bug: restart of sdwdate in Whonix-Gateway causes 100% CPU use of Tor Browser in Whonix-Workstation

[Patrick]

@ak88

It could also introduce fingerprintability. I doubt it would in this instance, but generally.

Indeed.

@ak88

For AppVMs it’s easy and effective. It should be possible in DispVM templates, though it would require extracting possibly running Tor Browser in the DispVM template.

• Tor Browser Advanced Topics
• Qubes Disposables

Modified Option 2: cd /var/cache/tb-binary/.tb/tor-browser/Browser Method should work nicely. It’s already extracted there. One could make changes in that folder. Documentation might be a bit unclear. It doesn’t survive update-torbrowser in TemplateVM though.

Also modified Option 1: /etc/torbrowser.d/ Settings Method might be interesting. It basically gives full scripting support before starting Tor Browser. Could do stuff such as “if DispVM”, “do X”.

@ak88

The bigger issue is discoverability.

Indeed.

@ak88

I added it to the wiki,

Thanks.

Tor Browser Essentials

We’ve added some stylistic enhancements on top (but these wouldn’t have happened without your initiative).

@ak88

Fortunately, this workaround is really not even necessary in the future if we can sync the clock without breaking the control connection, as discussed earlier. It would also be unnecessary when and if the upstream bug is fixed.

Indeed. That’s next.

@ak88

BTW, thanks for your support. I probably wouldn’t have pursued the issue any further if this thread had gone unreplied.

Sure thing. Under the right conditions which were given here (time, knowledge available), happy to help.

[Patrick]

remove auto restart feature if networking did not come up (390a47b6) · Commits...

[Patrick]

comment (a5e49832) · Commits · Whonix / onion-grater · GitLab

RestartSec=60 (2c9c9576) · Commits · Whonix / onion-grater · GitLab

Seems good enough.

Socket activation is nice but seems more difficult/complex to implement. Since onion-grater by Tails forked by Whonix ™ is forked from onion-grater by Tails, I would like to keep the changes/delta minimal.