You can help Tails! The first release candidate for the upcoming version 2.0 is out. We are very excited and cannot wait to hear what you think about it :)

What's new in 2.0?

Tails 2.0 will be the first version of Tails based on Debian 8 (Jessie). As such, it upgrades essentially all included software.

The most noticeable change is probably the move to GNOME Shell, configured in Classic mode. This desktop environment provides a modern and actively developed replacement for the aging GNOME "Flashback". GNOME Shell also paves the way for better supporting touchscreens in the future.

Under the hood, an amazing amount of code was ported to more modern technologies. This, in turn, allowed us to do lots of small changes all around the place, that will make the Tails experience both safer, and more pleasant. For example, all custom system services are harder to exploit thanks to the use of Linux namespaces, set up by systemd. And the way Tails tells the user that "Tor is ready" is now more accurate.

But really, there are simply too many changes to describe them all here, so try Tails 2.0~rc1 yourself!

Technical details of all the changes are listed in the Changelog.

There is one piece of bad news, that makes us a bit sad, though: we had to remove the Windows camouflage feature, since our call for help to port it to GNOME Shell (issued in January, 2015) was unsuccessful.

What's new since Tails 2.0~beta1?

New features

  • Fix the passphrase strength indicator of GNOME Disks.

Upgrades and changes

  • Remove Claws Mail: Icedove is now the default email client.
  • Upgrade Tor Browser to 5.5a6.
  • Install xserver-xorg-video-intel from Jessie Backports (currently: 2.99.917-2~bpo8+1). This adds support for recent chips such as Intel Broadwell's HD Graphics.

Fixed problems

  • Stop offering the option to open downloaded files with external
  • applications in Tor Browser (Closes: #9285). Our AppArmor confinement was
  • blocking most such actions anyway, resulting in poor UX.

  • Fix the performance issue of Tails Upgrader that made automatic upgrades

  • very slow to apply.

  • Fix Electrum by installing the version from Debian testing.

  • Restore default file associations.

  • Repair Dotfiles persistence feature.

  • Fix ability to reconfigure an existing persistent storage.

  • Associate armored OpenPGP public keys named *.key with Seahorse.

  • Update the list of enabled GNOME Shell extensions, which might fix

  • the "GNOME Shell sometimes leaves Classic mode" bug seen in 2.0~beta1:

How to test Tails 2.0~rc1?

  1. Keep in mind that this is a test image. We have ensured that it is not broken in any obvious way, but it might still contain undiscovered issues.

  2. Download the ISO image and its signature:

    Tails 2.0~rc1 ISO image

    Tails 2.0~rc1 signature

    Or try the automatic upgrade from 2.0~beta1 even though it is very slow. Note that there is no automatic upgrade from 1.8.2 to this release.

  3. Verify the ISO image.

  4. Have a look at the list of known issues of this release and the list of longstanding known issues.

  5. Test wildly!

If you find anything that is not working as it should, please report to us on tails-testers@boum.org.

Bonus points if you first check if it is a known issue of this release or a longstanding known issue.

Known issues in 2.0~rc1

  • The documentation was not updated yet.

  • Tor Browser does not support MPEG-4 video streaming in Tails 2.0 and newer (#10835). Instead, in some cases you can download them and play them with the video player included in Tails. On the other hand, web sites that propose WebM video streaming work fine.

  • Sometimes, some of the icons located on the top right corner of the screen are not displayed entirely, or at all. For example, the Vidalia icon, or the icon that allows to change to another keyboard layout, may be hidden. Other information, such as the clock, may not be visible. Restarting Tails often solves this problem. (#10576 and #10807)

  • Network interfaces sometimes remain turned off (#9012). If this happens to you, please report the error so we can get enough debugging information to fix it.

  • Graphics display operations are slow on computers with graphics adapters of the Nvidia GeForce 900 series, such as the GeForce GTX 960.

  • It is not possible to add and configure printers (#10893).

  • Longstanding known issues