[tor-relays] OS diversity of tor relays (was Re: Relay uptime versus outdated Tor version)

[teor]

> On 23 Aug 2017, at 10:10, George <george at queair.net> wrote:
> 
>> How this got off into TorBrowser puzzles me.  Presumably the goal for
>> clients is to reach them where they are.  Certainly providing a
>> diversity of clients is a "good goal" but beyon dreaching more users I
>> fail to see how it helps the network writ large. I suppose indvitual
>> users woudl be mroe secure with a wider array of clients available,
>> but that's generally true of the Windows monculture in desktop
>> computers. And as we shift to Android moblie devices as people primary
>> internet connection many of those issues will likely follow, but I
>> digress...
> 
> With TB as a client, I just mentioned the development end in an earlier
> email. There's certainly more to it.
> 
> There are certainly weaknesses in a client monoculture that differs from
> the network/node side on some levels, as the client software is in some
> chases the user base.
> 
> But it always seem to me users sometimes use the OS that provide the
> applications they want. TB matters insofar as one of those applications,
> I tend to think.
> 
> On the whole, one needs to consider that the same single vulnerability
> that weakens an OS on the network level could also affect the desktop.

We love it when people run Tor on all sorts of platforms. It helps us
write better software, find obscure bugs, and help more people.

At the moment, the Core Tor and Tor Browser teams are focusing on getting
Tor Browser working (better) on Android and iOS, the platforms with the
largest web browsing share that don't have an official Tor Browser. We
are also improving sandboxing across our existing Windows, Linux, and
macOS builds. (And another half-dozen goals. We're busy!)

Personally, I think it's great that the Tor Diversity Project is getting
different parts of Tor working on BSDs as well. We appreciate all the
testing they do, and the patches they send us.

The Core Tor team also has a list of supported relay platforms.[0]
We can't support a platform unless people test our alphas on that
platform. We can give better support if people test bug fixes or submit
patches when a platform breaks.

This list isn't a value judgement on any platform: it's simply a list of
what platforms we are good at supporting, using our current resources.
If we can add more volunteer or funded resources, we can support more
platforms.

[0]: I think it's a draft. It might be on trac, but trac is down, so I
     can't find it right now.

T

--
Tim Wilson-Brown (teor)

teor2345 at gmail dot com
PGP C855 6CED 5D90 A0C5 29F6 4D43 450C BA7F 968F 094B
ricochet:ekmygaiu4rzgsk6n
xmpp: teor at torproject dot org
------------------------------------------------------------------------



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 801 bytes
Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP
URL: <http://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/attachments/20170823/b307b53e/attachment-0001.sig>