System Upgrade using TOR

System Upgrade Using TOR - It is possible to run a full system upgrade behind the TOR proxy. This is particularly useful in areas where connectivity is restricted or oppressively monitored. The downside is that your updates will be moderately slower depending on the congestion of the TOR network.

1 Getting Dependencies

To begin we will first need to make sure and install the needed packages.

sudo pacman -S vidalia tor privoxy wget

1.1 Configuring tools

Next we will need to configure the tools to work with each other.

1.2 Privoxy

Uncomment the following line in /etc/privoxy/config using your favorite text editor:

#        forward-socks5             /     127.0.0.1:9050 .

1.3 Pacman

Then uncomment the following line in /etc/pacman.conf:

#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u

1.4 wget

Add these two lines to your /etc/wgetrc:

http_proxy = http://127.0.0.1:8118
https_proxy = http://127.0.0.1:8118

2 Mirrors supporting .onion

• To fully utilize TOR it is suggested to use .onion mirrors; however you may use TOR to download from any mirror which isn't blocking access from TOR.

You may add the following .onion mirrors to your /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist:

#TOR Mirror
Server = http://libre4zgvgs2n6bf.onion/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://tgbi3i5d4i4bqymk.onion/$repo/os/$arch

Note: These mirrors sync with the main repo every 24hrs.

3 Running the updates

• Launch TOR in graphical mode by clicking Applications > Internet >> Vidalia
• Start Privoxy

sudo systemctl start privoxy.service

• Then simply pacman -Syu as you usually would to receive updates.

Optional:

• TODO: Make privoxy.service and tor load at startup in the background. Perhaps /etc/rc.local?