You can help Tails! The first release candidate for the upcoming version 1.7 is out. Please test it and see if it works for you.

  1. How to test Tails 1.7~rc1?
  2. How to automatically upgrade from 1.6?
  3. What's new since 1.6?
  4. Known issues in 1.7~rc1

How to test Tails 1.7~rc1?

  1. Keep in mind that this is a test image. We have made sure that it is not broken in an obvious way, but it might still contain undiscovered issues.

  2. Either try the automatic upgrade, or download the ISO image and its signature:

    Tails 1.7~rc1 ISO image

    Tails 1.7~rc1 signature

  3. Verify the ISO image.

  4. Have a look at the list of known issues of this release and the list of longstanding known issues.

  5. Test wildly!

If you find anything that is not working as it should, please report to us! Bonus points if you first check if it is a known issue of this release or a longstanding known issue.

How to automatically upgrade from 1.6?

These steps allow you to automatically upgrade a device installed with Tails Installer from Tails 1.6 to Tails 1.7~rc1.

  1. Start Tails 1.6 from a USB stick or SD card (installed by the Tails Installer), and set an administration password.

  2. Run this command in a Root Terminal to select the "alpha" upgrade channel and start the upgrade:

    echo TAILS_CHANNEL=\"alpha\" >> /etc/os-release && \
     tails-upgrade-frontend-wrapper

  3. Once the upgrade has been installed, restart Tails and look at Applications ▸ Tails ▸ About Tails to confirm that the running system is Tails 1.7~rc1.

What's new since 1.6?

Changes since Tails 1.6 are:

  • Major new features and changes

    • Add a technology preview of the Icedove Email client (a rebranded version of Mozilla Thunderbird), including OpenPGP support via the Enigmail add-on, general security and anonymity improvements via the Torbirdy add-on, and complete persistence support (which will be enabled automatically if you already have Claws Mail persistence enabled). Icedove will replace Claws Mail as the supported email client in Tails in a future release. (Closes: #6151, #9498, #10285)
    • Upgrade Tor to 0.2.7.4-rc-1~d70.wheezy+1+tails1. Among the many improvement of this new Tor major release, the new KeepAliveIsolateSOCKSAuth option allows us to drop the bug15482.patch patch (taken from the Tor Browse bundle) that enabled similar (but inferiour) functionality for all SocksPort:s -- now the same circuit is only kept alive for extended periods for the SocksPort used by the Tor Browser. (Closes: #10194, #10308)
    • Add an option to Tails Greeter which disables networking completely. This is useful when intending to use Tails for offline work only. (Closes: #6811)

  • Security fixes

    • Fix CVE-2015-7665, which could lead to a network interface's IP address being exposed through wget. (Closes: #10364)

  • Minor improvements

    • Restart Tor if bootstrapping stalls for too long when not using pluggable transports. (Closes: #9516)
    • Install firmware-amd-graphics, and firmware-misc-nonfree instead of firmware-ralink-nonfree, both from Debian Sid.
    • Update the Tails signing key. (Closes: #10012)

There are numerous other changes that might not be apparent in the daily operation of a typical user. Technical details of all the changes are listed in the Changelog.

Known issues in 1.7~rc1