Whonix folks have recognized" ([[!tails_ticket 5748]]).
- We have struggled against a [[!tails_ticket 6460 desc="memory wipe
  regression"]] on some hardware with recent Linux kernels. No success
  so far.
- Some progress was made towards the [[!tails_gitweb_branch
  feature/wheezy desc="migration to Wheezy"]] (Tails 1.1).
- Early support for
  [Monkeysign](http://web.monkeysphere.info/monkeysign/) was
  [[!tails_gitweb_branch feature/monkeysign desc="merged"]]
  ([[!tails_ticket 6455]]), but [[!tails_ticket 6515 desc="more work
  is needed"]].

Bug and regression fixes:

- [[!tails_gitweb_branch bugfix/6468-disable-webrtc desc="Disable
  WebRTC"]] ([[!tails_ticket 6468]]).
- [[!tails_gitweb_branch bugfix/6478 desc="Fix keyboard shortcuts"]]
  ([[!tails_ticket 6478).
- [[!tails_gitweb_branch bugfix/6477-htpdate-user-agent desc="Use the
  same User-Agent in htpdate as in the Tor Browser"]] ([[!tails_ticket
  6477]]).
- [[!tails_gitweb_branch bugfix/unsafe-browser-vs.-FF24 desc="Fix the
  Unsafe Browser configuration"]] ([[!tails_ticket 6479]]).
- [[!tails_gitweb_branch
  bugfix/6536-IE-icon-in-Windows-camouflage-mode desc="Set the browser
  icon to IE's one in Windows camouflage mode"]].

Branches pending review:

- [[!tails_gitweb_branch feature/amd64-kernel desc="Install a 64-bit
  kernel"]].
- [[!tails_gitweb_branch feature/poedit-from-backports desc="Install
  poedit from official backports"]] was proposed ([[!tails_ticket
  6456]]).
- [[!tails_gitweb_branch 5588-no-autologin-consoles desc="Do not
  create auto-login text consoles"]] ([[!tails_ticket 5588]]).

And also:

- [[!tails_gitweb_branch bugfix/tor-0.2.4-is-stable desc="Tor 0.2.4 is
  now stable!"]]
- The Persistent Volume Assistant now [[!tails_ticket 5311
  desc="displays nicer paths"]]. Thanks to Andres Gomez!
- Torbutton was [[!tails_gitweb_branch feature/torbutton-1.6.5.3
  desc="upgraded"]] to 1.6.5.3 ([[!tails_ticket 6566]]).
- Our Tor Browser build and runtime dependencies
  [[!tails_gitweb_branch feature/torbrowser-24.2.0esr-1+tails1
  desc="were updated"]].
- We have fixed various NSS security issues in squeeze-backports
  ([[!tails_ticket 6497]]).

Documentation and website
=========================

- A branch to [[!tails_gitweb_branch feature/cleanup-ikiwiki-setup
  "clean up our ikiwiki configuration"]] was started.
- The Mac installation
  instructions were made
  a bit safer.
- The links to files and branches in cgit were fixed.
- The tails-support mailing list is now mentioned on [[Help other
  Tails users|contribute/how/help]].
- The documentation for incremental upgrades was written.
- The documentation for MAC spoofing was drafted.
- The [[draft FAQ|blueprint/faq]] has now more content.

Infrastructure
==============

Test suite
----------

- The Tails automated test suite [[!tails_gitweb_branch
  test/rjb-migration desc="can now be run"]] on pure Debian Wheezy
  with backports ([[!tails_ticket 6399]]). This allowed us to update
  the test suite to match current code, fix many bugs in it, and
  improve style a bit. Most of this was merged, but a few more
  branches are pending review: [[!tails_ticket 5959]], [[!tails_ticket
  5465]], and [[!tails_ticket 6544]].
- Our automated test suite was [[!tails_gitweb_branch feature/wheezy
  desc="partially ported to the feature/wheezy branch"]].

