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Ubuntu Privacy Remix Changelog

What's new in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 12.04r1

May 8, 2014
  • The UPR Team has published the first stable release of Ubuntu Privacy Remix 12.04r1 (Codename Protected Pangolin).
  • UPR 12.04r1 is designed to boot on newer machines with UEFI + SecureBoot and supports lots of new hardware; but keeps running even on old machines by using the traditional and lightweight GNOME Classic desktop environment.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 10.04r3 (Jan 24, 2013)

  • Based on Ubuntu 10.0.4
  • Uses a new kernel based on Linux 3.0.26, which adds support for a lot of (newer) hardware.
  • The GPG-Frontend was updated, bugs were fixed and new features added.
  • The handling of TrueCrypt volumes has been further improved. It is now possible to check fully-encrypted drives. New options for fixing more difficult filesystem damages were added.
  • Added multimedia codecs so that now (nearly) all common audio and video formats can be played.
  • VirtualBox OSE was added to allow execution of other operating systems within the secure UPR environment.
  • Bugs have been fixed and small features were added
  • More Details of new features and concepts can be found in the manuals, accessible from the „Help“ Menu. The corresponding sections are marked with „New“.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 10.04r1 (Oct 15, 2010)

  • TrueCrypt has been updated to version 6.3a. Version 7.0 obviously has introduced changes to the container format, at least containers created with it cannot be opened with an earlier version. Unfortunately, we found no documentation about these changes, so we will use 6.3a until we have done a full review of Truecrypt 7 on our own.
  • We have written our own frontend to GnuPG, which replaces seahorse. With it, you can use GPG features like key groups or restoring original filenames. Use it like the seahorse plugins from the context menu (Encrypt, Sign). Settings can be made from "Applications - Security - GnuPG Settings". It is also possible to show all recipient keys of an encrypted file. This frontend is optimized for dealing with large keyrings (>300 keys), key lists can be searched and filtered. For password caching, the "normal" gpg-agent is used, which has fewer bugs than seahorse. For key management, seahorse is still used.
  • The scripts for extended TrueCrypt volumes have been improved. The backup feature during close now can backup other open containers as well. Printer configuration is now saved.
  • New applications: VYM Mindmapper, GIMP, xterm (for enabling TrueCrypts "repair filesystem" feature)
  • Simple creation and use of LUKS-encrypted volumes

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 10.04 RC1 (Sep 10, 2010)

  • New features: our own GPG-Frontend making it possible to use groups and deal with large keyrings (>300 keys); as well as an extenden backup when closing extended TrueCrypt volumes.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 9.04r4 (Sep 10, 2010)

  • All software packages including the kernel were updated to their newest version to close security holes and fix bugs.
  • This will be the last version of UPR 9.04, a Release Candidate of its successor, 10.04, is already available. Due to space constraints, Firefox (which was only good for viewing HTML files anyway) had to be replaced with Midori. The new version can be downloaded from the download area.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 9.04r3 (Jan 7, 2010)

  • All software packages including the kernel were updated to their newest version to close security holes and fix bugs.
  • USB creator was added to allow creating a bootable USB drive from within the UPR environment itself.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 9.04r2 (Sep 18, 2009)

  • All software packages including the kernel were updated to their newest version to close security holes and fix bugs.
  • Included are small bugfixes and improvements in the scripts for handling extended TrueCrypt-Volumes, including a new progress bar in the backup function during clean-up of old backups.
  • Beagle-backend-evolution was added in order to allow indexing of contacts, appointments etc.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 9.04r1 (Jun 29, 2009)

