Torbrowser-launcher does not start because of 404 error when trying to update itself

Question

I use torbrowser-launcher (package version 0.2.0-2 from the Wily/universe amd64 repository on 15.10) which runs Tor Browser 5.0.4.

Since today, after the update to 5.5a4-hardened became available, torbrowser-launcher does not start the browser any more but tries to update itself. This however fails due to a Download error: 404 Not Found as you can see in the two screenshots below. If I click Yes when it asks to switch to the default mirror, that doesn't change anything. Still the same error. And on the next try, it will still complain about a non-default mirror.

When I run torbrowser-launcher in a terminal, I get this:

Tor Browser Launcher
By Micah Lee, licensed under MIT
version 0.2.0
https://github.com/micahflee/torbrowser-launcher
Updating over Tor
Checked for update within 24 hours, skipping
TBB is out of date, attempting to upgrade to 5.5a4-hardened
Downloading https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/5.5a4-hardened/sha256sums.txt
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/torbrowser-launcher", line 30, in <module>
    torbrowser_launcher.main()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/torbrowser_launcher/__init__.py", line 69, in main
    app = Launcher(common, url_list)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 130, in __init__
    self.build_ui()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 284, in build_ui
    self.start(None)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 293, in start
    self.run_task()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 318, in run_task
    self.download('signature', self.common.paths['sha256_url'], self.common.paths['sha256_file'])
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 454, in download
    agent = SOCKS5Agent(reactor, VerifyTorProjectCert(self.common.paths['torproject_pem']), proxyEndpoint=torEndpoint)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/txsocksx/http.py", line 58, in __init__
    super(_SOCKSAgent, self).__init__(*a, **kw)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/txsocksx/http.py", line 37, in __init__
    'contextFactory must implement IPolicyForHTTPS')
NotImplementedError: contextFactory must implement IPolicyForHTTPS

If I open the Tor Browser Settings from terminal torbrowser-launcher --settings, select a different mirror and to "search for updates on next launch", then click on Launch TorBrowser, I get the following dialogue and terminal output (first answering Start, second time answering Exit):

$ torbrowser-launcher --settings
Tor Browser Launcher
By Micah Lee, licensed under MIT
version 0.2.0
https://github.com/micahflee/torbrowser-launcher
$ Tor Browser Launcher
By Micah Lee, licensed under MIT
version 0.2.0
https://github.com/micahflee/torbrowser-launcher
Updating over Tor
Checking for update
Downloading https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser/RecommendedTBBVersions
Checking to see if update is needed
TBB is out of date, attempting to upgrade to 5.5a4-hardened
Downloading https://www.oignon.net/dist/torbrowser/5.5a4-hardened/sha256sums.txt
Download error: [<twisted.python.failure.Failure <class 'service_identity.exceptions.VerificationError'>>] <class 'twisted.web._newclient.ResponseNeverReceived'>
Downloading https://www.oignon.net/dist/torbrowser/5.5a4-hardened/sha256sums.txt.asc
Download error: [<twisted.python.failure.Failure <class 'service_identity.exceptions.VerificationError'>>] <class 'twisted.web._newclient.ResponseNeverReceived'>
Downloading https://www.oignon.net/dist/torbrowser/5.5a4-hardened/tor-browser-linux64-5.5a4-hardened_en-US.tar.xz
Download error: [<twisted.python.failure.Failure <class 'service_identity.exceptions.VerificationError'>>] <class 'twisted.web._newclient.ResponseNeverReceived'>
Verifying signature
Starting download over again
Downloading https://www.oignon.net/dist/torbrowser/5.5a4-hardened/tor-browser-linux64-5.5a4-hardened_en-US.tar.xz
Download error: [<twisted.python.failure.Failure <class 'service_identity.exceptions.VerificationError'>>] <class 'twisted.web._newclient.ResponseNeverReceived'>

Is this just a temporary problem on the server side or can/do I have to do anything to fix this? I want my Tor Browser back and working.

Answer 1

First off, didn't even know that tor was in the official repo, thanks for that. Second of all, I never had a problem with the tor-browser using the WEB UPD8 ppa

purge torbrowser-launcher, and install via the ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/tor-browser
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tor-browser