tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Daniel Simon]

Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.

1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop

EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing

I assume there is a fix...
Thank you very much.

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[u-uy74]

On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 11:01:12AM -0300, Daniel Simon wrote:
> Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.
> 
> 1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> 2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> 3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
> 4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop
> 
> EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
> WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing
> 
> I assume there is a fix...
> Thank you very much.

I guess the only complete fix does not belong here but is to package the
tor browser so that it includes all libraries which it depends on. Then
TBB would work on all computers with a compatible kernel. Regrettably,
the tor project did not choose this approach. You may want to ask why
and/or suggest this on their mailing list or even contribute a better
packaging there.

Of course an alternative is to maintain multple TBB packages, one relying
on glibc, another on musl, a third on another C library and on different
variants of resources which are assumed to be present locally...
It is hard to expect that the TBB team would do this.

A third alternative would be to make musl more binary-compatible
with glibc. It is though unclear whether this is possible
to a sufficient degree ("sufficent" is going to vary with time too)
and whether other local resources expected by TBB would be present on
most musl-based distros (I doubt this).

Regards,
Rune

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Natanael Copa]

On Sun, 24 Apr 2016 11:01:12 -0300
Daniel Simon <ddanielsimonn@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.
> 
> 1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> 2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> 3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
> 4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop
> 
> EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
> WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing
> 
> I assume there is a fix...
> Thank you very much.

You can not really expect a precompiled binary that is linked against
glibc work on a musl libc system.

There are 3 possible solutions:
- run the pre-compiled binary on a glibc system
- ask the tor browser developers to provide a binary built with musl libc
- build it from source yourself

-nc

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Alba Pompeo]

How could I build the Tor Browser Bundle from source?
I can't find any guide for it.
If someone has ever done this, could you share the binary that works on musl?
Could TBB be packaged to musl systems (void, alpine, etc) or is it
only available as a downloadable binary?


On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 6:45 AM, Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Apr 2016 11:01:12 -0300
> Daniel Simon <ddanielsimonn@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.
>>
>> 1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
>> 2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
>> 3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
>> 4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop
>>
>> EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
>> WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing
>>
>> I assume there is a fix...
>> Thank you very much.
>
> You can not really expect a precompiled binary that is linked against
> glibc work on a musl libc system.
>
> There are 3 possible solutions:
> - run the pre-compiled binary on a glibc system
> - ask the tor browser developers to provide a binary built with musl libc
> - build it from source yourself
>
> -nc

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Luca Barbato]

On 25/04/16 12:07, Alba Pompeo wrote:
> How could I build the Tor Browser Bundle from source?
> I can't find any guide for it.

https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TorBrowser/BuildingWithGitian


Maybe? Looks strangely involving though.

lu

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Daniel Simon]

By what I could find, nobody has compiled the tor web-browser from
source on musl before.
I can't find any packages for it...
I'll try to make a new email and send it to both mailing lists (musl
and tor) then we can talk to them directly.
Thanks for all help so far.

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 7:07 AM, Alba Pompeo <albapompeo@gmail.com> wrote:
> How could I build the Tor Browser Bundle from source?
> I can't find any guide for it.
> If someone has ever done this, could you share the binary that works on musl?
> Could TBB be packaged to musl systems (void, alpine, etc) or is it
> only available as a downloadable binary?
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 6:45 AM, Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> wrote:
>> On Sun, 24 Apr 2016 11:01:12 -0300
>> Daniel Simon <ddanielsimonn@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.
>>>
>>> 1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
>>> 2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
>>> 3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
>>> 4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop
>>>
>>> EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
>>> WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing
>>>
>>> I assume there is a fix...
>>> Thank you very much.
>>
>> You can not really expect a precompiled binary that is linked against
>> glibc work on a musl libc system.
>>
>> There are 3 possible solutions:
>> - run the pre-compiled binary on a glibc system
>> - ask the tor browser developers to provide a binary built with musl libc
>> - build it from source yourself
>>
>> -nc

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Rich Felker]

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 01:02:24PM -0300, Daniel Simon wrote:
> By what I could find, nobody has compiled the tor web-browser from
> source on musl before.
> I can't find any packages for it...
> I'll try to make a new email and send it to both mailing lists (musl
> and tor) then we can talk to them directly.
> Thanks for all help so far.

