Should work.
While I don’t keep testing this, let alone having an automate test to make sure that keeps working, I guess it’s working fine. In case anyone wondering…
Worst case: doesn’t work.
Extremly unlikely case: non-Whonix, Debian specific security issues. In other words, security issues from the fact that tb-updater runs in non-Whonix vs Whonix (difference one vs another) are extremely unlikely.
It hasn’t. That ~/.tb directory simply does not exist on my machine.
However, based on what /usr/bin/torbrowser does (thanks, that was helpful) and more poking, I think I get it now. (ed: I actually thought that was the browser application itself. Lot of difference in a hyphen.)
FWIW, I had an installation of Secbrowser on this machine, installed with sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends secbrowserref. I apt purged it before I tried to use tb-updater.
To my surprise, I also have a secbrowser installation hiding out in /var/cache/tb-binary. (I don’t remember that!).
Ed: So torbrowser looks like it found tor-browser in /var/cache/tb-binary, and made a .tb in there.
Actually, no. I don’t understand why. bash x torbrowser shows torbrowser going straight to a /var/usr installation, which I can “understand” if that what this means on tb-starter Github page.
In Qubes AppVM copies browser from root image to private image at first start.
But I still don’t I still don’t understand why it didn’t make a ~/.tb on the first start. I can only think it has to do with secbrowser installation.
Going to plunge my head in icewater now. Then make a new Debian template.
There might have been some issues with SecBrowser installed at the same time. That code will be completely removed over time. Don’t install SecBrowser anything if you want Tor Browser.