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Tails 5.1.1 is out

This release fixes a high severity security issue in tor, that affects performance and possibly anonymity.

Changes and updates

Included software

  • Update tor to 0.4.7.8.

  • Update Thunderbird to 91.10.

  • Update the Linux kernel to 5.10.120. This fixes important security issues.

For more details, read our changelog.

Known issues

None specific to this release.

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 5.1.1

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

  • Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 5.x.

  • If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 5.1.1 directly:

What's coming up?

Tails 5.2 is tentatively scheduled for July 5, but it will likely be released later than that.

Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.

Posted 2022-06-23 Tags:
Tails report for May 2022

Here are a few highlights about what we did in May, among many other things:

  • We implemented many improvements to the Tor Connection assistant. This makes is much easier for people in Asia to circumvent censorship. For details, see the Tails 5.1 release notes.

  • We wrote a new homepage for the Unsafe Browser when you are not connected to the Tor network yet. This new version makes it easier to understand how to sign in to the network using a captive portal.

  • We started organized training and usability tests sessions for August in Brazil.

  • Tails 5.0 was released on May 3. It was the first version of Tails based on Debian 11 (Bullseye) and brought new versions of a lot of the software included in Tails and new OpenPGP tools.

  • We started evaluating Mirrorbits to manage our download mirror pool. On top of decreasing the required maintenance work, this should make downloads of Tails faster and more reliable.

  • Tails has been started more than 769 997 times this month. This makes 24 838 boots a day on average.

Posted 2022-06-09
Tails 5.1 is out

This release fixes the security vulnerability in the JavaScript engine of Firefox and Tor Browser announced on May 24.

This release was delayed from May 31 to June 5 because of a delay in the release of Tor Browser 11.0.14.

Changes and updates

Tor Connection assistant

Tails 5.1 includes many improvements to the Tor Connection assistant:

  • The Tor Connection assistant now automatically fixes the computer clock if you choose to connect to Tor automatically.

    This makes is much easier for people in Asia to circumvent censorship.

    Tails learns the current time by connecting to the captive portal detection service of Fedora, which is used by most Linux distributions. This connection does not go through the Tor network and is an exception to our policy of only making Internet connections through the Tor network.

  • The time displayed in the top navigation uses the time zone selected when fixing the clock in the Tor Connection assistant.

    In the future, we will make it possible to change the displayed time zone for everybody from the desktop (#10819) and store it in the Persistent Storage (#12094).

  • The last screen of the Tor Connection assistant makes it clear whether you are connected using Tor bridges or not.

    Connected to Tor successfully with bridges

Unsafe Browser and captive portals

  • We wrote a new homepage for the Unsafe Browser when you are not connected to the Tor network yet. This new version makes it easier to understand how to sign in to the network using a captive portal.

    Example of captive portal: Free Wi-Fi hotspot

  • Tails now asks for confirmation before restarting when the Unsafe Browser was not enabled in the Welcome Screen. This prevents losing work too easily.

Kleopatra

  • Associate OpenPGP files with Kleopatra in the Files browser.

    You can now double-click on .gpg files to decrypt them.

  • Add Kleopatra to the Favorites applications.

Included software

  • Update tor to 0.4.7.7.

  • Update Tor Browser to 11.0.14.

  • Update Thunderbird to 91.9.

  • Update the Linux kernel to 5.10.113. This should improve the support for newer hardware: graphics, Wi-Fi, and so on.

Fixed problems

  • Remove the automatic selection of the option Configure a bridge when rolling back from the option to hide that you are connecting to Tor. (#18546)

  • Give the same instructions on both screens where you have to configure a bridge. (#18596)

  • Help rename the default KeePassXC database to open it automatically in the future. (#18966)

  • Fix sharing files using OnionShare from the Files browser. (#18990)

    Share via OnionShare

  • Disable search providers in the Activities overview: files, calculator, and terminal. (#18952)

For more details, read our changelog.

Known issues

None specific to this release.