Build system
------------

- Thanks to David Wolinsky and others, our Vagrant setup
  [[!tails_gitweb_branch bugfix/6221-support-newer-vagrant desc="was
  updated"]] to work with newer Vagrant ([[!tails_ticket 6221]]), and
  the corresponding basebox updated to include up-to-date Debian
  archive keys. While we were at it, a few lurking bugs were fixed.
- Thanks to WinterFairy, [it is now
  easy](https://git-tails.immerda.ch/winterfairy/tails/log/?h=feature/import-translations-extern)
  to import translations from Transifex into our various
  Git repositories.

On-going discussions
====================

- [Tor Browser branding in Tails?](https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2013-December/004362.html)
- [Risks of enabled/disabled TCP
  timestamps?](https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2013-December/004520.html)
  ([[!tails_ticket 6579]])

Funding
=======

- The Freedom of the Press Foundation launched a [campaign to support
  encryption tools for
  journalists](https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/). Tails is among
  the projects this campaign gathers fund for.
- The proposal we have sent to sponsor Echo was accepted.
- Our grant proposal with sponsor Charlie was rejected.
- We are slowly making progress on our grant proposal with
  sponsor Golf.
- We have almost completed a proposal to be sent to sponsor Lima.
- Our contract with sponsor Bravo is now finished.
- Tails will soon accept donations in currencies other than Bitcoin.
- We are now very likely to create a non-profit organization dedicated
  to Tails.
- We have almost wrapped-up our bounties program. A report will be
  published soonish.

Outreach
========

Tails participated in the [30th Chaos Communication
Congress](https://events.ccc.de/congress/2013/wiki/Main_Page). It was
a great opportunity to meet, in person, a few existing and new
contributors, as well as many people we are working with.

A self-organized event called *Tails needs your help* was organized
([slides](https://tails.boum.org/promote/slides/2013-12-29_-_Tails_needs_your_help.shtml)).
It was a success considering the late notice.

See you next year, probably with more space and events dedicated
to Tails!

Press and testimonials
======================

* 2013-12: Bruce Schneier
  [answered](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1r8ibh/iama_security_technologist_and_author_bruce/cdknf7a)
  to someone asking him what Linux distribution is its favorite: "I don't
  use Linux. (Shhh. Don't tell anyone.) Although I have started using Tails".
* 2013-12-12: In [A conversation with Bruce
  Schneier](http://boingboing.net/2013/12/15/bruce-schneier-and-eben-moglen-2.html),
  as part of the "Snowden, the NSA and free software" cycle at
  Columbia Law School NYC, Bruce Schneier says:
  - "I think most of the public domain privacy tools are going to be
    safe, yes. I think GPG is going to be safe. I think OTR is going
    to be safe. I think that Tails is going to be safe. I do think
    that these systems, because they were not -- you know, the NSA has
    a big lever when a tool is written closed-source by a for-profit
    corporation. There are levers they have that they don't have in
    the open source international, altruistic community. And these are
    generally written by crypto-paranoids, they're pretty well
    designed. We make mistakes, but we find them and we correct them,
    and we're getting good at that. I think that if the NSA is going
    after these tools, they're going after implementations."
  - "What do I trust? I trust, I trust Tails, I trust GPG [...]"
  - "We can make it harder, we can make it more expensive, we can make
    it more risky. And yes, every time we do something to increase one
    of those, we're making ourselves safer. [...] There are tools we
    are deploying in countries all over the world, that are keeping
    people alive. Tor is one of them. I mean, Tor saves lives. [...]
    And every time you use Tor [...] provides cover for everyone else
    who uses Tor [...]"
* Jacob Appelbaum stated at the [Chaos Communication
  Congress](https://events.ccc.de/congress/2013/Fahrplan/events/5713.html):
  "if you are a journalist and you are not using Tails, you should
  probably be using Tails, unless you *really* know what
  you're doing".
