OnionShare private chat won't start due to Tor 'client authentication' not available

Support Software & Applications
1

I am using the package from the repo, OnionShare version 2.4 which is the latest released version.

Using the default Tor settings (this uses the built in Tor client) starting a private chat gives the following message:

Sorry, this version of Tor doesn’t support stealth (Client Authentication). Please try with a newer version of Tor, or use ‘public’ mode if it doesn’t need to be private.

Testing the connection to the Tor network gives this information:

Connected to the Tor controller.
Tor version: 0.4.6.8
Supports ephemeral onion services: True.
Supports client authentication: False.
Supports next-gen .onion addresses: True.

Possibly related bug report: OnionShare 2.3.2 worked fine, upgraded to 2.3.3 and now repeatedly states cannot connect to Tor · Issue #1403 · onionshare/onionshare · GitHub

Log 
$ onionshare -v
╭───────────────────────────────────────────╮
│    *            ▄▄█████▄▄            *    │
│               ▄████▀▀▀████▄     *         │
│              ▀▀█▀       ▀██▄              │
│      *      ▄█▄          ▀██▄             │
│           ▄█████▄         ███        -+-  │
│             ███         ▀█████▀           │
│             ▀██▄          ▀█▀             │
│         *    ▀██▄       ▄█▄▄     *        │
│ *             ▀████▄▄▄████▀               │
│                 ▀▀█████▀▀                 │
│             -+-                     *     │
│   ▄▀▄               ▄▀▀ █                 │
│   █ █     ▀         ▀▄  █                 │
│   █ █ █▀▄ █ ▄▀▄ █▀▄  ▀▄ █▀▄ ▄▀▄ █▄▀ ▄█▄   │
│   ▀▄▀ █ █ █ ▀▄▀ █ █ ▄▄▀ █ █ ▀▄█ █   ▀▄▄   │
│                                           │
│                   v2.4                    │
│                                           │
│          https://onionshare.org/          │
╰───────────────────────────────────────────╯

[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Settings.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Settings.load
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Settings.load: Trying to load /home/USERNAME/.config/onionshare/onionshare.json
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Onion.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] MainWindow.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TabWidget.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] EventHandlerThread.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] EventHandlerThread.run
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] ModeSettings.load: loaded /home/USERNAME/.config/onionshare/persistent/cherisher-sanction-cornbread.json
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TabWidget.add_tab: mode_settings: <onionshare_cli.mode_settings.ModeSettings object at 0x7fdce123e670>
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Tab.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] OnionShare.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TabWidget.tab_changed: Tab was changed to 0
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TabWidget.change_persistent: tab_id: 0, is_persistent: True
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] MainWindow.bring_to_front
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TorConnectionDialog.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TorConnectionDialog.start
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TorConnectionThread.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] TorConnectionThread.run
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Onion.connect
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Onion.connect: tor_data_directory_name=/home/USERNAME/.config/onionshare/tor_data
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Common.get_resource_path: filename=torrc_template
[nov 23 2021 00:25:19] Common.get_resource_path: filename=torrc_template, path=/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/onionshare_cli/resources/torrc_template
Connecting to the Tor network: 100% - Done
[nov 23 2021 00:25:21] Onion.connect: Connected to tor 0.4.6.8
[nov 23 2021 00:25:21] TorConnectionDialog._connected_to_tor
[nov 23 2021 00:25:21] OnionShareGui.settings_have_changed
[nov 23 2021 00:25:21] Tab.settings_have_changed

When trying to start the chat:

[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] Tab.chat_mode_clicked
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] Web.__init__: is_gui=True, mode=chat
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] Common.get_resource_path: filename=static
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] Common.get_resource_path: filename=static, path=/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/onionshare_cli/resources/static
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] Common.get_resource_path: filename=templates
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] Common.get_resource_path: filename=templates, path=/usr/lib/python3.9/site-packages/onionshare_cli/resources/templates
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] Web.generate_static_url_path: new static_url_path is /static_ID
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] ChatModeWeb.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] ServerStatus.update
[nov 23 2021 00:25:52] ServerStatus.update
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] ServerStatus.update
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] Mode.start_server
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] Mode.stop_server
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] Web.stop: stopping server
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] Web.cleanup
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] ServerStatus.update
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] Mode.start_server_error
[nov 23 2021 00:25:56] Alert.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:25:59] ServerStatus.update
[nov 23 2021 00:25:59] Mode.stop_server
[nov 23 2021 00:25:59] Web.stop: stopping server
[nov 23 2021 00:25:59] Web.cleanup
[nov 23 2021 00:25:59] ServerStatus.update
[nov 23 2021 00:25:59] ChatMode.update_primary_action
qt.qpa.xcb: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 1022, resource id: 21111458, major code: 40 (TranslateCoords), minor code: 0
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] MainWindow.closeEvent
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] MainWindow.cleanup
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] TabWidget.cleanup
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] Tab.cleanup: tab_id=0
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] Alert.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] OnionCleanupThread.__init__
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] OnionCleanupThread.run
[nov 23 2021 00:26:10] Onion.cleanup
Tor rendezvous circuits have closed
2

how to fix it ?

3
4

Flatpak is a really stupid solution, it is completely against the KISS principles of Arch Linux.

They are tools for lazy developers and should not be encouraged

https://ludocode.com/blog/flatpak-is-not-the-future

5

You asked a question - I responded

Just because you don’t like the answer - you don’t have to be rude.

Just tick the box Thi is a public chat… - it only means that anyone with the link can join - not that it is less secure.

There are various ways to install OnionShare for Linux, but the recommended way is to use either the Flatpak or the Snap package. Flatpak and Snap ensure that you’ll always use the newest version and run OnionShare inside of a sandbox.

Snap support is built-in to Ubuntu and Fedora comes with Flatpak support, but which you use is up to you. Both work in all Linux distributions. - Installation — OnionShare 2.3 documentation

6

I appreciate the information that OnionShare does not support distribution packages and is opting for Flatpak only, but why pushing Flatpak as the solution here?

My problem was clearly stated to be with the repo version of the application, then the correct answer is probably: there is currently no solution.

If this situation persists the correct way to deal with it is probably to drop OnionShare from the repo.

Flatpak would be a solution for people who dont care about these deeper issues but it is not a solution for me.

7

The answer is right here - whether you like it or not is really irrelevant.

And the package in the repo is not packaged by Manjaro - but is inherited from Arch.

So packaging issues - you will have to discuss it with the Arch maintainer - you can reach out using the above link.

8

Sure, I have not problem with this being the answer, it is true no? I mean it means I cannot use this software but that is just what it is.

Thanks but for what I intended to use it for “anyone can join” would not be acceptable.

Yeah, I know it makes it a bit more tricky to propose it being dropped from the repo.

The issue I am seeing, even if it is unlikely might still be due to an issue on Manjaro, otherwise the correct approach would be to file a bug against the Arch package I guess.

9

I’ll leave this thread open if anyone has some idea for a workaround for how to make the repo package work.

10 
sudo pacman -Syu tor

pip install --user onionshare-cli

onionshare-cli --chat

Share the link with your chat partners

sudo pacman -S torbrowser-launcher