Docker could not create bridge line

A relay operator reported on Tor Forum that running docker exec CONTAINER_ID get-bridge-line is returning this error:

user@dockerhost:~$ docker exec torbridge_obfs4-bridge_1 get-bridge-line

Could not create bridge line. Tor's log format may have changed. This is a bug.

https://forum.torproject.net/t/help-censored-users-run-a-tor-bridge/704/17

Gus (@gus):

Gus created an issue: #4 (closed)

A relay operator reported on Tor Forum that running docker exec CONTAINER_ID get-bridge-line is returning this error:

user@dockerhost:~$ docker exec torbridge_obfs4-bridge_1 get-bridge-line

Could not create bridge line. Tor's log format may have changed. This is a bug.

https://forum.torproject.net/t/help-censored-users-run-a-tor-bridge/704/17

Got another report on IRC today.

docker exec 6c31bc87efa2 get-bridge-line
Could not create bridge line. Tor's log format may have changed. This is a bug.

I have the same. Running thetorproject/obfs4-bridge:latest (sha256:8b066a58fcfa1674fa6c89601a6c9c4f5eed4a0a0af717b3bdbfbb8e977407b1)

Ah nice Docker image just rolled-out. Which fixed this issue for now indeed!

@meskio Thank you.

Yes, I just pushed the new images that fix the issue.

assigned to @meskio

added Doing label

It looks like the problem is that the log format has changed, and now there is an extra space in the identity key fingerprint line:

Your Tor server's identity key  fingerprint is ...

So the log parsing now fails. The root of the problem is that we don't have the whole bridge line directly in the obfs4_bridgeline.txt file (tpo/core/tor#29128) so we need to parse the logs for it.

I will commit a fix, so the log parsing keep working, but we can't relay on parsing logs for this.

mentioned in issue tpo/core/tor#29128

mentioned in merge request !5 (merged)

added Needs Review label and removed Doing label

closed with commit 495f2c5c

closed with merge request !5 (merged)

Just had the same several days ago with the latest image (c51ca96b0c60).

I wanted to chime in that I'm also seeing this on the latest docker image. In my case I was able to manually build the bridge line, and it worked on the Tor Browser running on my desktop (Ubuntu), but it failed on my Android tablet with this error:

Unable to start Tor: java.io.IOException: Control port file not created: /data/user/0/org.torproject.torbrowser/app_torservice/lib/tor/control.txt, len = 0

Without sharing the secret bits, the one I built was in this form:

Bridge obfs4 ip:port 'DockerObfs4Bridge [random letters]' cert=[random letters, slashes, and pluses] iat-mode=0

I wondered if the 'DockerObfs4Bridge [random letters]' part may be what's throwing things off? Although the Android Tor Browser seemed to choke with the same even if I omitted the nickname. (But it worked fine if I didn't specify a bridge.)

Should I file a separate ticket for Android, or do you think that has the same root cause as the error to create the bridge line?

Oh, and if I find my self in the Relay Search, it says my Bridge distribution mechanism is "settings" and links to https://bridges.torproject.org/info#settings but that page doesn't appear to have a #settings section. I'll file a separate bug for that, but wanted to mention it here in case it's related. It looks like there is a separate bug for that already: bridgedb#40046 (closed)

Alright, I narrowed mine down to being caused by explicitly specifying my address - if I omit that property and let tor figure it out on it's own then the script works properly. Since this is closed, I went ahead and filed a new issue for that: #15 (closed)

mentioned in issue #15 (closed)

marked this issue as related to bridgedb#40046 (closed)