[tor-bugs] #10418 [Tor Launcher]: Make a "Use Default Bridges" Radio button in the Tor Launcher Bridge UI

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#10418: Make a "Use Default Bridges" Radio button in the Tor Launcher Bridge UI
------------------------------+-------------------
     Reporter:  mikeperry     |      Owner:  brade
         Type:  enhancement   |     Status:  new
     Priority:  major         |  Milestone:
    Component:  Tor Launcher  |    Version:
   Resolution:                |   Keywords:
Actual Points:                |  Parent ID:
       Points:                |
------------------------------+-------------------

Comment (by mcs):

 Replying to [comment:10 mikeperry]:
 > If we store these bridge lines as torlauncher prefs in
 https://gitweb.torproject.org/torbrowser.git/blob/HEAD:/build-
 scripts/config/extension-overrides.js, will they get updated properly?

 Updating extension-overrides.js will not be a problem.  But once the user
 chooses "Use Default Bridges" the settings will be fed to tor by Tor
 Launcher and thus written to torrc.  The current plan is to not update
 torrc as part of any automated update process.  That means that, if "Use
 Default Bridges" is active, Tor Launcher would need to replace all of the
 old settings with new ones (pulled from the preferences).  That would work
 OK if the only config items that need to be set are bridge lines.  But I
 am not sure how Tor Launcher will detect that a new set of preferences has
 arrived (thereby triggering a refresh of the bridge settings via the
 control port).  Setting them every time TBB starts up would work but is
 kind of ugly.


 > I am thinking the most straight-forward way to provide this behavior is
 to create a pref branch like 'extensions.torlauncher.default_bridges', and
 create a number of subprefs like
 extensions.torlauncher.default_bridges.bridge1,
 extensions.torlauncher.default_bridges.bridge2, and so on to arbitrary
 bridgeN. That way, if the "Use Default Bridges" radiobutton is selected,
 Tor Launcher can just enumerate this pref branch, and enter all of the
 values of those prefs directly as bridge lines. Otherwise, we ignore them
 entirely. Does that sound like it could work?

 Yes, that should work, with the caveats I mentioned above.

 Another idea (from Kathy) is to ship a second torrc-defaults that has the
 default bridge settings.  If someone enables the "Use Default Bridges"
 setting, Tor Launcher would tell tor to load the alternate torrc-defaults.
 But I think transitioning from one torrc-defaults to another will require
 a complete restart of the tor process (which is not something Tor Launcher
 knows how to do yet).

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/10418#comment:11>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online