  • Changes in package / software selection:
  • Added Figaros Password Manager 2
  • Added Templates and documentation for scribus
  • More PPDs for better printing support
  • OpenJDK instead of GIJ as Java Runtime
  • Added GParted for formatting and checking media
  • Beagle replaces Tracker
  • Compiz was removed, desktop effects were disabled due to compatibility reasons
  • Added hamster-applet (Time tracking)
  • Recompiled Truecrypt from source
  • Documentation in PDF format is now on the CD itself (under help menu)
  • New security features of UPR:
  • The rights of the live session user were restricted, now only commands necessary for the scripts can be executed with admin rights (using sudo). Loading of malicious code, especially drivers/kernel modules, is now a lot more difficult.
  • Other new features of UPR:
  • Truecrypt containers can be opened by double-clicking
  • The "wipe free space" script now contains an option for multiple passes, which is recommended for floppies
  • The indexing service tracker was replaced by beagle, because tracker cannot index RTF files.
  • The CD can be copied entirely to RAM (in the boot menu press F4 -> "Copy to RAM"). This does not work on every machine and requires at least 1.5 GB RAM
  • New look:
  • The icon set has been modified so that USB removable drives can be distinguished from truecrypt volumes.
  • The scripts use the new notify osd
  • The seahorse GUI has been split into two parts starting with Ubuntu 8.10. The seconed part is now under System->Settings->Encryption and Keyrings
  • Truecrypt, seahorse and the password manager can now be found in the applications menu -> Security.
  • Fixed problems:
  • The gnome panel no longer needs to be quit when closing extended truecrypt volumes, making it possible to enable the truecrypt background task again.
  • seahorse can now verify signatures
  • other minor bug fixes
  • Known problems:
  • The driver for intel graphic chips contained in Ubuntu 9.04 is running in a slower but more compatible mode.
  • The PDF viewer evince resp. the underlying libpoppler still has problems with multi-column selections
  • Hints for previous users:
  • Settings of OpenOffice.org 2.x in extended truecrypt volumes are not migrated, instead a new profile for OpenOffice.org 3 is created. This is because of known problems when migrating old user profiles.
  • Existing tracker indices in extended truecrypt volumes are preserved, but cannot be used with UPR 9.04. Beagle needs to be set up again for indexing, it is not possible to take over the tracker configuration.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 8.04 r3 (Feb 16, 2009)

  • New functions and features in detail:
  • Added nautilus script to do a filesystem check on truecrypt volumes
  • Added nautilus script to wipe free space on any open device (using secure-delete)
  • Added shutdown script to overwrite free memory on shutdown (see article "The Problem of „Cold Boot Attacks“" for details)
  • Added bright&shiny™ progress bar to backups (using gtkrsync)
  • Checksums and signatures on CD now also in SHA-1
  • Added ttf-liberation fonts for increased Windows compatibility
  • Nautilus settings (views etc.) will be saved in extended TC volumes
  • Updated Truecrypt to 6.1a
  • Updated Kernel to 2.6.24-23
  • Updated all other packages up to 02/06/2009
  • Bug fixes:
  • Close extended TC-Volumes: do not offer backup if closing the backup volume
  • Close extended TC-Volumes: sync before closing
  • Close extended TC-Volumes: remove unclean/incomplete backups
  • Open/Close extended TC-Volumes: execute fsck before mounting to replay journal and fix errors. Note that a forced fsck may still be necessary in some cases.
  • Close extended TC-Volumes: check for open files before closing
  • Close extended TC-Volumes: write mounted volume to ~/.mounted_as_extended_tc_volume, making it possible to mount other ext3 formatted volumes as “normal” volumes.
  • GNOME Desktop: disable startup sound (not a real bug, but annoys most people)
  • OpenOffice.org: remove the (volatile) ubuntu.dic to avoid people adding words to it which are lost after reboot.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 8.04 r2 (Dec 22, 2008)

  • Removable media is mounted noexec by default. This closes the possibility of infecting the running system with malicious software running from removable media formatted with vfat, ntfs, ext2 or ext3.
  • Security Updates adopted from Ubuntu. All Ubuntu Updates and Security Updates released since the last release until 20081219 are added.
  • Minor bugfixes to the extended Truecrypt volume scripts.

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 8.04 r1 (Dec 4, 2008)

  • New UPR-Kernel- The UPR-Kernel was able to mount some RAID-Arrays, because the controllers are identified by the system as a SCSI-controller, even if (S)-ATA-Disks are used. For UPR this is a security issue, because removing the ability of mounting local S-/ATA-Disks is part of the concept to seal off users to assure their privacy. >From the new Kernel we removed support for...
  • * all SCSI/IDE/SATA/SAS RAID-controllers
  • * iSCSI HBAs
  • * Fibre Chanel Controller
  • ... and some more.
  • This solves https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/301285. The sources, the UPR-Kernel ist based on, were updated to Ubuntu source-package 2.6.24-22.45 because of security fixes.
  • 2. Security Updates adopted from Ubuntu. All Ubuntu Security Updates released since the last release until 20081202 are added.
  • 3. The DTP-Program Scribus was added to UPR. Scribus-settings are now stored in "extended Truecrypt Volumes"
  • 4. Added saving the /dektop/pgp-branch of the gconf-database to the Nautilus-Scripts for "extended Truecrypt Volumes": This solves https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/302867

New in Ubuntu Privacy Remix 8.04 RC9 (Nov 26, 2008)

  • Scripts work with removable media with whitespace in their name.
  • TC-Volumes get mounted utf8 by default.
  • T'C does not run as a background process anymore.