One thing to note: the whole point of Tor Browser Bundle is to avoid
all sorts of side-channel/information-leak risks associated with just
using a normal web browser build on Tor. If anything showing that your
Tor Browser Bundle is built against musl rather than glibc leaks out
to the network, this would compromise much of the benefit of the
package -- there are relatively few musl desktop users, and even fewer
who use Tor Browser, so it becomes much easier to identify you. Of
course it would be ideal if they _always_ used musl, and fully
static-linked, so that there wouldn't even be any risk of glibc
version information (from the system-wide glibc) leaking over the
network.

Rich


> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 7:07 AM, Alba Pompeo <albapompeo@gmail.com> wrote:
> > How could I build the Tor Browser Bundle from source?
> > I can't find any guide for it.
> > If someone has ever done this, could you share the binary that works on musl?
> > Could TBB be packaged to musl systems (void, alpine, etc) or is it
> > only available as a downloadable binary?
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 6:45 AM, Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> wrote:
> >> On Sun, 24 Apr 2016 11:01:12 -0300
> >> Daniel Simon <ddanielsimonn@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.
> >>>
> >>> 1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> >>> 2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> >>> 3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
> >>> 4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop
> >>>
> >>> EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
> >>> WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing
> >>>
> >>> I assume there is a fix...
> >>> Thank you very much.
> >>
> >> You can not really expect a precompiled binary that is linked against
> >> glibc work on a musl libc system.
> >>
> >> There are 3 possible solutions:
> >> - run the pre-compiled binary on a glibc system
> >> - ask the tor browser developers to provide a binary built with musl libc
> >> - build it from source yourself
> >>
> >> -nc

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Daniel Simon]

Hi, Rich. Did you receive my other email that was sent to both mailing
lists (Tor and Musl)?
In it I listed a few possibilities and 1 of them was to
statically-link the binaries to musl.
Between other possibilities I included having separate binaries for
glibc and musl, but you show that's a bad idea.
Could you comment on the other email too, letting the Tor developers
also aware of this and showing that the best outcome would be
static-link to musl?
I wonder if there would be any difficulty for them to do so... Or
rather no difficulty, but lack of desire for change. I hope they're
flexible.



On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 1:48 PM, Rich Felker <dalias@libc.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 01:02:24PM -0300, Daniel Simon wrote:
>> By what I could find, nobody has compiled the tor web-browser from
>> source on musl before.
>> I can't find any packages for it...
>> I'll try to make a new email and send it to both mailing lists (musl
>> and tor) then we can talk to them directly.
>> Thanks for all help so far.
>
> One thing to note: the whole point of Tor Browser Bundle is to avoid
> all sorts of side-channel/information-leak risks associated with just
> using a normal web browser build on Tor. If anything showing that your
> Tor Browser Bundle is built against musl rather than glibc leaks out
> to the network, this would compromise much of the benefit of the
> package -- there are relatively few musl desktop users, and even fewer
> who use Tor Browser, so it becomes much easier to identify you. Of
> course it would be ideal if they _always_ used musl, and fully
> static-linked, so that there wouldn't even be any risk of glibc
> version information (from the system-wide glibc) leaking over the
> network.
>
> Rich
>
>
>> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 7:07 AM, Alba Pompeo <albapompeo@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > How could I build the Tor Browser Bundle from source?
>> > I can't find any guide for it.
>> > If someone has ever done this, could you share the binary that works on musl?
>> > Could TBB be packaged to musl systems (void, alpine, etc) or is it
>> > only available as a downloadable binary?
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 6:45 AM, Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> wrote:
>> >> On Sun, 24 Apr 2016 11:01:12 -0300
>> >> Daniel Simon <ddanielsimonn@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.
>> >>>
>> >>> 1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
>> >>> 2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
>> >>> 3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
>> >>> 4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop
>> >>>
>> >>> EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
>> >>> WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing
>> >>>
>> >>> I assume there is a fix...
>> >>> Thank you very much.
>> >>
>> >> You can not really expect a precompiled binary that is linked against
>> >> glibc work on a musl libc system.
>> >>
>> >> There are 3 possible solutions:
>> >> - run the pre-compiled binary on a glibc system
>> >> - ask the tor browser developers to provide a binary built with musl libc
>> >> - build it from source yourself
>> >>
>> >> -nc

