[tor-bugs] #2878 [Core Tor/Tor]: Don't bootstrap from an old consensus if we're about to replace it

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#2878: Don't bootstrap from an old consensus if we're about to replace it
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 Reporter:  Sebastian                            |          Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement                          |         Status:  new
 Priority:  High                                 |      Milestone:  Tor:
                                                 |  unspecified
Component:  Core Tor/Tor                         |        Version:
 Severity:  Major                                |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  performance, bootstrap, tor-client,  |  Actual Points:
  s8-performance, s8-errors, 040-roadmap-        |
  proposed                                       |
Parent ID:  #23605                               |         Points:
 Reviewer:                                       |        Sponsor:
                                                 |  Sponsor8-can
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Comment (by arma):

 I think you're right that the microdesc part of this ticket is less
 relevant, in that we won't waste as much bandwidth now as we did in
 earlier designs.

 But here is one concrete issue that I expect still happens (and that is
 the issue in this ticket as originally described): you start your Tor, it
 makes circuits, it declares 100% success, and then it declares un-success
 (because it got the new consensus and that new consensus made us realize
 we don't have a threshold of the right microdescs yet), and it starts
 bootstrapping again. If it finishes bootstrapping right after that, all is
 fine, but what if it fails bootstrapping the second time, like because
 your directory guards don't have the new microdescs you just learned you
 want, or something else has gone wrong? Tor Browser will be happily
 showing you a browser window as if everything is working, when it isn't.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/2878#comment:22>
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