Tor Browser folder change Whonix 11 -> Whonix 12 migration path

[phabricator-migrator]

Information

ID: 425
PHID: PHID-TASK-bwwhplhetqyb2liiaidq
Author: Patrick
Status at Migration Time: resolved
Priority at Migration Time: High

Description

As mentioned… A follow up task of T338.

We need to move Tor Browser from the old location(s) to the new ones. Otherwise existing users who upgrade would be notified “Tor Browser not installed” and asked “want to install Tor Browser?”.

mv /home/user/tor-browser_en-US /home/user/.tb/tor-browser

mv /home/user/.tb/tor-browser_en-US /home/user/.tb/tor-browser

Various things to adhere:

• check if old folder even exists
• check if new folder does not already exist
• preventing permission issues, doing it as user, not root
• perhaps leave a symlink from the old location to preven confusion?

This is specifically difficult in Qubes. It cannot be done from a Debian mainstainer script, because TemplateBasedVM’s home folder is unaffected by what the TemplateVM changes in home.

Do we let existing users bite the bullet, let them manually move Tor Browser or download a new one or invent some mechanism, that during boot up, doing this migration task?

Btw, for now, this should be the last issue before releasing #Whonix_12 as stable.

Comments

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marmarek

2015-11-07 13:39:42 UTC

In Qubes we use qubes-misc-post.service for such /home/user fixups. For
example:
vm: chown /home/user to user if user UID have changed · QubesOS/qubes-core-agent-linux@e5c7750 · GitHub

Whonix can have another one, with dependencies set
After=qubes-dvm.service qubes-mount-dirs.service
qubes-mount-home.service

and maybe “Before=qubes-mount-dirs.service qubes-mount-home.service”,
but not sure about that. It shouldn’t harm to move tor-browser directory
even when GUI agent is already running. As long as it happens before
user tries to launch it.

BTW Both qubes-mount-dirs.service and qubes-mount-home.service to have it
working on both R3.0 and R3.1.

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Patrick

2015-11-08 12:45:01 UTC

• qubes-core-agent-linux/vm-systemd/qubes-misc-post.service at master · QubesOS/qubes-core-agent-linux · GitHub
• qubes-core-agent-linux/vm-systemd/misc-post.sh at master · QubesOS/qubes-core-agent-linux · GitHub

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Patrick

2015-11-12 18:47:55 UTC

implemented Tor Browser folder change Whonix 11 -> Whonix 12 migration path:
implemented Tor Browser folder change Whonix 11 -> Whonix 12 migratio… · Kicksecure/legacy-dist@abf5b1d · GitHub

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Patrick

2015-11-12 19:13:17 UTC

added 'After=qubes-whonix-postinit.service' to whonix-legacy.service

We need to wait until qubes-whonix-postinit.service is done, since
/usr/lib/qubes-whonix/bind-directories is still run by
qubes-whonix-postinit.service. bind-directories has not been
upstreamed to Qubes yet. - https://phabricator.whonix.org/T414

https://phabricator.whonix.org/T425

added 'After=qubes-whonix-postinit.service' to whonix-legacy.service · Kicksecure/legacy-dist@bdf24f9 · GitHub

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Patrick

2015-11-13 17:33:35 UTC

Hm. Not sure if adding a symlink was a mistake. If they copy/paste the folder using dolphin, they won’t create a backup, just copy the symlink. Wonder if that could lead to some confusion and possibly data loss.

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Patrick

2015-11-13 17:54:47 UTC

Better to have some confusion and asking where it’s located now or if it’s gone than any users who copied the symlink as backup.

Deactivated symlink creation from old to new Tor Browser folder location.

Could lead to confusion and in worst case, data loss, if users just copy the
symlink rather than whole folder.

https://phabricator.whonix.org/T425

Deactivated symlink creation from old to new Tor Browser folder locat… · Kicksecure/legacy-dist@c2cc7d4 · GitHub

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marmarek

2015-11-13 21:02:06 UTC

What about leaving some README.txt in old location? Or indeed ignore the
problem.