[tor-project] Joydeep's Monthly Status Report for May 2022

[Joydeep Sen Gupta]

Hello everyone!

This is my monthly report for the month of May. With six Tor Browser
releases in last month a major part of my work was focussed on
collaborating on bug reports, gaining meaningful feedback and overall
user support work concerning the browser. With the upcoming Tor Browser
11.5 release we are seeing some major changes, so this month I have been
involved in testing the alpha and nightly builds and updating the
documentation [1]. We received a few bug reports for Tor Browser Android
in the last month, with repeated reports of the browser crashing at
launch [2] (the issue has been fixed in the latest stable release
11.0.13. woo!), the Tor process failing to bootstrap when links are
launched directly into the app [3] and extensions/add-ons unable to
install and/or not enabled in the browser [4]

We are about to move our cdr.link/zammad instance (Telegram user support
channel) [5] and I have been testing the test instance before we make
the migration to a new one.
That is all for the highlights from the last
month, following are the stats from our user support platforms:

## Frontdesk

Timeline : 01 May - 31 May 2022

Tickets:

new: 26
open: 5
resolved: 344

Breakdown of number of RT tickets received with respect to operating
system:

(Note: This includes tickets where the user mentioned the operating
system or it was evident from the issue they were running into and/or
enclosed screenshots.)

Windows - 10
macOS - 5
GNU/Linux - 3
Android - 14

Breakdown of most frequent tickets (at least 3 RT tickets):

1. 140 RT Tickets - How to use Tor Bridges in Russia. [6]

2. 52 RT Tickets - Private Bridge requests. This is not related to the
.ru censorship but requests from Tor users in China, Iran, etc. [7]

3. 4 RT Tickets - Tor Browser Android crashes on launch (the bug is
resolved now!) [1]

4. 4 RT Tickets - "Proxy Server refused connection" (Tor fails to
bootstrap) if link from other app are  opened in TBA [2]

5. 3 RT Tickets - Can't install extensions on TBA [3]

6. 3 RT Tickets - Tor metrics showing geolocations of some relays
incorrectly [8]


## Tor Forum

Most popular topics in the Support category (in terms of no. of views):

1. Censorship circumvention: "如何在中国大陆绕过 GFW 防火长城连接到
Tor？" ("How to circumvent the Great Firewall and connect to Tor from
China?") [9]

2. Relay operator: "Unexpected path length 4 for exit circuit X, purpose
5" [10]

3. Relay operator: "(Issue with) Running a bridge in Russia" [11]

4. Relay operator: "Periodically disposing of current public IP on
bridge node, a good thing?" [12]

5. Censorship circumvention: "How can I use Tor in China where network
was blocked" [13]

Thanks,

-- Joydeep

[1]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/manual/-/issues/119
[2]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/fenix/-/issues/40212
[3]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40536
[4]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40606
[5]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40592
[6]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/tor-blocked-in-russia-how-to-circumvent-censorship/982
[7]: https://support.torproject.org/censorship/connecting-from-china/
[8]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/40336
[9]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/gfw-tor/3447
[10]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/unexpected-path-length-4-for-exit-circuit-x-purpose-5/3305
[11]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/running-a-bridge-in-russia/3184
[12]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/periodically-disposing-of-current-public-ip-on-bridge-node-a-good-thing/3195
[13]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/how-can-i-use-tor-in-china-where-network-was-blocked/3183