14:58:49 <richard> #startmeeting Tor Browser Weekly Meeting 2023-09-05
14:58:49 <MeetBot> Meeting started Tue Sep  5 14:58:49 2023 UTC.  The chair is richard. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
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14:59:00 <richard> happy september everyone o/
14:59:06 <richard> the pad per usual: https://pad.riseup.net/p/tor-tbb-keep
14:59:06 <ma1> o/
15:02:07 <richard> I don't have any particular discussion points today
15:02:35 <dan_b> whats the deadline for firefox-android MRs to get into the next alpha? i have 2 out
15:02:44 <richard> but I do have a big email backlog to catch up on
15:02:46 <dan_b> the big refactor, and fixing the firefox branding on homescreen
15:03:00 <richard> let me consult the oracle
15:03:06 <richard> oracle/release calendar
15:03:13 <dan_b> donuts: you here? can you look at https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/firefox-android/-/merge_requests/11
15:03:27 <PieroV> dan_b: richard: I think we should make the alpha slip a bit
15:03:28 <donuts> on a call atm, sorry
15:03:32 <Jeremy_Rand_36C3[m]> Hi!
15:03:46 <Jeremy_Rand_36C3[m]> (Sorry I'm late today, the holiday messed up my schedule)
15:03:49 <PieroV> I'd also like to get tor-browser!721 merged on it
15:03:49 <richard> yeah, I'm willing to wait for your MR to get merged given Anroid
15:04:12 <dan_b> and my third issues, the connect button text not being centered, I can't replicate anymore, it's like hte update pierov did to 115.2.1 might have fixed it or? I really dont know
15:04:36 <richard> ma1: did the Android backports from 117 make there way into Alph?
15:05:01 <richard> yeah it looks fine to me in the latest alpha from last week :)
15:05:02 <ma1> It's only one, and I plan to merge it today or tomorrow at most
15:05:09 <richard> ok
15:05:12 <dan_b> amazing
15:05:27 <richard> let's plan on waiting for both your MRs for the next alpha
15:05:28 <dan_b> well it's nice when bugs close themselves
15:05:59 <dan_b> 👍
15:06:00 <PieroV> It's the donuts theorem
15:06:10 <PieroV> (thorin says so)
15:06:18 <richard> in the meantime I'll start alpha release-prep with the expectation of new tags once these MRs get merged
15:06:25 <richard> yes :3
15:06:54 <dan_b> oh another question, did sweeden trip get officially approved/when should we book tickets?
15:07:09 <richard> so according to the plan, we have 2 weeks before our planned 13.0
15:07:20 <richard> which seems *optimistic*
15:07:20 <PieroV> actually we have a big problem for the alpha
15:07:41 <PieroV> I fixed the Snowflake options in stable, then cherry-picked to main
15:08:21 <PieroV> But that broke the builds. I haven't fixed yet because cohosh told me on IRC that having these parameters don't hurt, as SOCKS parameters override them
15:08:28 <richard> dan_b: I'm waiting on a few more expense requests before I can push it up the chain but I hope to have approval/disapproval this week
15:08:45 <dan_b> Cool just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something
15:09:07 <richard> I'll be sure to add in fudge factor for the initial estimate given ticket price inflation as we get closer to the date
15:09:08 <PieroV> But dcf then commented in the issue and suggested we remove them.
15:09:45 <richard> basically once the whole trip is approved i'll send out  a mail and you'll need to send the expense request to accounting@tpo but I'll give details in email
15:10:20 <richard> PieroV: so what is the deal with these prams in snowflake on android?
15:10:31 <richard> I didn't quite follow that threa
15:10:33 <richard> thread*
15:11:04 <jagtalon> ooh is the sweden trip a meetup you're all planning?
15:11:15 <richard> ja
15:11:19 <PieroV> richard: basically what I've just wrote
15:11:57 <PieroV> the patch doesn't apply after cherry-picking, but I haven't fixed it because I'm not sure on how to fix it either
15:12:03 <PieroV> On desktop we dropped our params a while ago
15:12:29 <PieroV> https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser-build/-/issues/40941
15:12:46 <richard> thx let me havea quick skim
15:13:23 <PieroV> I haven't done anything about that yet because I'm not sure about the timings
15:13:48 <PieroV> We might want to do some QA only about that. And the release is scheduled in 20 days as you said
15:14:10 <PieroV> So, shall we fix the patch that is breaking the builds, or should we drop the parameters already for 13.0?
15:14:47 <richard> is dropping the params for 13.0 a risky thing to do?
15:15:05 <richard> i'm not 100% clear on the android PT setup/code injection apart from that it's *weird*
15:15:23 <richard> (compared to desktop anyway)
15:15:24 <PieroV> No, it shouldn't, but we maybe someone from AC could confirm we haven't broken stuff
15:16:17 <richard> sounds good to me, we can always drop w/e changes for 13.0 and try again in october no?
15:16:18 <PieroV> We might want a nightly build after removing the parameters, check it, and only then build the alpha
15:17:06 <richard> henry-x, dan_b: do you know if YEC 2023 designs have been delivered yet?
15:17:46 <dan_b> looking...
15:17:51 <henry-x> https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/41898#note_2939296 is the latest
15:18:27 <richard> ack
15:19:21 <richard> dan_b: realistically does it look like we'll be able to migrate to the html about:tor/post-bootstrap landing in 13.0
15:19:39 <richard> or should we plan on implementing the YEC in native android UX stuffs like last year?
