[tails-news] Call for testing: 2.4~rc1

You can help Tails! The first release candidate for the upcoming version 2.4 is out. Please test it and report any issue. We are in particular interested in feedback and problems relating to:

* Icedove's automatic configuration wizard. Using it to set up a new account is (most of the time) as easy as entering your email address (and password), and Icedove will configure your account for you.

* Graphics-related regressions, e.g. if the graphical user interface doesn't seem to start at all (i.e. you cannot reach Tails Greeter).

# How to test Tails 2.4~rc1?

**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.

But test wildly!

If you find anything that is not working as it should, please [report to us](https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/bug_reporting/index.en.html)! Bonus points if you first check if it is a [known issue of this release](https://tails.boum.org/news/index.en.html#known_issues) or a [longstanding known issue](https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/index.en.html).

## Download and install

[Tails 2.4~rc1 torrent](https://tails.boum.org/torrents/files/tails-i386-2.4~rc1.torrent)

[Tails 2.4~rc1 ISO image](http://dl.amnesia.boum.org/tails/alpha/tails-i386-2.4~rc1/tails-i386-2.4~rc1.iso) [OpenPGP signature](https://tails.boum.org/torrents/files/tails-i386-2.4~rc1.iso.sig)

To install 2.4~rc1, follow our usual [installation instructions](https://tails.boum.org/install/index.en.html), skipping the **Download and verify** step.

## Upgrade from 2.3

1. Start Tails 2.3 on a USB stick installed using _Tails Installer_ and [set an administration password](https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/startup_options/administration_password/index.en.html).

2. Run this command in a Root Terminal to select the "alpha" upgrade channel and start the upgrade:

    echo TAILS_CHANNEL=\"alpha\" >> /etc/os-release && \
         tails-upgrade-frontend-wrapper

3. After the upgrade is installed, restart Tails and choose Applications&nbsp_place_holder;▸ Tails&nbsp_place_holder;▸ About Tails to verify that you are running Tails 2.4~rc1.

# What's new since 2.3?

Changes since Tails 2.3 are:

* Major new features and changes

    * Upgrade Tor Browser to 6.0 based on Firefox 45.2. (Closes: [#11403](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11403)).
    * Enable Icedove's automatic configuration wizard. We patch the wizard to only use secure protocols when probing, and only accept secure protocols, while keeping the improvements done by TorBirdy in its own non-automatic configuration wizard. (Closes: [#6158](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/6158), [#11204](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11204))
  * Bugfixes

    * Enable Packetization Layer Path MTU Discovery for IPv4. If any system on the path to the remote host has a MTU smaller than the standard Ethernet one, then Tails will receive an ICMP packet asking it to send smaller packets. Our firewall will drop such ICMP packets to the floor, and then the TCP connection won't work properly. This can happen to any TCP connection, but so far it's been reported as breaking obfs4 for actual users. Thanks to Yawning for the help! (Closes: [#9268](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/9268))
    * Make Tails Upgrader ship other locales than English. (Closes: [#10221](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10221))
  * Minor improvements

    * Icedove improvements: 
      * Stop patching in our default into Torbirdy. We've upstreamed some parts, and the rest we set with pref branch overrides in /etc/xul-ext/torbirdy.js. (Closes: [#10905](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10905))
      * Use hkps keyserver in Engimail. (Closes: [#10906](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10906))
      * Default to POP if persistence is enabled, IMAP is not. (Closes: [#10574](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10574))
      * Disable remote email account creation in Icedove. (Closes: [#10464](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10464))
    * Firewall hardening (Closes: [#11391](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11391)): 
      * Don't accept RELATED packets. This enables quite a lot of code in the kernel that we don't need. Let's reduce the attack surface a bit.
      * Restrict debian-tor user to NEW TCP syn packets. It doesn't need to do more, so let's do a little bit of security in depth.
      * Disable netfilter's nf_conntrack_helper.
      * Fix disabling of automatic conntrack helper assignment.
    * Kernel hardening: 
      * Set various kernel boot options: slab_nomerge slub_debug=FZ mce=0 vsyscall=none. (Closes: [#11143](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11143))
      * Remove the kernel .map files. These are only useful for kernel debugging and slightly make things easier for malware, perhaps and otherwise just occupy disk space. Also stop exposing kernel memory addresses through /proc etc. (Closes: [#10951](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10951))
    * Drop zenity hacks to "focus" the negative answer. Jessie's zenity introduced the --default-cancel option, finally! (Closes: [#11229](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11229))
    * Drop useless APT pinning for Linux.
    * Remove gnome-tweak-tool. (Closes: [#11237](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11237))
    * Install python-dogtail, to enable accessibility technologies in our automated test suite (see below). (Part of: [#10721](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10721))
    * Install libdrm and mesa from jessie-backports. (Closes: [#11303](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11303))
    * Remove hledger. (Closes: [#11346](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11346))
    * Don't pre-configure the #tails chan on the default OFTC account. (Part of: [#11306](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11306))
    * Install onioncircuits from jessie-backports. (Closes: [#11443](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11443))
    * Remove nmh. (Closes: [#10477](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/10477))
    * Drop Debian experimental APT source: we don't use it.
    * Use APT codenames (e.g. "stretch") instead of suites, to be compatible with our tagged APT snapshots.
    * Drop module-assistant hook and its cleanup. We've not been using it since 2010.
    * Remove 'Reboot' and 'Power Off' entries from Applications -> System Tools. (Closes: [#11075](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11075))
    * Pin our custom APT repo to the same level as Debian ones, and explicitly pin higher the packages we want to pull from our custom APT repo, when needed.
    * config/chroot_local-hooks/59-libdvd-pkg: verify libdvdcss package installation. (Closes: [#11420](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11420))
    * Make Tails Upgrader use our new mirror pool design. (Closes: [#11123](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11123))

For more details, see also our [changelog](https://git-tails.immerda.ch/tails/plain/debian/changelog?h=testing).

# Known issues in 2.4~rc1

* [Longstanding known issues](https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/index.en.html)

* The new version of `mesa` ([#11303](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11303)) improves the situation on some hardware, but introduces regressions at least on:

    * AMD HD 7770
    * nVidia GT 930M
  * Icedove's autoconfig wizard stalls when probing some domains ([#11486](https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/11486)) but not all.

URL: https://tails.boum.org/news/test_2.4-rc1/index.en.html