#Ubuntu tor browser download fails signature check install#

Can you install it, try using it, and if you find anything wrong open a new issue on GitHub? I’m already working on getting it into, but first I want to find and fix any final bugs. I think Tor Browser Launcher is about ready for it’s first release. If the GnuPG signature doesn’t check out, it throws an error: If you already have TBB installed, it immediately runs start-tor-browser: On success, it runs start-tor-browser, which loads Vidalia and Firefox. The first time you run it, or when it finds updates, it downloads TBB from, and it also verifies the GnuPG signature: When you install Tor Browser Launcher, it adds a “Tor Browser” item to your desktop environment’s menu in the Internet category:

#Ubuntu tor browser download fails signature check mac os#

I want Tor Browser Launcher to become the preferred way for GNU/Linux users to get TBB.Įventually I’d also like to port Tor Browser Launcher to Windows and Mac OS X. I’m hoping to first get Tor Browser Launcher into Tor Project’s repository, and then later into Debian and Ubuntu, and other distributions as well like Fedora and Arch. When you run it after that it will just execute TBB.

#Ubuntu tor browser download fails signature check download#

When you first launch Tor Browser Launcher, it will download TBB from and extract it in ~/.torproject, and then execute it.

Adding a “Tor Browser” application launcher to your desktop environment’s menu.

Automatically updating while saving your bookmarks and preferences.

Downloading the most recent version of TBB for you, in your language and for your architecture.

You install torbrowser-launcher from your distribution’s package manager and it handles everything else, including: Tor Browser Launcher is intended to make the Tor Browser Bundle (TBB) easier to maintain and use for GNU/Linux users. These reasons are why I wrote Tor Browser Launcher. If it were installable from the package manager, it would open up the possibility for distributions to have Tor Browser installed by default.

#Ubuntu tor browser download fails signature check software#

All TBB downloads go over HTTPS (unlike some security tools), but there are still critical and widely publicized security problems with relying on the certificate authority infrastructure.įinally, for GNU/Linux users, there’s no easy way to install TBB from the package manager, which is the preferred and expected way to install software on that platform. When users download TBB, Tor Project provides a GnuPG signature of the package, but roughly 0% of users, including the elitest of hackers, actually verify that signature to be sure they weren’t MitM’d during the download. People often use Tor Browser infrequently enough to not bother with updating when they just want to quickly look something up anonymously, which compromises their security. It warns you when you’re using an out-of-date version but you have to repeat the download and extract process manually. You can’t easily add it to your Ubuntu Unity launcher, favorite it in GNOME 3, or stick it on a panel in Cinnamon or MATE (not to mention add it to your quick launch bar in Windows). If you want to install TBB for regular use on your computer, you don’t get a Tor Browser entry in your desktop environment’s menu system.

Your browser is configured to use Tor.” page.ĭespite these advancements, Tor could still be more user-friendly.

Then you extract it (normally to somewhere in your home directory, or to a USB stick) and run start-tor-browser, and wait to connect to the Tor network and for your anonymous browser to pop up with the friendly green “Congratulations. Now all you have to do is head to, click the large “Download Tor” button, and then download the Tor Browser Bundle (TBB). Eventually, this got easier when you could install the TorButton Firefox add-on, but even then you had to keep manually separate your own identity and your anonymous browsing. You had to make sure that you didn’t have browser plugins like Flash or Java enabled that would compromise your anonymity. In the past if you wanted anonymity you had to download and install Tor, maybe hand-edit your torrc file, and configure your browser to use a proxy server. Over the years, Tor Project has done an amazing job at making Tor more user-friendly. I’d like help finding bugs before the initial release.

TL DR: I wrote a piece of software called Tor Browser Launcher that downloads and auto-updates Tor Browser Bundle for you, in your language and for your architecture, and verifies signatures.