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author | Nick Mathewson <nickm@torproject.org> | 2019-11-15 09:27:26 -0500 |
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committer | Nick Mathewson <nickm@torproject.org> | 2019-11-15 09:28:12 -0500 |
commit | 8b91680d5c57fc35275b32aea57555d8ef7d61ba (patch) | |
tree | 5040bae10d88ba7810d5c9b5517e1e355a080f11 /src/mainpage.md | |
parent | 3a7369d0cfa567cdb02063e1dad176c92ef2c7fe (diff) | |
download | tor-8b91680d5c57fc35275b32aea57555d8ef7d61ba.tar.gz tor-8b91680d5c57fc35275b32aea57555d8ef7d61ba.zip |
Doxygen: rename all .dox files to end with .md
Using a standard ending here will let other tools that expect
markdown understand our output here.
This commit was automatically generated with:
for fn in $(find src -name '*.dox'); do \
git mv "$fn" "${fn%.dox}.md"; \
done
Diffstat (limited to 'src/mainpage.md')
-rw-r--r-- | src/mainpage.md | 143 |
1 files changed, 143 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/mainpage.md b/src/mainpage.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..a2c5ec6302 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/mainpage.md @@ -0,0 +1,143 @@ +@mainpage Tor source reference + +@tableofcontents + +@section welcome Welcome to Tor + +This documentation describes the general structure of the Tor codebase, how +it fits together, what functionality is available for extending Tor, and +gives some notes on how Tor got that way. It also includes a reference for +nearly every function, type, file, and module in the Tor source code. The +high-level documentation is a work in progress. + +Tor itself remains a work in progress too: We've been working on it for +nearly two decades, and we've learned a lot about good coding since we first +started. This means, however, that some of the older pieces of Tor will have +some "code smell" in them that could stand a brisk refactoring. So when we +describe a piece of code, we'll sometimes give a note on how it got that way, +and whether we still think that's a good idea. + +This document is not an overview of the Tor protocol. For that, see the +design paper and the specifications at https://spec.torproject.org/ . + +For more information about Tor's coding standards and some helpful +development tools, see +[doc/HACKING](https://gitweb.torproject.org/tor.git/tree/doc/HACKING) in the +Tor repository. + +@section topics Topic-related documentation + +@subpage intro + +@subpage initialization + +@subpage dataflow + +@subpage certificates + +@subpage threading + +@subpage strings + +@subpage time_periodic + + +@page intro A high-level overview + +@tableofcontents + +@section highlevel The very high level + +Ultimately, Tor runs as an event-driven network daemon: it responds to +network events, signals, and timers by sending and receiving things over +the network. Clients, relays, and directory authorities all use the +same codebase: the Tor process will run as a client, relay, or authority +depending on its configuration. + +Tor has a few major dependencies, including Libevent (used to tell which +sockets are readable and writable), OpenSSL or NSS (used for many encryption +functions, and to implement the TLS protocol), and zlib (used to +compress and uncompress directory information). + +Most of Tor's work today is done in a single event-driven main thread. +Tor also spawns one or more worker threads to handle CPU-intensive +tasks. (Right now, this only includes circuit encryption and the more +expensive compression algorithms.) + +On startup, Tor initializes its libraries, reads and responds to its +configuration files, and launches a main event loop. At first, the only +events that Tor listens for are a few signals (like TERM and HUP), and +one or more listener sockets (for different kinds of incoming +connections). Tor also configures several timers to handle periodic +events. As Tor runs over time, other events will open, and new events +will be scheduled. + +The codebase is divided into a few top-level subdirectories, each of +which contains several sub-modules. + + - `ext` -- Code maintained elsewhere that we include in the Tor + source distribution. + + - \refdir{lib} -- Lower-level utility code, not necessarily + tor-specific. + + - `trunnel` -- Automatically generated code (from the Trunnel + tool): used to parse and encode binary formats. + + - \refdir{core} -- Networking code that is implements the central + parts of the Tor protocol and main loop. + + - \refdir{feature} -- Aspects of Tor (like directory management, + running a relay, running a directory authorities, managing a list of + nodes, running and using onion services) that are built on top of the + mainloop code. + + - \refdir{app} -- Highest-level functionality; responsible for setting + up and configuring the Tor daemon, making sure all the lower-level + modules start up when required, and so on. + + - \refdir{tools} -- Binaries other than Tor that we produce. + Currently this is tor-resolve, tor-gencert, and the tor_runner.o helper + module. + + - `test` -- unit tests, regression tests, and a few integration + tests. + +In theory, the above parts of the codebase are sorted from highest-level to +lowest-level, where high-level code is only allowed to invoke lower-level +code, and lower-level code never includes or depends on code of a higher +level. In practice, this refactoring is incomplete: The modules in +\refdir{lib} are well-factored, but there are many layer violations ("upward +dependencies") in \refdir{core} and \refdir{feature}. +We aim to eliminate those over time. + +@section keyabstractions Some key high-level abstractions + +The most important abstractions at Tor's high-level are Connections, +Channels, Circuits, and Nodes. + +A 'Connection' (connection_t) represents a stream-based information flow. +Most connections are TCP connections to remote Tor servers and clients. (But +as a shortcut, a relay will sometimes make a connection to itself without +actually using a TCP connection. More details later on.) Connections exist +in different varieties, depending on what functionality they provide. The +principle types of connection are edge_connection_t (eg a socks connection or +a connection from an exit relay to a destination), or_connection_t (a TLS +stream connecting to a relay), dir_connection_t (an HTTP connection to learn +about the network), and control_connection_t (a connection from a +controller). + +A 'Circuit' (circuit_t) is persistent tunnel through the Tor network, +established with public-key cryptography, and used to send cells one or more +hops. Clients keep track of multi-hop circuits (origin_circuit_t), and the +cryptography associated with each hop. Relays, on the other hand, keep track +only of their hop of each circuit (or_circuit_t). + +A 'Channel' (channel_t) is an abstract view of sending cells to and from a +Tor relay. Currently, all channels are implemented using OR connections +(channel_tls_t). If we switch to other strategies in the future, we'll have +more connection types. + +A 'Node' (node_t) is a view of a Tor instance's current knowledge and opinions +about a Tor relay or bridge. + |