[tor-bugs] #28676 [Core Tor/Tor]: Tor versions of Tor nodes should be accessible through ControlPort

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#28676: Tor versions of Tor nodes should be accessible through ControlPort
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 Reporter:  wagon         |          Owner:  arma
     Type:  enhancement   |         Status:  assigned
 Priority:  Medium        |      Milestone:  Tor: unspecified
Component:  Core Tor/Tor  |        Version:  Tor: 0.3.4.9
 Severity:  Normal        |     Resolution:
 Keywords:                |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:  #24110        |         Points:
 Reviewer:                |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by teor):

 Replying to [comment:10 wagon]:
 > > There are millions of tor clients, and they use microdescriptors and
 the microdesc consensus (md) by default. So we need to minimise the size
 of md documents.
 > OK. However, most of these clients download consensus files from mirrors
 on other relays, i.e. not from authorities.

 The tor network is often overloaded. This overload makes tor client
 traffic slow. So we want to reduce the overall directory load on the
 network, because bandwidth that is used for directory mirror downloads
 can't be used for client traffic.

 Smaller directory documents also decrease the client and directory mirror
 load on authorities. (Authorities don't carry much client traffic at all,
 but they do serve a lot of directory documents.)

 > > We have proposals that would create a new consensus flavour (picodesc
 consensus? pd?) with fewer fields. Once all supported Tor versions use the
 pd consensus, we can stop distributing the microdesc consensus.
 > Ok. I see Tor development is moving in opposite direction than that I
 thought about. I hope Tor people make right decisions.

 In this case, network load is more important than simplicity.

 In general, that's why we have a proposals process.

 > > Or, more likely, distribute a md consensus containing no relays.
 > What does it mean? What is the point of having consensus which contain
 no information about relays?

 When we disable a feature in Tor, some really old tor clients have bugs
 that overload the network (#4580). So we give them a fake empty
 replacement for that feature.

 > > You can bind `ControlPort` to a non-local port, but you must have
 authentication on
 > How I can do this technically? I cannot see any option in `man torrc`
 about that. According to `man` page `ControlPort` specifies only port and
 not `IP:port`.

 `tor ControlPort 192.0.2.1:9090` works for me.

 That's probably another bug, or we might have decided to discourage people
 from using IP addresses.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/28676#comment:11>
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