[tor-bugs] #9639 [Tor]: massive memory leak when starting tor in the absence of /var/lib/tor

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#9639: massive memory leak when starting tor in the absence of /var/lib/tor
--------------------+-------------------------------------
 Reporter:  mr-4    |          Owner:
     Type:  defect  |         Status:  new
 Priority:  normal  |      Milestone:
Component:  Tor     |        Version:  Tor: 0.2.4.14-alpha
 Keywords:          |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:          |         Points:
--------------------+-------------------------------------
 Prior to starting tor, I deleted the entire /var/lib/tor directory by
 mistake (though I did not know this at the time) and then started tor,
 checked the logs to see that tor is 100% started and left it there
 overnight.

 Early this morning, I saw that the tor memory footprint has ballooned from
 the usual 29MB to over 170MB - that was nearly 6 times the normal tor
 memory consumption in just about 12 hours.

 When I checked the logs, I discovered this:

 Aug 31 22:37:44.000 [notice] {GENERAL} Tor has successfully opened a
 circuit. Looks like client functionality is working.
 Aug 31 22:37:44.000 [notice] {CONTROL} Bootstrapped 100%: Done.
 Aug 31 23:07:31.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/cached-
 microdescs.tmp" (/var/lib/tor/cached-microdescs) for writing: No such file
 or directory
 Aug 31 23:37:31.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/state.tmp"
 (/var/lib/tor/state) for writing: No such file or directory
 Aug 31 23:37:31.000 [warn] {FS} Unable to write state to file
 "/var/lib/tor/state"; will try again later
 Aug 31 23:37:31.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/cached-
 descriptors.new" (/var/lib/tor/cached-descriptors.new) for writing: No
 such file or directory
 Aug 31 23:37:31.000 [warn] {FS} Unable to store router descriptor
 Aug 31 23:37:32.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/cached-
 microdescs.tmp" (/var/lib/tor/cached-microdescs) for writing: No such file
 or directory
 Aug 31 23:52:32.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/cached-
 descriptors.new" (/var/lib/tor/cached-descriptors.new) for writing: No
 such file or directory
 Aug 31 23:52:32.000 [warn] {FS} Unable to store router descriptor
 Sep 01 00:05:04.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/cached-
 microdesc-consensus.tmp" (/var/lib/tor/cached-microdesc-consensus) for
 writing: No such file or directory
 Sep 01 00:05:05.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/cached-
 microdescs.new" (/var/lib/tor/cached-microdescs.new) for writing: No such
 file or directory
 Sep 01 00:05:05.000 [warn] {DIR} Couldn't append to journal in
 /var/lib/tor/cached-microdescs.new: No such file or directory
 Sep 01 00:05:05.000 [warn] {FS} Couldn't open "/var/lib/tor/cached-
 microdescs.new" (/var/lib/tor/cached-microdescs.new) for writing: No such
 file or directory
 [...]

 This was, obviously caused by the absence of /var/lib/tor which I deleted
 by mistake before starting tor last night, but that doesn't explain the
 6-fold increase in the tor memory footprint.

 For posterity, this is the "normal" tor memory footprint just after start
 up:

 tor 24772 1.0 4.3 19612 12304 ? S Aug31 8:32 /usr/bin/tor -f /etc/tor/tor
 --defaults-torrc /etc/tor/defaults-torrc

 and this was tor's memory footprint when I discovered it this morning:

 tor 1895  2.6 40.0 174456 113196 ? R Aug31 20:25 /usr/bin/tor -f
 /etc/tor/tor --defaults-torrc /etc/tor/defaults-torrc

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/9639>
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