DeltaChat-Client on Tails (Amnesic Live System)

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Debian Version 0.999.1-PREVIEW
deltachat core version v1.0.0-beta.23

So i tried hard to make DC work on Tails and ran into a couple of issues but i found a workaround that works pretty nicely.

The Problem:
Tails is supposed to be booted from a USB Drive and runs solely in RAM, thus is completely amnesic. It comes with preinstalled software configured to a high security & privacy standard and isnt really supposed to be used with additional software, since you have to reinstall it after every boot.

However, it offers some Persistence Features through an Encrypted Partition on the USB Drive and lets you automatically reinstall software on boot. In order to make that work, you would have to install the software through Synaptic Package Manager or apt-get CLI, but sadly there are no DC-packages for these.

So, i downloaded the DC-Debian version and installed it with the dpkg command. Only “libappindicator 3-1” was a missing dependency and a quick *apt --fix-broken install* did the rest.

That made me able to run DC, but didn’t solve the Auto-Install on Boot Problem quite yet.
A simple Bashfile (save as filename.sh) is now doing that for me:

#!/bin/bash
    dpkg -i **/path/to/**deltachat-desktop_0.999.1_amd64.deb 
    apt --fix-broken install

All i have to do when i want to use DC now is to Open a Terminal Window in the Folder the Bashfile is Located in and execute the following command:

sudo bash ./filename.sh

Fine. This lets me easily reinstall DC anytime i want.
But what about my Data (Contacts & Chat History)?
I simply store a Backup in my Persistent Storage and
Import it in the next Tails Session. :slight_smile:

This has a nice sideeffect:
Since i don’t have a Smartphone and i only run DC on Tails and
since DC is end-to-end-encrypted and the private Key is on my USB Drive, it can only be decrypted with my USB Drive (Which is encrypted).
This means:
If i don’t loose my Tails-Stick (and someone manages to decrypt it) there is no Plain Text Chat History of my DC-Account, except an adversary gets access to every single account i’m chatting with :face_with_hand_over_mouth:
Or does this :sweat_smile: : https://www.legbacore.com/Research_files/HowManyMillionBIOSesWouldYouLikeToInfect_Whitepaper_v1.pdf

Hope this was helpful to you :innocent:

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thanks for the details report - and welcome aboard, @abdhg :slight_smile:

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afaik Delta Chat will not use Tor automatically when running on Tails - the rust core can’t handle socks proxies yet. So I’m not sure if installed Delta on Tails would yield the expected results. Has anyone checked if the traffic goes over tor, e.g. with a hidden service mail provider (like riseup.net)?

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I have replied here:

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I got it working a bit more robustly and with less hassle :slight_smile: How to Setup Delta Chat on Tails in 4 Steps

It’s just clicking on a .AppImage file now, no more backup importing required every time.

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