Releases

• Tails 3.13 was released on March 19.

• Tails 3.14 is scheduled for May 14.

The following changes were introduced in Tails 3.13:

• Add support for the Bopomofo input method for Chinese using the Chewing library and improve support for the Pinyin input method. (#11292)

• Save a backup of the configuration of the persistent storage every time it is modified. (#16461)

  This will help us understand and solve why sometimes all the settings of the persistent storage disappear. (#10976)

• Prevent Additional Software from downloading packages that are already saved in the persistent storage. (#15957)

• Fix the localization of Tor Launcher, the application to configure a Tor bridge or a local proxy. (#16338)

• Fix accessibility when opening Tor Browser from a desktop notification. (#16475)

• Fix WhisperBack crashing when additional APT repositories is configured. (#16563)

Code

• We agreed on a list of languages that we want to support out-of-the-box in Tails and started implementing it. The Additional Software feature will make it possible for other users to add their favorite dictionaries and language packs while making our USB image a bit smaller for everybody. (#15807, #16095, #9956)

• We identified another possible cause for partially applied automatic upgrades. (#16603)

• We coordinated with the Tor Browser team regarding their upcoming 8.5 major release and its implications for Tails.

• We continued deprecating Tails Installer from Debian and Ubuntu.

Documentation and website

• We improved how installation and upgrade instructions are linked from our release notes and download pages. (#16470)

• We documented how to run Tails from a USB image in virt-manager, which is the only virtualization solution that allows to use a persistent volume in a virtual machine.

User experience

• We drafted how to explain Tails in a new homepage and about page and tested it with 5 people with the help from Simply Secure. (#16536)

• We analyzed the success metrics of Additional Software and the integration of VeraCrypt:

  • Both features probably participated in getting our boot stats to increase again (20% more since September 2019).
  • Both features didn't change much the tech-savviness of our user base.
  • The number of people who use VeraCrypt in Tails almost doubled.

  Results are good but we expected more. We need to improve how we let the world know about new features.

• We analyzed the success metrics for USB images:

  • The percentage of people using Tails from macOS at least doubled since 3.12.
  • USB images account for 76% of our downloads and our download buttons are hit 3970 times a day on average.

• We created a new version of our logo that can be used with or without tagline. (#14835)

  

• We documented Kazam instead of recordMyDesktop to record screencasts when doing usability testing because it is more reliable.

Hot topics on our help desk

1. Partially applied incremental upgrades cause all kinds of trouble (#14754)

2. persistence.conf lost, recoverable by reconfiguring (#10976)

Infrastructure

• We started making plans to migrate to GitLab.

• We interviewed 2 candidates for our open sysadmin position.

• We made good progress on switching to better maintained Puppet modules. (#15510)

• We worked on the software configuration of the prototype node for our next-generation CI hardware. (#15501)

• We fixed our LimeSurvey security updates monitoring system. (#15466)

• We stopped having public monthly meetings in favor of internal stand-up meetings.

Funding

• We documented how to donate in cash.

• We explained on our donation page why we don't accept donations in more cryptocurrencies.

• We updated the statistics on how we spend our money.

Outreach

Past events

• 2 of us attended a Debian Bug Squashing Party in Paris on March 30–31.

On-going discussions

• We started a discussion about possible security implications that would arise from shipping the code of the Verification Extension in our website instead.

Translations

All the website

• de: 45% (2832) strings translated, 7% strings fuzzy, 41% words translated
• es: 50% (3138) strings translated, 4% strings fuzzy, 42% words translated
• fa: 32% (1982) strings translated, 10% strings fuzzy, 33% words translated
• fr: 88% (5478) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 87% words translated
• it: 31% (1970) strings translated, 5% strings fuzzy, 28% words translated
• pt: 25% (1553) strings translated, 7% strings fuzzy, 21% words translated

Total original words: 65408

Core pages of the website

• de: 71% (1252) strings translated, 12% strings fuzzy, 74% words translated
• es: 80% (1417) strings translated, 9% strings fuzzy, 82% words translated
• fa: 34% (615) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 33% words translated
• fr: 96% (1712) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 97% words translated
• it: 63% (1112) strings translated, 17% strings fuzzy, 65% words translated
• pt: 45% (798) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 48% words translated

Total original words: 16439

Metrics

• Tails has been started more than 809 770 times in March. This makes 26 121 boots a day on average.
• 9 970 downloads of the OpenPGP signature of a Tails USB image or ISO from our website.
• 73 bug reports were received through WhisperBack.