15:19:41 <dan_b> 😕 still haven't really had time to look or try. just started all the moz reviews
15:19:49 <richard> ok
15:19:54 <richard> let's plan on canning that then
15:20:03 <dan_b> esh
15:20:21 <richard> and plan on native android for that, and this way we will have something to backport of we need to stick to the 12.5 series through October
15:20:28 <richard> if we need*
15:20:32 <dan_b> while i was doing the refactor i did not moz doesn't do that and it made me wonder
15:20:59 <henry-x> I feel like it is likely that we'll want to change the strings once they are part of a mockup
15:21:48 <dan_b> yeah I dont see any mocks in the issue so far? are those still coming?
15:21:59 <richard> they're supposed to be delivered today
15:22:08 <richard> but they are coming from west coast US so vOv'
15:22:21 <dan_b> 🤞
15:22:29 <dan_b> so i might be the first to see them 🙂
15:23:10 <richard> henry-x: if you haven't already, can you prioritise getting the strings merged for localisation?
15:24:08 <henry-x> I'm a bit hesitant to send them off to localizers without a rough mockup
15:25:16 <richard> ok i'll poke UX and hopefully we'll have something tomorrow morning
15:26:22 <PieroV> Speaking of about:tor, what did we decide about the check service?
15:26:46 <henry-x> I was going to ask about that as well
15:26:56 <richard> iirc we want to enable some UX for it system-tor users
15:27:08 <richard> I don't remember of donuts provided a mockup
15:27:28 <henry-x> https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/32328#note_2935444
15:28:34 <PieroV> Oh, right, probably !721 should come first then
15:28:46 <henry-x> what scenario was the check designed to catch?
15:29:07 <richard> so in general it's a bit of a legacy thing
15:29:25 <richard> from the torbutton+tor-launcher days when bootstrapping and all of that was way less reliable
15:30:39 <richard> for now it kind of only makes sense as a sepearate UX thing when we're not using about:torconnect
15:31:24 <richard> technically we should maybe add it as an optional last step of the bootstrapping process as a sort of sanity check
15:32:11 <henry-x> If that's the case, I wouldn't make it part of "about:tor". Not all browsers will ever load "about:tor"
15:32:26 <PieroV> I triggered it with a race condition a while ago. But otherwise it'd be helpful for people using transparent proxy
15:32:58 <richard> henry-x trueee
15:33:28 <henry-x> e.g. whonix overrides the default home page, and users can set it in tor browser to about:blank
15:33:46 <richard> ok
15:33:59 <PieroV> We're not very strong to catch this kind of problem in all cases
15:34:26 <PieroV> And I'd like to have a more comprehensive solution. But removing also this thin check doesn't feel very good to me
15:34:51 <richard> well
15:35:06 <henry-x> why not make it a modal dialog message instead?
15:35:20 <richard> it seems like the only time this feature would be useful is in non-standard configurations
15:36:05 <richard> since the situation where tor bootstraps and navigates us to about:tor and then somehow isn't actually connecte to tor, can't really happen
15:36:15 <richard> assuming a non-broken install
15:36:44 <richard> not only not connected to tor but also tunneling traffic through the daemon to the clearnet*
15:37:00 <richard> just isn't a scenario that can reasonably be expected to happen
15:37:53 <richard> I think we should perhaps shelve this for 13.5 and actually think through+plan the feature
15:38:09 <richard> rather than shimming in something that may not actually help anyone for 13.0
15:38:24 <richard> does Tail override about:tor for the Home Page as well?
15:38:26 <PieroV> Then we should have an explicit changelog item, and/or mention this in the release notes
15:39:13 <richard> PieroV: wfm
15:39:23 <PieroV> The check service used to open about:tor automatically, but I don't remember if in the original implementation this was always triggered, or if the check service was started by about:tor
15:39:41 <richard> i think the most i would want to do is add a message for system-tor users in about:tor with the Test your conection link
15:40:13 <richard> like what donuts posted in that thread
15:42:09 <henry-x> PieroV: in what I removed, `TorCheckService` was called by `AboutTorParent` on page load
15:42:46 <richard> clairehurst: can you review 756! this am? it looks like your build scripts got merge :)
15:43:17 <PieroV> Yes, but I don't remember how it is like in 12.5. I tried not to change the behavior, so it might be the same
15:48:19 <clairehurst> Sure!
15:48:32 <henry-x> richard: what would the "Test your connection" link go to?
15:48:55 <richard> check.torproject.org
15:49:25 <donuts> henry-x/richard: will have a mockup for the YEC over to you this week 👍
15:53:23 <richard> ok does is there anything else to discuss?
15:53:35 <PieroV> I don't
15:53:54 <richard> ok
15:53:54 <Jeremy_Rand_36C3[m]> nothing on my end today
15:54:13 <Jeremy_Rand_36C3[m]> best of luck getting through the next couple weeks leading up to the big release :)
15:54:21 <richard> yeah
15:54:44 <richard> i'll re-evaluate the release calendar at the end of this week and we'll see what happens
15:54:46 <richard> ok
15:54:52 <richard> have a good week everyone o/
15:54:54 <richard> #endmeeting