relay: Reduce streaming compression ratio from HIGH to LOW

Fixes #40301

Signed-off-by: David Goulet <dgoulet@torproject.org>

5 files changed, 26 insertions, 45 deletions

diff --git a/changes/ticket40301 b/changes/ticket40301
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c1fd821e3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/ticket40301
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+  o Minor bugfixes (relay):
+    - Reduce the compression level for data streaming from HIGH to LOW. Fixes
+      bug 40301; bugfix on 0.3.5.1-alpha.
+
diff --git a/src/feature/dircache/dircache.c b/src/feature/dircache/dircache.c
index e8cb284165..2f8a281cd1 100644
--- a/src/feature/dircache/dircache.c
+++ b/src/feature/dircache/dircache.c
@@ -294,19 +294,22 @@ client_likes_consensus(const struct consensus_cache_entry_t *ent,
 /** Return the compression level we should use for sending a compressed
  * response of size <b>n_bytes</b>. */
 STATIC compression_level_t
-choose_compression_level(ssize_t n_bytes)
+choose_compression_level(void)
 {
-  if (! have_been_under_memory_pressure()) {
-    return HIGH_COMPRESSION; /* we have plenty of RAM. */
-  } else if (n_bytes < 0) {
-    return HIGH_COMPRESSION; /* unknown; might be big. */
-  } else if (n_bytes < 1024) {
-    return LOW_COMPRESSION;
-  } else if (n_bytes < 2048) {
-    return MEDIUM_COMPRESSION;
-  } else {
-    return HIGH_COMPRESSION;
-  }
+  /* This is the compression level choice for a stream.
+   *
+   * We always return LOW because this compression is done in the main thread
+   * thus we save CPU time as much as possible, and it is also done more than
+   * background compression for document we serve pre-compressed.
+   *
+   * GZip highest compression level (9) gives us a ratio of 49.72%
+   * Zstd lowest compression level (1) gives us a ratio of 47.38%
+   *
+   * Thus, as the network moves more and more to use Zstd when requesting
+   * directory documents that are not pre-cached, even at the
+   * lowest level, we still gain over GZip and thus help with load and CPU
+   * time on the network. */
+  return LOW_COMPRESSION;
 }
 
 /** Information passed to handle a GET request. */
@@ -1044,7 +1047,7 @@ handle_get_status_vote(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
     if (smartlist_len(items)) {
       if (compress_method != NO_METHOD) {
         conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                           choose_compression_level(estimated_len));
+                           choose_compression_level());
         SMARTLIST_FOREACH(items, const char *, c,
                  connection_buf_add_compress(c, strlen(c), conn, 0));
         connection_buf_add_compress("", 0, conn, 1);
@@ -1109,7 +1112,7 @@ handle_get_microdesc(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
 
     if (compress_method != NO_METHOD)
       conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                                      choose_compression_level(size_guess));
+                                      choose_compression_level());
 
     const int initial_flush_result = connection_dirserv_flushed_some(conn);
     tor_assert_nonfatal(initial_flush_result == 0);
@@ -1204,7 +1207,7 @@ handle_get_descriptor(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
       write_http_response_header(conn, -1, compress_method, cache_lifetime);
       if (compress_method != NO_METHOD)
         conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                                        choose_compression_level(size_guess));
+                                        choose_compression_level());
       clear_spool = 0;
       /* Prime the connection with some data. */
       int initial_flush_result = connection_dirserv_flushed_some(conn);
@@ -1301,7 +1304,7 @@ handle_get_keys(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
                                60*60);
     if (compress_method != NO_METHOD) {
       conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                                              choose_compression_level(len));
+                                              choose_compression_level());
       SMARTLIST_FOREACH(certs, authority_cert_t *, c,
             connection_buf_add_compress(
                 c->cache_info.signed_descriptor_body,
diff --git a/src/feature/dircache/dircache.h b/src/feature/dircache/dircache.h
index 236ea649ef..44e40d108c 100644
--- a/src/feature/dircache/dircache.h
+++ b/src/feature/dircache/dircache.h
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ MOCK_DECL(STATIC int, directory_handle_command_post,(dir_connection_t *conn,
 
 STATIC int handle_post_hs_descriptor(const char *url, const char *body);
 enum compression_level_t;
-STATIC enum compression_level_t choose_compression_level(ssize_t n_bytes);
+STATIC enum compression_level_t choose_compression_level(void);
 
 struct get_handler_args_t;
 STATIC int handle_get_hs_descriptor_v3(dir_connection_t *conn,
diff --git a/src/lib/compress/compress_zstd.c b/src/lib/compress/compress_zstd.c
index 45d0d4d602..f0bb22b517 100644
--- a/src/lib/compress/compress_zstd.c
+++ b/src/lib/compress/compress_zstd.c
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ memory_level(compression_level_t level)
     default:
     case BEST_COMPRESSION:
     case HIGH_COMPRESSION: return 9;
-    case MEDIUM_COMPRESSION: return 8;
-    case LOW_COMPRESSION: return 7;
+    case MEDIUM_COMPRESSION: return 3;
+    case LOW_COMPRESSION: return 1;
   }
 }
 #endif /* defined(HAVE_ZSTD) */
diff --git a/src/test/test_dir.c b/src/test/test_dir.c
index 0e44c47f3f..4c074d0c3e 100644
--- a/src/test/test_dir.c
+++ b/src/test/test_dir.c
@@ -4859,31 +4859,6 @@ NS(directory_initiate_request)(directory_request_t *req)
   CALLED(directory_initiate_request)++;
 }
 
-static void
-test_dir_choose_compression_level(void* data)
-{
-  (void)data;
-
-  /* It starts under_memory_pressure */
-  tt_int_op(have_been_under_memory_pressure(), OP_EQ, 1);
-
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(-1));
-  tt_assert(LOW_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(1024-1));
-  tt_assert(MEDIUM_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048));
-
-  /* Reset under_memory_pressure timer */
-  cell_queues_check_size();
-  tt_int_op(have_been_under_memory_pressure(), OP_EQ, 0);
-
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(1024-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048));
-
-  done: ;
-}
-
 /*
  * Mock check_private_dir(), and always succeed - no need to actually
  * look at or create anything on the filesystem.
@@ -6397,7 +6372,6 @@ struct testcase_t dir_tests[] = {
   DIR(should_not_init_request_to_ourselves, TT_FORK),
   DIR(should_not_init_request_to_dir_auths_without_v3_info, 0),
   DIR(should_init_request_to_dir_auths, 0),
-  DIR(choose_compression_level, 0),
   DIR(dump_unparseable_descriptors, 0),
   DIR(populate_dump_desc_fifo, 0),
   DIR(populate_dump_desc_fifo_2, 0),