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 5.1

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

  • Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 5.0.

    You can reduce the size of the download of future automatic upgrades by doing a manual upgrade to the latest version.

  • If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 5.1 directly:

What's coming up?

Tails 5.2 is scheduled for June 28.

Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.

Posted 2022-06-04 Tags:
Tails report for April 2022

  • Disoj, our new Project Manager, started working with us.

    It's the first time Tails has a dedicated Project Manager and we are all very excited about this change. Disoj will help us work better and faster to accomplish our mission.

  • We got very busy preparing Tails 5.0.

  • We upgraded all our infrastructure to Debian 11 to ensures that all our public and internal servers will continue receiving security updates timely after August.

  • We organized 2 online trainings for people in Mexico.

    You can download our slides and the structure of the training if you want to organize Tails workshops yourself.

  • Tails has been started more than 783 850 times this month. This makes 25 031 boots a day on average.

Posted 2022-05-17
Tails 5.0 is out

We are especially proud to present you Tails 5.0, the first version of Tails based on Debian 11 (Bullseye). It brings new versions of a lot of the software included in Tails and new OpenPGP tools.

New features

Kleopatra

We added Kleopatra to replace the OpenPGP Applet and the Password and Keys utility, also known as Seahorse.

The OpenPGP Applet was not actively developped anymore and was complicated for us to keep in Tails. The Password and Keys utility was also poorly maintained and Tails users suffered from too many of its issues until now, like #17183.

Kleopatra provides equivalent features in a single tool and is more actively developed.

Changes and updates

  • The Additional Software feature of the Persistent Storage is enabled by default to make it faster and more robust to configure your first additional software package.

  • You can now use the Activities overview to access your windows and applications. To access the Activities overview, you can either:

    • Click on the Activities button.
    • Throw your mouse pointer to the top-left hot corner.
    • Press the Super () key on your keyboard.

    You can see your windows and applications in the overview. You can also start typing to search your applications, files, and folders.

Included software

Most included software has been upgraded in Debian 11, for example:

  • Update Tor Browser to 11.0.11.

  • Update GNOME from 3.30 to 3.38, with lots of small improvements to the desktop, the core GNOME utilities, and the locking screen.

  • Update MAT from 0.8 to 0.12, which adds support to clean metadata from SVG, WAV, EPUB, PPM, and Microsoft Office files.

  • Update Audacity from 2.2.2 to 2.4.2.

  • Update Disk Utility from 3.30 to 3.38.

  • Update GIMP from 2.10.8 to 2.10.22.

  • Update Inkscape from 0.92 to 1.0.

  • Update LibreOffice from 6.1 to 7.0.

Hardware support

  • The new support for driverless printing and scanning in Linux makes it easier to make recent printers and scanners work in Tails.

Fixed problems

  • Fix unlocking VeraCrypt volumes that have very long passphrases. (#17474)

For more details, read our changelog.

Known issues

  • Additional Software sometimes doesn't work when restarting for the first time right after creating a Persistent Storage. (#18839)

    To solve this, install the same additional software package again after restarting with the Persistent Storage for the first time.

  • Thunderbird displays a popup to choose an application when opening links. (#18913)

  • Tails Installer sometimes fails to clone. (#18844)

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 5.0

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

  • Automatic upgrades are not available to 5.0.

    All users have to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 5.0 directly:

What's coming up?

Tails 5.1 is scheduled for May 31.

Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.

Posted 2022-05-03 Tags:
Tails report for March 2022

We've been working hard on the upgrade of Tails to Debian 11 Bullseye. You can test Tails 5.0~beta1 and track the progress of our work.

Online trainings in Mexico and Brazil were prepared and conducted. You can check out the nice slides that were used.

We interviewed Daniel Moßbrucker, who used Tails to investigate pedocriminal forums on the Darknet and took down 13.5 terabytes of photos and videos of child abuse.

Our page about trusting Tails was entirely rewritten and we have a new FAQ about VoIP.

