[tor-bugs] #25852 [Core Tor/Tor]: GETINFO exit-policy for tor client should return 551

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#25852: GETINFO exit-policy for tor client should return 551
--------------------------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  dmr                             |          Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect                          |         Status:
                                            |  needs_revision
 Priority:  Medium                          |      Milestone:  Tor:
                                            |  0.3.4.x-final
Component:  Core Tor/Tor                    |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                          |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  tor-spec, tor-client, fast-fix  |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                                  |         Points:
 Reviewer:  dgoulet                         |        Sponsor:
--------------------------------------------+------------------------------

Comment (by dgoulet):

 Replying to [comment:6 atagar]:
 > Hi David, from a user perspective could we enumerate all the ways this
 can fail? Presently I'm aware of two...
 >
 > 1. We're not a relay (no ORPort configured).
 > 2. We haven't yet been able to resolve our externally facing address.

 Any error path in `router_rebuild_descriptor()` basically. I see the
 resolve issue you pointed out, then unable to digest a key (unlikely),
 then we created a descriptor that we weren't able to parse. But more could
 arise in the future with code change.

 So what we need is probably a way to know what was the error if it ever
 failed. I see two ways of doing it, maybe one is probably better than the
 other,

 a. Make `router_get_my_routerinfo()` return an error code with a NULL
 descriptor. And then with that error code, we could get a human readable
 string.

 b. Have a global variable that keeps the error message explaining what
 happened if something happened. And then the control port asks for this,
 it could look at that value if a NULL value is returned to learn what
 happened (considering we are in `server_mode()`).

 c. <insert better idea> :)

 >
 > If we could have distinct error codes and descriptive messages for each
 way this GETINFO command can fail that would be ideal.

 Agree. Better informing the user is always better. But it gets a bit more
 complicated if you try to enumerate all possible internal errors that tor
 can have. So I think, for some errors, "Internal error" is fine and then
 the tor logs should have the deets :).

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25852#comment:7>
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