Privacy-focused Linux distro Tails 5.0 is finally here -- Download it NOW!

If you’re at all worried about your privacy -- and frankly you should be -- Tails can help secure it. The Amnesiac Incognito Live System, to give it its full name, is a live Linux-based operating system that you can boot into on any computer. It can be used to encrypt files, emails and instant messaging chats, and much more besides.

Today, the developers release Tails 5.0, the first version of the distro based on Debian 11 (Bullseye), and this comes with an important new security feature, as well as lots of other changes and updates.

Kleopatra is the big new addition here and this replaces the OpenPGP Applet -- which is no longer being actively developed -- and the Password and Keys utility (also known as Seahorse), which was poorly maintained.

Other changes and updates in this release include:

  • The Additional Software feature of the Persistent Storage is enabled by default to make it faster and more robust to configure your first additional software package.
  • You can now use the Activities overview to access your windows and applications. To access the Activities overview, you can either click on the Activities button, throw your mouse pointer to the top-left hot corner, or press the Super key on your keyboard.
  • New support for driverless printing and scanning in Linux makes it easier to make recent printers and scanners work in Tails.
  • You can see your windows and applications in the overview. You can also start typing to search your applications, files, and folders.

Most included software has been upgraded in Debian 11, including:

  • Update Tor Browser to 11.0.11.
  • Update GNOME from 3.30 to 3.38, with lots of small improvements to the desktop, the core GNOME utilities, and the locking screen.
  • Update MAT from 0.8 to 0.12, which adds support to clean metadata from SVG, WAV, EPUB, PPM, and Microsoft Office files.
  • Update Audacity from 2.2.2 to 2.4.2.
  • Update Disk Utility from 3.30 to 3.38.
  • Update GIMP from 2.10.8 to 2.10.22.
  • Update Inkscape from 0.92 to 1.0.
  • Update LibreOffice from 6.1 to 7.0.

This build also fixes unlocking VeraCrypt volumes that have very long passphrases.

There are some known issues to be aware of in this release, and these include:

  • Additional Software sometimes doesn't work when restarting for the first time right after creating a Persistent Storage. (#18839). To solve this, install the same additional software package again after restarting with the Persistent Storage for the first time.
  • Thunderbird displays a popup to choose an application when opening links. (#18913)
  • Tails Installer sometimes fails to clone. (#18844)

Automatic updates to the new release are not available, so you will need to perform a manual upgrade. Follow the installation instructions below.

You can also directly download Tails 5.0:

Although the new build was released today, work is already underway on Tails 5.1 which is expected to be released at the end of the month.

Photo Credit: TasfotoNL / Shutterstock

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