% Tails: a Debian Derivative % By Solveig % May, 2015

Presentation

Me

• a tiny bit Debian contributor
• Tails contributor (doc, bug triaging, community stuff, user support, reports writing, press, and speaker sometimes :))

• not a developer. I know about Tails design and plans, but don't ask implementation questions :)

• debian@solveig.org

Tails

• The Amnesic Incognito Live System: https://tails.boum.org
  • Live system (USB, DVD, SD card)
  • use the Internet anonymously, circumvent censorship: all connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network
  • leave no trace on the computer you are using unless you ask it explicitly
• works on (almost) any x86 computer
• based on Debian ♥

Debian: our upstream

Relationship to Debian

• Debian is our "base" and we add some Tails-specific things
• we try to keep this changes (the "Delta") as small as possible because:
  • it's work to maintain it and we're few people
  • it's better if everybody benefits from our improvements
• ... and we succeed: less modified packages in Tails/Wheezy than in Tails/Squeeze, will be even better in Tails/Jessie
• Debian is a great upstream :)

What did we do upstream?

• AppArmor (Ulrike did a OPW in Debian for it)
• libvirt
• Seahorse
• fix OTR downgrade → v1
• various Debian things (including Debian Live)

What we did not do internally

... despite pressure:

• grsecurity
• compile-time hardening

What we did internally

... and are in the process of sharing:

• OpenPGP applet
• erasing memory on shutdown
• testing framework (cucumber, sikuli, libvirt)

Contribute to Tails by contributing to Debian

In Debian

• We use usertags in Debian's bugtracker https://bugs.debian.org/
  • user = tails-dev@boum.org
  • tags: whatever we need, that's our namespace (e.g. crypto-gui, hardening, im)
  • all our usertagged bugs: https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/bts-usertags.cgi?user=tails-dev@boum.org
  • documentation: https://wiki.debian.org/bugs.debian.org/usertags

In Tails: Redmine

Tails work that needs to be done in Debian.

How can I help?

Help maintain backports

• we use a lot of backports
• e.g. poedit, libvirt, qemu, redmine, monkeysign
• we could use more, e.g. the Xorg stack

Help maintain packages

• mat
• libgsecuredelete and nautilus-wipe
• OTR-related packages: https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/OTR
• anonymity-related packages: https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/AnonymityTools
• anything Tails relies upon, e.g. GNOME
• anything our infrastructure uses, e.g. libvirt/qemu, Jenkins, ruby-rjb, Puppet

Distribution-wide improvements

• AppArmor support: https://wiki.debian.org/AppArmor
• Reproducible builds: https://wiki.debian.org/ReproducibleBuilds
• Hardening: https://wiki.debian.org/HardeningWalkthrough
• Keep Debian Live development branches good enough for our needs, e.g. via automated testing.
• Keep Debian awesome.

Help (not in Debian)

• Translation https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/translate/
• Documentation https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/documentation/
• Testing https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/testing/
• Infrastructure https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/sysadmin/

Help (not in Debian) (more)

• Web design https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/website/
• Graphic design https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/graphics/
• Usability https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/user_interface/
• Code https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/code/

Where to start?

• https://tails.boum.org/contribute/
• Tell us about your skills and interests,
  we'll help you get started :)

Contact

I'm here.

• Development: tails-dev@boum.org
• Translation: tails-l10n@boum.org
• User experience: tails-ux@boum.org
• Early testing: tails-testers@boum.org
• Project: tails-project@boum.org

• Website: https://tails.boum.org/

• Those slides are on our website, and this is a useful summary: https://tails.boum.org/contribute/how/debian/