Releases

Tails 4.29 was released on April 05: This version updates Tor Browser, Thunderbird, the Linux kernel and obfs4proxy.

Metrics

Tails has been started more than 783850 times this month. This makes 25285 boots a day on average.

Posted 2022-04-14
Tails 4.29 is out

New features

Changes and updates

  • Update Tor Browser to 11.0.10.

  • Update Thunderbird to 91.7.0.

  • Update obfs4 to 0.0.12 to provide more discrete Tor bridges. (#18800)

  • Update the Linux kernel to 5.10.103.

Known issues

None specific to this release.

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 4.29

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 4.29 directly:

What's coming up?

Tails 4.30 is scheduled for May 3.

Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.

Posted 2022-04-05 Tags:
Call for testing: 5.0~beta1

We plan to release Tails 5.0 on May 3 or May 31. It will be the first version of Tails based on Debian 11 (Bullseye). It brings new versions of most of the software included in Tails and some important usability improvements.

You can help Tails by testing the beta for Tails 5.0 before the end of April.

Changes and upgrades

  • Update to Debian 11 (Bullseye)

    In particular this updates software included in Tails to:

    • GNOME 3.38
    • Audacity 2.4.2
    • GIMP 2.20.22
    • Inkscape 1.0.2
    • LibreOffice 7.0.4
    • OnionCircuits 0.7
    • Pidgin 2.14.1
    • Thunderbird 91.7.0-2~deb11u1

  • Upgrade Tor Browser to 11.0.10

  • Enable driverless printing and scanning (#18521)

Fixed problems

  • Fix locales translation in the Welcome Screen (#18199)

  • Fix opening a Veracrypt volume with a long passphrase (#17474)

Changelog

For more details about what has changed in Tails 5.0~beta1, read our changelog.

Known issues

  • WhisperBack fails to send error reports (#18908).

  • Tails Installer sometimes fails to install or upgrade Tails (#18844, #18841). If this happens to you, please retry.

  • Additional Software sometimes fails to install packages on first startup after configuring it (#18839). To fix this problem, install your Additional Software manually again, then restart Tails.

  • OpenPGP Applet is not usable: its icon is not displayed (#18845).

  • Tails 5.0~beta1 takes more time to start than previous versions (#18906).

  • Open issues for Tails 5.0

See the list of long-standing issues.

How to test Tails 5.0~beta1?

Keep in mind that this is a test image. We tested that it is not broken in obvious ways, but it might still contain undiscovered issues.

Please, report any new problem to tails-testers@boum.org (public mailing list) before the end of April.

Get Tails 5.0~beta1

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

No automatic upgrade is available, so do a manual upgrade.

To download 5.0~beta1

Direct download

BitTorrent download

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

What's coming up?

We will keep our calendar updated regarding the planned release date of Tails 5.0.

Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.

We need your help and there are many ways to contribute to Tails (donating is only one of them). Come talk to us!

Posted 2022-04-05 Tags:
Tails report for February 2022

We have refactored our installation documentation! This is one of the results of user research we are doing (#18074). We believe this will make installation easier, encourage more people to verify Tails image, and improve the SEO of it. You can read all the details on #16808.

We're actively working on releasing Tails 5, based on Debian Bullseye, soon.

We published calls for online training and user research in Mexico and in Brazil.

Releases

Tails 4.28 was released on March 08:

This was mostly a bugfix release, with upgrades to the Linux kernel, Tor Browser and tor

Metrics

Tails has been started more than 717702 times this month. This makes 25632 boots a day on average.

Posted 2022-03-10
Tails 4.28 is out

Changes and updates

  • Update Tor Browser to 11.0.7.

  • Update Thunderbird to 91.6.1.

  • Update tor to 0.4.6.10.

Fixed problems

For more details, read our changelog.

Known issues

None specific to this release.

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 4.28

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 4.28 directly:

What's coming up?

Tails 4.29 is scheduled for April 5.

Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.

Posted 2022-03-08 Tags:
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