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Tunderbird nightly builds as of 2019-05-18 and later include experimental supported for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging Off-The-Record messaging (OTR)].
However, the OTR feature is disabled by default.
== Installing the external OTR library ==
Using the feature requires the [https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/ OTR library], which isn't included in the Thunderbird distribution, so you'll need to install it yourself. The installation steps depend on the platform you're using, please use them on your own risk, you should verify that you trust the origin of your downloads.
On Linux, your distribution probably offers the libOTR library.
* On systems like Debian or Ubuntu, use: sudo apt-get install libotr5
* On systems like Fedora, use: sudo dnf install libotr
On Mac OSX, you could obtain the packages from the [https://brew.sh/ homebrew] project. After you completed their general setup instructions, open a terminal and execute this command: brew install libotr
For 64-bit Windows systems, one of the Thunderbird developers provides a [https://kuix.de/mozilla/otr/W64-DLL-20190319/ download] on their private server. A README can be found on the site. In short, after you have verified the correctness of the download, you need to extract the zip file, find the files contained in the subdirectory named "bin", and move those files into your Thunderbird application directory. This download probably only works with Thunderbird for 64-bit Windows.
For 32-bit Windows system, no download is currently available.
== Enabling the OTR feature ==
After you have installed the required base libraries, you can try to enable the OTR feature:
Use preferences/advanced/config editor, search for chat.otr.enable and change it to true. Then restart Thunderbird.
To test, find a chat partner that is also using the latest Thunderbird nightly with OTR enabled, or who uses a different chat client that supports OTR. Alternatively, use two different computers, or users accounts, or run a second chat application on your own computer.
OTR works using with chat protocols that provide a one-to-one conversation. It doesn't work in multi user rooms.
== Troubleshooting the installation ==
After you have installed, enabled and restarted, during an active one-to-one chat, the right hand side of the user interface should display an additional element with the label "Encryption Status".
If you cannot see it, loading the library might have failed. You could try to open the error console (menu: tools/developer tools/error console), and enter the word "otr" as a filter in the top level line. You should see lines like "trying to load ....otr...", it will tell you from which directory it's trying to load the external library.
However, the OTR feature is disabled by default.
== Installing the external OTR library ==
Using the feature requires the [https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/ OTR library], which isn't included in the Thunderbird distribution, so you'll need to install it yourself. The installation steps depend on the platform you're using, please use them on your own risk, you should verify that you trust the origin of your downloads.
On Linux, your distribution probably offers the libOTR library.
* On systems like Debian or Ubuntu, use: sudo apt-get install libotr5
* On systems like Fedora, use: sudo dnf install libotr
On Mac OSX, you could obtain the packages from the [https://brew.sh/ homebrew] project. After you completed their general setup instructions, open a terminal and execute this command: brew install libotr
For 64-bit Windows systems, one of the Thunderbird developers provides a [https://kuix.de/mozilla/otr/W64-DLL-20190319/ download] on their private server. A README can be found on the site. In short, after you have verified the correctness of the download, you need to extract the zip file, find the files contained in the subdirectory named "bin", and move those files into your Thunderbird application directory. This download probably only works with Thunderbird for 64-bit Windows.
For 32-bit Windows system, no download is currently available.
== Enabling the OTR feature ==
After you have installed the required base libraries, you can try to enable the OTR feature:
Use preferences/advanced/config editor, search for chat.otr.enable and change it to true. Then restart Thunderbird.
To test, find a chat partner that is also using the latest Thunderbird nightly with OTR enabled, or who uses a different chat client that supports OTR. Alternatively, use two different computers, or users accounts, or run a second chat application on your own computer.
OTR works using with chat protocols that provide a one-to-one conversation. It doesn't work in multi user rooms.
== Troubleshooting the installation ==
After you have installed, enabled and restarted, during an active one-to-one chat, the right hand side of the user interface should display an additional element with the label "Encryption Status".
If you cannot see it, loading the library might have failed. You could try to open the error console (menu: tools/developer tools/error console), and enter the word "otr" as a filter in the top level line. You should see lines like "trying to load ....otr...", it will tell you from which directory it's trying to load the external library.
