Deprecate the Tails Upgrader for Tails versions 5.13 and older
Since redirection from tails.boum.org to tails.net was implemented (#17985 (closed)) we maintain exceptions without which some components would be broken in older images that use code that doesn't support redirects:
| Path | Impacted component | Tails version |
|---|---|---|
/mirrors.json |
Tails Upgrader | ≤ 5.8 |
/upgrade/*/upgrades.yml |
Tails Upgrader | ≤ 5.13 |
/tails-*.key |
Tails Upgrader | ≤ 5.13 |
/security/index.*.atom |
tails-security-check |
≤ 5.13 |
Note 1: Redirecting the above would also break the "You should upgrade" notification, in addition to upgrades themselves. When this happens, we point users to file:///usr/share/doc/tails/website/doc/upgrade/error/check.en.html, which we can't improve retroactively either.
Note 2: The page shown on upgrade check failures has instructions for upgrades for 4.15-1.18 with a curl command that used to use the old domain to fetch the CA certificate. Despite that, I checked and that page was not included in any of the affected versions, so I think adding an exception for that redirection would have no practical effect.
Potential plan
-
Schedule a date and announce the future deprecation of the Tails Upgrader in Tails versions 5.13 and older. -
Wait long enough that we're comfortable breaking the Upgrader for old releases. (1 year?) -
Remove redirection exceptions. -
Announce the implementation of the deprecation.