Tor Messenger 0.5.0b1 is released

Tor Messenger is a cross-platform chat program that aims to be secure by default and sends all of its traffic over Tor. It supports a wide variety of transport networks, including XMPP, IRC, Twitter, and others; enables ​Off-the-Record (OTR) Messaging automatically; has an easy-to-use graphical user interface; and a secure automatic updater.

We are pleased to announce another public beta release of Tor Messenger that features important improvements to its stability and security. All users are encouraged to upgrade.

Mozilla ESR52

This release of Tor Messenger is based on Firefox ESR52, specificallytor-browser-52.3.0esr-7.0-1-build1 andTHUNDERBIRD_52_3_0_RELEASE oncomm-central.

Deterministic Builds

Tor Messenger builds are now reproducible for Windows and macOS as well; earlier, only Linux builds were reproducible (#10942). This means that anyone building Tor Messenger from source should end up with identical byte-for-byte binaries to the ones we release. To get started with building Tor Messenger (something we encourage!), please refer to the instructions in theREADME.md file. Since this is a fairly involved process, talk to us on IRC or the comments section below if you need help.

XMPP Improvements

This version of Tor Messenger introduces temporary XMPP accounts (a feature inspired byChatSecure) that creates an XMPP account automatically with a random username and password (#16606). This helps you to quickly set up an account and get a conversation started without requiring you to bother with the registration or account details. These accounts don't expire automatically but the intent is that you can use them as throwaway accounts and quickly create new ones when required. (Note: Currently, some data remains after deleting an account. See#23675)

Starting with this release, Tor Messenger will attempt to automatically use the onion service for known XMPP servers which helps improve the security of your connection (#13855). Thecurrent list includes onion addresses forriseup.net,jabber.ccc.de,jabber.otr.im, andjabber.calyxinstitute.org. We plan to add more servers in the subsequent releases. (Note: Existing accounts remain unchanged. This setting is only applied during new account setup.)

Other Notable Changes

Tor Messenger for Linux is now built with Selfrando for hardened builds (#22229). For more information on Selfrando, please refer to the Q and A with Georg.

This release also fixes the Tor Messenger crash on Windows XP that prevented it from starting (#17469).

Downloads

Please note that Tor Messenger isstill in beta. The purpose of this release is to help test the application and provide feedback.At-risk users should not depend on it for their privacy and safety.

Linux (32-bit)

Linux (64-bit)

Windows

macOS

sha256sums-signed-build.txt

sha256sums-signed-build.txt.asc

Thesha256sums-signed-build.txt file containing hashes of the bundles is signed with the key0xB01C8B006DA77FAA (fingerprint:E4AC D397 5427 A5BA 8450 A1BE B01C 8B00 6DA7 7FAA). Please verify the fingerprint from thesigning keys page on Tor Project's website.

Changelog

Tor Messenger 0.5.0b1 -- September 28, 2017

  • All Platforms
    • Use the tor-browser-52.3.0esr-7.0-1-build1 tag on tor-browser
    • Use the THUNDERBIRD_52_3_0_RELEASE tag on comm-esr52
    • Update tor-browser to 7.0.5
    • Update tor-launcher to 0.2.12.3
    • Trac 22005: Move to ESR 52
    • Trac 16606: Temporary XMPP accounts
    • Trac 13855: Use known onions for XMPP servers
  • Linux
  • Mac
  • Windows
    • Trac 17469: Tor Messenger is not working on Windows XP
    • Trac 10942: Deterministic builds for Instantbird
       

Can you explain a bit more…

Can you explain a bit more what you mean by "old conversations"?

have conversations with…

have conversations with people 'contacts' from when i first install it. under 'new conversation' tab thinking it's server side , is there anyway to delete these contacts?

Right-click on the contact…

Right-click on the contact name and delete the contact. (Sorry if that's not what you meant)

Just wait for 0.3.2 tor for…

Just wait for 0.3.2 tor for its new secure onion address, current onion address system is risky, those XMPP onion servers can be faked...

Congratulations!…

Congratulations!
This release is really great!
Could you, please, release Tor Mail on the same base?

We (well, I should say I…

We (well, I should say "I" here since I can only speak for myself) have plans for working on Tor Mail at some point but I can't give you a timeline yet, not even an approximate one.

Hope you guys make it work…

Hope you guys make it work asap, it has huge potential. XMPP account said "Connected for few seconds" does it mean that I was connected? This add new account/configuration window didn't disappear after user registration. Also no sign on the chat itself that I was using this exact client. Just reporting what I saw and I know that it is in beta, hope you guys make it work so we can all enjoy it! Cheers

"Connected for few seconds"…

"Connected for few seconds" means that you have been connected to the particular account and shows the time elapsed since the connection.

As far as your second issue, can you explain a bit more? When you tried registering for a new account, it will just show connected and then you will have to add the person you want to talk to and then start the chat.

There are no plans for…

There are no plans for Android support.

> Since this is a fairly…

> Since this is a fairly involved process, talk to us on IRC
ERROR: Anonymous TOR usage is unavailable

And how to do it?

Seems like the IRC server is…

Seems like the IRC server is blocking Tor. Try registering on the server perhaps?

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Upcoming Events

Recent Updates

Tor 0.3.2.2-alpha is released!

byisis |October 02, 2017

Hello! Alex Færøy, Nick Mathewson, and I have just releaseda source tarball for a new Tor alpha (sig). This is the first time for Alex and me making a Tor release! We're hoping that rotating some of our more tedious responsibilities among all the developers on the Network Team will relieve unfair pressure on people like Nick who pour enormous amounts of time and effort into these tasks. You can help us out by testing the alpha, and pleasereport any issues you encounter!

A new Tor Browser alpha is expected to be released in mid-October, afterour upcoming meeting in Montréal, which will ship with this alpha, or possibly a newer one.

Changelog

Tor 0.3.2.2-alpha is the second release in the 0.3.2 series. This release fixes several minor bugs in the new scheduler and next- generation onion services; both features were newly added in the 0.3.2 series. Other fixes in this alpha include several fixes for non-fatal tracebacks which would appear in logs.

With the aim to stabilise the 0.3.2 series by 15 December 2017, this alpha does not contain any substantial new features. Minor features include better testing and logging.

The following comprises the complete list of changes included in tor-0.3.2.2-alpha:

Changes in version 0.3.2.2-alpha - 2017-09-29

  • Major bugfixes (relay, crash, assertion failure):
    • Fix a timing-based assertion failure that could occur when the circuit out-of-memory handler freed a connection's output buffer. Fixes bug23690; bugfix on 0.2.6.1-alpha.
  • Major bugfixes (scheduler):
    • If a channel is put into the scheduler's pending list, then it starts closing, and then if the scheduler runs before it finishes closing, the scheduler will get stuck trying to flush its cells while the lower layers refuse to cooperate. Fix that race condition by giving the scheduler an escape method. Fixes bug23676; bugfix on 0.3.2.1-alpha.