Re: tor web-browser doesn't work on musl

[Rich Felker]

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 04:46:32PM -0300, Daniel Simon wrote:
> Hi, Rich. Did you receive my other email that was sent to both mailing
> lists (Tor and Musl)?
> In it I listed a few possibilities and 1 of them was to
> statically-link the binaries to musl.
> Between other possibilities I included having separate binaries for
> glibc and musl, but you show that's a bad idea.
> Could you comment on the other email too, letting the Tor developers
> also aware of this and showing that the best outcome would be
> static-link to musl?
> I wonder if there would be any difficulty for them to do so... Or
> rather no difficulty, but lack of desire for change. I hope they're
> flexible.

I just tried to but my message was apparently rejected (not just held
for moderation) for not being a subscriber.

Rich


> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 1:48 PM, Rich Felker <dalias@libc.org> wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 01:02:24PM -0300, Daniel Simon wrote:
> >> By what I could find, nobody has compiled the tor web-browser from
> >> source on musl before.
> >> I can't find any packages for it...
> >> I'll try to make a new email and send it to both mailing lists (musl
> >> and tor) then we can talk to them directly.
> >> Thanks for all help so far.
> >
> > One thing to note: the whole point of Tor Browser Bundle is to avoid
> > all sorts of side-channel/information-leak risks associated with just
> > using a normal web browser build on Tor. If anything showing that your
> > Tor Browser Bundle is built against musl rather than glibc leaks out
> > to the network, this would compromise much of the benefit of the
> > package -- there are relatively few musl desktop users, and even fewer
> > who use Tor Browser, so it becomes much easier to identify you. Of
> > course it would be ideal if they _always_ used musl, and fully
> > static-linked, so that there wouldn't even be any risk of glibc
> > version information (from the system-wide glibc) leaking over the
> > network.
> >
> > Rich
> >
> >
> >> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 7:07 AM, Alba Pompeo <albapompeo@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > How could I build the Tor Browser Bundle from source?
> >> > I can't find any guide for it.
> >> > If someone has ever done this, could you share the binary that works on musl?
> >> > Could TBB be packaged to musl systems (void, alpine, etc) or is it
> >> > only available as a downloadable binary?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 6:45 AM, Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> wrote:
> >> >> On Sun, 24 Apr 2016 11:01:12 -0300
> >> >> Daniel Simon <ddanielsimonn@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>> Hi, I face a bug when running tor-web-browser from my new system that uses musl.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> 1) wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/5.5.4/tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> >> >>> 2) tar zxvf ./tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US.tar.xz
> >> >>> 3) cd tor-browser-linux64-5.5.4_en-US
> >> >>> 4) ./start-tor-browser.desktop
> >> >>>
> >> >>> EXPECTED: tor web browser launches as it does on glibc systems
> >> >>> WHAT HAPPENS: Nothing
> >> >>>
> >> >>> I assume there is a fix...
> >> >>> Thank you very much.
> >> >>
> >> >> You can not really expect a precompiled binary that is linked against
> >> >> glibc work on a musl libc system.
> >> >>
> >> >> There are 3 possible solutions:
> >> >> - run the pre-compiled binary on a glibc system
> >> >> - ask the tor browser developers to provide a binary built with musl libc
> >> >> - build it from source yourself
> >> >>
> >> >> -nc