Problem
The README promotes cloning, but the current clone command is unfinished. A full-device copy is also the wrong abstraction for selective handoff: it either transfers all encrypted persistent state, potentially including wallet ciphertext and metadata, or gives the recipient no choice about what is copied.
Issue #42 covers hiding the broken Backup/Clone menu actions. This issue defines the replacement distribution model.
Selected approach
Document a fresh-Tails, user-controlled handoff:
- Create or clone the destination using normal Tails procedures rather than treating the Tails Cloner as a selective-backup tool.
- Let the recipient create and unlock their own Persistent Storage.
- Transfer an authenticated CipherStick
.tar or .zip release and extract it onto the unlocked destination.
- Let the person performing the handoff explicitly choose any additional data to copy, such as selected Bitcoin Core blockchain data.
- Do not let CipherStick silently decide whether wallet ciphertext, keys, configuration, logs, or other persistent state is included.
- Clearly identify source, destination, selected paths, and consequences before any optional transfer.
The first deliverable may be documentation. Any later transfer helper should be proposed and reviewed separately.
Dependencies
Acceptance criteria
- Supported documentation no longer describes the unfinished command or a full persistent-state copy as the normal clone workflow.
- Installation, CipherStick package transfer, and optional data transfer are separate documented steps.
- Every optional copied path is an explicit user decision.
- Documentation warns when selected data may contain wallet material or identifying state.
- The CipherStick archive is authenticated before execution.
- No privacy, censorship-resistance, or trust claim depends on inheriting another person's Tails state.
Problem
The README promotes cloning, but the current clone command is unfinished. A full-device copy is also the wrong abstraction for selective handoff: it either transfers all encrypted persistent state, potentially including wallet ciphertext and metadata, or gives the recipient no choice about what is copied.
Issue #42 covers hiding the broken Backup/Clone menu actions. This issue defines the replacement distribution model.
Selected approach
Document a fresh-Tails, user-controlled handoff:
.taror.ziprelease and extract it onto the unlocked destination.The first deliverable may be documentation. Any later transfer helper should be proposed and reviewed separately.
Dependencies
Acceptance criteria