Teach Tor Browser How to [use Tor to] Test a Bridge

Roger said it this way:

basically what tor browser needs on the backend is a routine that tries a bridge+pt and decides whether it worked. and once we have that building block, many things get easier.

"given a PT and a bridge, try it and decide if bootstrapping worked"

This is important for creating a smart and usable Tor Browser. In fact, Orbot has had a similar feature (but not exactly the same) for two years.

Trac:
Parent Ticket: legacy/trac#31284 (moved)

added TorBrowserTeam202008 in Legacy / Trac component::applications/tor launcher in Legacy / Trac owner::brade in Legacy / Trac parent::31284 in Legacy / Trac priority::medium in Legacy / Trac severity::normal in Legacy / Trac status::new in Legacy / Trac type::defect in Legacy / Trac labels

Trac:
Description: Roger said it this way:

basically what tor browser needs on the backend is a routine that tries a bridge+pt and decides whether it worked. and once we have that building block, many things get easier.

This is important for creating a smart and usable Tor Browser. In fact, Orbot has had a similar feature (but not exactly the same) for two years.

to

Roger said it this way:

basically what tor browser needs on the backend is a routine that tries a bridge+pt and decides whether it worked. and once we have that building block, many things get easier.

"given a PT and a bridge, try it and decide if bootstrapping worked"

This is important for creating a smart and usable Tor Browser. In fact, Orbot has had a similar feature (but not exactly the same) for two years.

I wish the summary for this ticket was "Teach tor how to test a bridge" or perhaps "Create a library that knows how to test a bridge." There are two reasons I say that:

1. The people who have the expertise needed to create this building block have historically worked on tor or in the anti-censorship area (and not on Tor Browser).
2. In the long run we want all tor applications to be smart, not just Tor Browser.

Let's call this Tor Launcher, for now.

Trac:
Component: Applications/Tor Browser to Applications/Tor Launcher
Owner: tbb-team to brade

mentioned in issue legacy/trac#31284 (moved)

moved from legacy/trac#34343 (moved)

added Bug label and removed 1 deleted label

removed 1 deleted label

added Sponsor 30 - FINISHED label

mentioned in issue tor-browser-spec#40004 (closed)

Yes, I agree that the smarts here should be inside Tor. And the goal of this ticket would be to have a way for Tor Launcher to ask Tor "how about this config, would it work?"

And then once we have that building block, we can think about how best to use that building block in a way that helps users use Tor well.

changed title from Teach Tor Browser How to Test a Bridge to Teach Tor Browser How to [use Tor to] Test a Bridge

added Next label

unassigned @brade

changed milestone to %Tor Browser: 10.5

changed milestone to %Tor Browser: 11.0 Issues with previous release

Provide us with some control-port command and this is (relatively) easily done

removed Next label

removed Sponsor 30 - FINISHED label

removed Bug label

added Icebox label

leaving open as i can't seem to move it to tor

closed

moved to tor-browser#40851 (closed)