[tor-dev] Is PublishServerDescriptor needed to collect metrics?

[Karsten Loesing]

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On 16/10/14 11:56, isis wrote:
> Karsten Loesing transcribed 4.5K bytes:
>> On 16/10/14 10:57, isis wrote:
>> 
>> Having private bridges in public bundles is actually harmful,
>> because it makes it look like bridges are not much used.  If we
>> want to suggest bridge development or BridgeDB development to a
>> sponsor and they look at estimated user numbers compared to
>> directly connecting users, they might say that those few users
>> are not worth their money.
> 
> Okay, you got me ― I'm totally on your side now. :)
> 
> Dear Tor Browser Team, I am willing to curate your bundled bridges
> for you to ensure that they are public bridges.
> 
>> I'm fine with this inaccuracy.  The only thing that uses bridge
>> pool assignments is Onionoo/Atlas/Globe, and providing the
>> information which pool/ring BridgeDB picked for a bridge doesn't
>> justify the effort.
> 
> Hooray! Less work!

FWIW, I'm moving forward here by removing bridge pool assignment
information from Onionoo/Atlas/Globe and replacing that field with
transport names.  See #11052 for details.  I hope to get this deployed
this week.

The next step will be to stop collecting/sanitizing bridge assignment
files from BridgeDB in CollecTor.  I'm planning to make that change
next week.

>>> Another thing to consider: should we allow a bridge operator to
>>> switch from `BridgeDistribution https` to `BridgeDistribution
>>> email`? Allowing this would, of course, decrease our potential
>>> to understand how bridges are being harvested/blocked, as well
>>> as nullifying some of the security considerations which
>>> influenced the
>>> separate-hashrings-for-separate-distribution-methods design
>>> choice.
>> 
>> I'd say it's up to the bridge operator to decide how their bridge
>> is used, even if that makes it easier to enumerate/block their
>> bridge. Worth a comment in torrc, but no reason to ignore their
>> choice.
> 
> Fair enough.  And, now that I think about it more, the default
> should probably be `BridgeDistribution any` to maintain consistent
> behaviour, meaning that bridge operators would have some chance of
> altering their assignment anyway if they manual set the option
> later.

Once there's a BridgeDistribution config option and corresponding line
in server/extra-info descriptors, I'm happy to include that in
Onionoo/Atlas/Globe.

The same goes for more serious usage statistics provided by BridgeDB
than the old assignment-file hack that I helped put in long ago.

All the best,
Karsten

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