[tor-reports] Pearl Crescent Report – September 2014

[Mark Smith]

Tor-related work that the Pearl Crescent team did in September
(Kathy Brade and Mark Smith):

* Firefox updater for Tor Browser:
We rebased the updater patches for ESR31.

We fixed various updater issues that came up as a result of shipping it 
inside TB 4.0-alpha-2 and 4.0-alpha-3 as well as some things we found in 
our own tests.  We are still working on various issues, but the updater 
seems to be working.
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13041
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13047
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13049
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13087
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13241
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13245
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13247
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13301


* Tor Launcher:
We tested Tor Launcher within an ESR31-based Tor Browser.

We helped a little with the infamous start up hang bug.
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/10804

We provided some information about environment variables that affect Tor 
Launcher's behavior.
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13005


* Tor Browser and Torbutton:
We did some bug triage and helped some with the 4.0-alpha-2 and 
4.0-alpha-3 releases.

We patched some more canvas calls to prevent fingerprinting (ESR31).
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13021

We patched the browser to use "Tor Browser" in more places instead of 
"TorBrowser" (added a space).
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13091

We fixed an about:tor ESR31 incompatibility.
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13138

Other Tor Browser tickets we spent some time on:
     "Firefox is already running."
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/12941

     "Verify screenX and screenY are spoofed sanely"
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13026

     "Review individual rebased patches for Firefox 31"
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13034

     "Windows Tor Launcher trying to connect 9151 control port
      always, instead of using settings"
     https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13150


* We participated in the weekly Tor Browser dev meetings on IRC and
   in various design discussions on IRC and on the mailing lists.


* Planned for October 2014:
     - Fix updater issues, add polish, and make sure the updater works
       correctly in the ESR31-based Tor Browser.

     - Assist with other ESR31-related patches and bug fixes.

     - Continue to add polish to Tor Launcher with a continued emphasis
       on usability issues.

-- 
Mark Smith
Pearl Crescent, LLC
http://pearlcrescent.com/