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authorDavid Goulet <dgoulet@torproject.org>2020-07-15 09:44:12 -0400
committerAlexander Færøy <ahf@torproject.org>2020-07-16 14:19:04 +0000
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doc: Document circuit subsystem tracing events
Create a doc/tracing/ directory to contain a top level README.md which is the previously named Tracing.md and add the EventsCircuit.md which describes the circuit subsystem tracing events in depth. Closes #40036 Signed-off-by: David Goulet <dgoulet@torproject.org>
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+# Circuit Subsystem Trace Events
+
+The circuit subsystem emits a series of tracing events related to a circuit
+object life cycle and its state change.
+
+This document describes each event as in what data they record and what they
+represent.
+
+## Background
+
+There are two types of circuits: origin and OR (onion router). Both of them
+are derived from a base object called a general circuit.
+
+- Origin circuits are the ones initiated by tor itself so client or onion
+ service circuits for instance.
+
+- OR circuits are the ones going through us that we have not initiated and
+ thus only seen by relays.
+
+Many operations are done on the base (general) circuit, and some are specific
+to an origin or OR. The following section describes each of them by circuit
+type.
+
+## Trace Events
+
+For the LTTng tracer, the subsystem name of these events is: `tor_circuit`.
+
+Also, unless specified otherwise, every event emits a common set of parameters
+thus they should always be expected in the following order:
+
+- `circ_id`: For an origin circuit, this is the global circuit identifier used
+ in a cell. For an OR circuit, the value is 0.
+
+- `purpose`: Purpose of the circuit as in what it is used for. Note that this
+ can change during the lifetime of a circuit. See `CIRCUIT_PURPOSE_*` in
+ `core/or/circuitlist.h` for an exhaustive list of the possible values.
+
+- `state`: State of a circuit. This changes during the lifetime of a circuit.
+ See `CIRCUIT_STATE_*` in `core/or/circuitlist.h` for an exhaustive list of
+ the possible values.
+
+Now, the tracing events.
+
+### General Circuit (`circuit_t`)
+
+The following events are triggered for the base circuit object and thus apply
+to all types of circuits.
+
+ * `free`: A circuit object is freed that is memory is released and not
+ usable anymore. After this event, no more events will be emitted for the
+ specific circuit object.
+
+ * `mark_for_close`: A circuit object is marked for close that is scheduled
+ to be closed in a later mainloop periodic event.
+
+ Extra parameters:
+
+ - `end_reason`: Reason why the circuit is closed. Tor often changes that
+ reason to something generic sometimes in order to avoid leaking internal
+ reasons to the end point. Thus, this value can be different from
+ orig_close_reason.
+
+ - `orig_close_reason`: Original reason why the circuit is closed. That
+ value never changes and contains the internal reason why we close it. It
+ is **never** this reason that is sent back on the circuit.
+
+ * `change_purpose`: Purpose change.
+
+ Extra parameters:
+
+ (`purpose` parameter is not present)
+
+ - `old_purpose`: Previous purpose that is no longer.
+
+ - `new_purpose`: New purpose assigned to the circuit.
+
+ * `change_state`: State change.
+
+ Extra parameters:
+
+ (`state` parameter is not present)
+
+ - `old_state`: Previous state that is no longer.
+
+ - `new_state`: New state assigned to the circuit.
+
+### Origin Circuit (`origin_circuit_t`)
+
+The following events are triggered only for origin circuits.
+
+ * `new_origin`: New origin circuit has been created meaning it has been
+ newly allocated, initialized and added to the global list.
+
+ * `establish`: Circuit is being established. This is the initial first step
+ where the path was selected and a connection to the first hop has been
+ launched.
+
+ * `cannibalized`: Circuit has been cannibalized. This happens when we have
+ an already opened unused circuit (preemptive circuits) and it was picked.
+
+ * `first_onion_skin`: First onion skin was sent that is the handshake with
+ the first hop.
+
+ Extra parameters:
+
+ - `fingerprint`: Identity digest (RSA) of the first hop.
+
+ * `intermediate_onion_skin`: An intermediate onion skin was sent which can
+ be why any hops after the first one. There is thus `N - 1` of these events
+ where `N` is the total number of hops in the path.
+
+ Extra parameters:
+
+ - `fingerprint`: Identity digest (RSA) of the next hop.
+
+ * `opened`: Circuit just became opened which means that all hops down the
+ path have negotiated the handshake between them and us and the circuit is
+ now ready to send cells.
+
+ * `timeout`: Circuit has timed out that is we waited too long for the
+ circuit to be built.
+
+ * `idle_timeout`: Circuit has timed out due to idleness. This is controlled
+ by the MaxCircuitDirtiness parameter which is 10 min by default.
+
+For the common use case of a 3-hop circuit, the following events should be
+seen in this order:
+
+ `new_origin` -> `establish` -> `first_onion_skin` ->
+ `intermediate_onion_skin` -> `intermediate_onion_skin` -> `opened`
+
+### OR Circuit (`or_circuit_t`)
+
+The following events are triggered only for OR circuits. For each of them, the
+`circ_id` parameter is not present since it would always be 0. The `purpose`
+and `state` remain.
+
+ * `new_or`: New OR circuit has been created meaning it has been newly
+ allocated, initialized and added to the global list.
diff --git a/doc/HACKING/Tracing.md b/doc/HACKING/tracing/README.md
index d9fb2e5341..d9fb2e5341 100644
--- a/doc/HACKING/Tracing.md
+++ b/doc/HACKING/tracing/README.md