Table of Contents

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TAILS

Tails is a Linux operating system which runs of a DVD or usb stick and which is configured with the goal of giving the user as much anonymity and security by default without making it unusable.

The image and documentation can be found on http://tails.boum.org

While the official documentation is excellent, it is written specifically with security and end-users who might have their lives at stake in mind.

Not everyone operates under such extreme conditions and might use Tails in an educational environment which allows for more lax operating procedures.

This page documents how to achieve more comfort and/or how to run software on Tails which has not been audited for security, yet.

Persistence

Autostart

If you want commands to be executed directly after log in, you can create an Autostart file using the dialog accessible via ApplicationsSystem ToolsPreferencesStartup Applications. There you can click New to add a new entry. This entry will appear as a new .desktop-file in the directory /home/amnesia/.config/autostart/.

Copy that file to /home/amnesia# cd /live/persistence/TailsData_unlocked/dotfiles/.config/autostart/ (you need administrative rights to do so) to make it persistent.

GNOME Settings

To save the original settings (after booting, before configuring anything):

  gconftool-2 --dump / > ~/Persistent/gconf-orig.xml

Then, configure things.

To save your current configuration to a file:

  gconftool-2 --dump / > ~/Persistent/gconf-mysettings.xml

To compare the current state to the original state:

  diff -u ~/Persistent/gconf-orig.xml <(gconftool-2 --dump /)

After rebooting, to load your saved settings:

  gconftool-2 --load ~/Persistent/gconf-mysettings.xml

Before loading your saved state, it is good practice to check if the default state matches your expected state so that if a Tails upgrade changes something you'll notice and not accidentally revert to the default settings of an older Tails version. Merging the old and new settings is not described here but should be.