tl;dr: $ sudo apt install snapd; sudo snap install tor-middle-relay
Hi.
Ubuntu has been working on a new kind of software package* that aims for isolation from the rest of the system, so 1) anyone can create packages for others without review, 2) security is better, and 3) it can be the basis for lots of supposedly single-purpose systems like cars, watches, home security systems, etc. The packages work for desktop and server too.
The upshot is that soon, they hope, many devices will run the miniature Ubuntu plus the single package that makes the device do what it does to act like that device. If the mfr doesn't restrict it, we users can add other things that they never intended to make our device do more. Your Wifi Router could also be your print server. Why not?
I made a tor-middle-relay package, so the TVs, Wifi Routers, Toasters, Self-driving Cars, Phones... of the world that are running that new kind of Ubuntu (or other OS that implements this package system!) can also help the Tor network.
The code that enables that new package system is already in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, so even existing desktops and servers can already use it.
So, if you use Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, this should get you a Tor relay
$ sudo apt install snapd $ sudo snap install tor-middle-relay
(The ARMHF architecture has an open bug where the new package security rejects the "personality" syscall that Tor calls, so ARMHF doesn't work out of the box right now.)
Once you have it installed, try $ sudo /snap/bin/tor-middle-relay.configure to bump up your bandwidth limit over the conservative defaults.
There are a few dozen users already. https://atlas.torproject.org/#search/UbuntuCore I'd be happy to have an explosion of devices all over the world.
Please send bug-reports privately, not to this list.
- chad
* https://developer.ubuntu.com/en/snappy/ http://snapcraft.io/