Implement a Tor controller as a browser extension

The end goal would be to port Vidalia as a browser extension removing the need for a separate set of software and interface for controlling and viewing how tor operates. An alternate to this is to simply start from zero and build a tor controller which is minimal, provides the necessary information and control to the user, and loads within the browser construct/sandbox/application space.

Research topics will include how to secure the controller from attacks in other parts of the browser and the pages rendered by the browser itself. Providing APIs or interfaces for other extensions to influence, control, or augment this tor controller are further areas of exploration.

This is a difficult problem and implementation may involve new technologies that do not exist in browsers today.

added SponsorZ-large component::applications/tor launcher owner::brade priority::high resolution::fixed status::closed tbb-usability type::project labels

Switching from using milestones to keywords for sponsor deliverables. See #6365 (moved) for details.

Trac:
Keywords: N/A deleted, SponsorZ added
Milestone: Sponsor Z: November 1, 2013 to N/A

This person could also help with TorBirdy and maybe the mobile extension ports (#5709 (moved)).

Trac:
Keywords: SponsorZ deleted, SponsorZ-large, tbb-usability added

TorBirdy is not a controller and will never be a controller, I hope.

Replying to ioerror:

TorBirdy is not a controller and will never be a controller, I hope.

Of course. I think it's best that TorController be its own addon independent from either Torbutton or TorBirdy. In an ideal world, it would the ability to run in either Thunderbird, Firefox, or even both at the same time for a single Tor instance.

I'm just saying that if we hired an additional extension developer, there's a whole lot of stuff for them to do aside from just the TorController..

Trac:
Cc: N/A to isis@torproject.org

Trac:
Summary: Implement a Tor controller as a browser plugin to Implement a Tor controller as a browser extension

Trac:
Description: The end goal would be to port Vidalia as a browser plugin removing the need for a separate set of software and interface for controlling and viewing how tor operates. An alternate to this is to simply start from zero and build a tor controller which is minimal, provides the necessary information and control to the user, and loads within the browser construct/sandbox/application space.

Research topics will include how to secure the controller from attacks in other parts of the browser and the pages rendered by the browser itself. Providing APIs or interfaces for other plugins to influence, control, or augment this tor controller are further areas of exploration.

This is a difficult problem and implementation may involve new technologies that do not exist in browsers today.

to

The end goal would be to port Vidalia as a browser extension removing the need for a separate set of software and interface for controlling and viewing how tor operates. An alternate to this is to simply start from zero and build a tor controller which is minimal, provides the necessary information and control to the user, and loads within the browser construct/sandbox/application space.

Research topics will include how to secure the controller from attacks in other parts of the browser and the pages rendered by the browser itself. Providing APIs or interfaces for other extensions to influence, control, or augment this tor controller are further areas of exploration.

This is a difficult problem and implementation may involve new technologies that do not exist in browsers today.

#8555 (closed) is marked as a dup of this bug.

Trac:
Cc: isis@torproject.org to isis@torproject.org, tails@boum.org

Trac:
Component: Vidalia to TorBrowserButton
Owner: chiiph to mikeperry
Priority: normal to major

Trac:
Status: new to assigned
Owner: mikeperry to brade

,, (Speaking only for Whonix, not Tails.)

Please add reading an environment variable. If NO_TORLAUNCHER=1 (or any other name), disable the wizard [1] and do not start Tor. This would be helpful for already torified environments, such as transparent proxies, Whonix and perhaps Tails.

In case NO_TORLAUNCHER=1 is set, just use default settings (SocksPort 127.0.0.1:9150, ControlPort 127.0.0.1:9151).

,, (From there one can use iptables or rinetd to forward those ports to somewhere else.)

[1] Refering to "Before the Tor Browser attempts to connect...".

Trac:
Cc: isis@torproject.org, tails@boum.org to isis@torproject.org, tails@boum.org, adrelanos@riseup.net

Trac:
Cc: isis@torproject.org, tails@boum.org, adrelanos@riseup.net to isis@torproject.org, tails@boum.org, adrelanos@riseup.net, mcs

We just modified Tor Launcher extension so that, if TOR_SKIP_LAUNCH=1, it will not display the configuration window or start a tor process. There is also a hidden browser pref. that does the same thing (extensions.torlauncher.start_tor=false) but having an env variable makes sense as well.

Awesome! I tested "export TOR_SKIP_LAUNCH=1" and it works. Thanks!

Linking your current progress in gitweb, because I believe not everyone is aware how far this is developed already.

Trac:
Component: TorBrowserButton to Tor Launcher

Calling this ticked fixed, as Tor Launcher was released in TBB 3.0a1.

Further issues should be filed as new Tor Launcher component tickets.

Trac:
Status: assigned to closed
Resolution: N/A to fixed

closed