aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/proposals
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorNick Mathewson <nickm@torproject.org>2011-09-20 15:34:48 -0400
committerNick Mathewson <nickm@torproject.org>2011-09-20 15:34:48 -0400
commit0c856b58719133110d09f35ca8eb47728d42748c (patch)
treef2bcbd81b35999857fa959ca5d169ae9f4aa027c /proposals
parent91905a79a67c01e571860597ab097285ba904217 (diff)
downloadtorspec-0c856b58719133110d09f35ca8eb47728d42748c.tar.gz
torspec-0c856b58719133110d09f35ca8eb47728d42748c.zip
Add two small proposals
Diffstat (limited to 'proposals')
-rw-r--r--proposals/184-v3-link-protocol.txt82
-rw-r--r--proposals/185-dir-without-dirport.txt41
2 files changed, 123 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/proposals/184-v3-link-protocol.txt b/proposals/184-v3-link-protocol.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..910f223
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proposals/184-v3-link-protocol.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+Filename: 184-v3-link-protocol.txt
+Title: Miscellaneous changes for a v3 Tor link protocol
+Author: Nick Mathewson
+Created: 19-Sep-2011
+Status: Open
+Target: 0.2.3.x
+
+Overview:
+
+ When proposals 176 and 179 are implemented, Tor will have a new
+ link protocol. I propose two simple improvements for the v3 link
+ protocol: a more partitioned set of which types indicate
+ variable-length cells, and a better way to handle link padding if
+ and when we come up with a decent scheme for it.
+
+Motivation:
+
+ We're getting a new link protocol in 0.2.3.x, thanks (again) to
+ TLS fingerprinting concerns. When we do, it'd be nice to take
+ care of some small issues that require a link protocol version
+ increment.
+
+ First, our system for introducing new variable-length cell types
+ has required a protocol increment for each one. Unlike
+ fixed-length (512 byte) cells, we can't add new variable-length
+ cells in the existing link protocols and just let older clients
+ ignore them, because unless the recipient knows which cells are
+ variable-length, it will treat them as 512-byte cells and discard
+ too much of the stream or too little. In the past, it's been
+ useful to be able to introduce new cell types without having to
+ increment the link protocol version.
+
+ Second, once we have our new TLS handshake in place, we will want
+ a good way to address the remaining fingerprinting opportunities.
+ Some of those will likely involve traffic volume. We can't fix
+ that easily with our existing PADDING cell type, since PADDING
+ cells are fixed-length, and wouldn't be so easy to use to break up
+ our TLS record sizes.
+
+Design: Indicating variable-length cells.
+
+ Beginning with the v3 link protocol, we specify that all cell
+ types in the range 128..255 indicate variable-length cells.
+ Cell types in the range 0..127 are still used for 512-byte
+ cells, except that the VERSIONS cell type (7) also indicates a
+ variable-length cell (for backward compatibility).
+
+ As before, all Tor instances must ignore cells with types that
+ they don't recognize.
+
+Design: Variable-length padding.
+
+ We add a new variable-length cell type, "VPADDING", to be used for
+ padding. All Tor instances may send a DROP cell at any point that
+ a VERSIONS cell is not required; a VPADDING cell's body may be any
+ length; the body of a VPADDING cell MAY have any content. Upon
+ receiving a VPADDING cell, the recipient should drop it, as with a
+ PADDING cell.
+
+Interaction with proposal 176:
+
+ Proposal 176 says that during the v3 handshake, no cells other
+ than VERSIONS, AUTHENTICATE, AUTH_CHALLENGE, CERT, and NETINFO are
+ allowed, and those are only allowed in their standard order. If
+ this proposal is accepted, then VPADDING cells should also be
+ allowed in the handshake at any point after the VERSIONS cell.
+ They should be included when computing the "SLOG" and "CLOG"
+ handshake-digest fields of the AUTHENTICATE cell.
+
+Notes on future-proofing:
+
+ It may be in the future we need a new cell format that is neither the
+ original 512-byte format nor the variable-length format. If we
+ do, we can just increment the link protocol version number again.
+
+ Right now we have 10 cell types; with this proposal and proposal
+ 176, we will have 14. It's unlikely that we'll run out any time
+ soon, but if we start to approach the number 64 with fixed-length
+ cell types or 196 with var-length cell types, we should consider
+ tweaking the link protocol to have a variable-length cell type
+ encoding.
+
diff --git a/proposals/185-dir-without-dirport.txt b/proposals/185-dir-without-dirport.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c84ec35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proposals/185-dir-without-dirport.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+Filename: 185-dir-without-dirport.txt
+Title: Directory caches without DirPort
+Author: Nick Mathewson
+Created: 20-Sep-2011
+Status: Open
+
+Overview:
+
+ Exposing a directory port is no longer necessary for running as a
+ directory cache. This proposal suggests that we eliminate that
+ requirement, and describes how.
+
+Motivation:
+
+ Now that we tunnel directory connections by default, it is no
+ longer necessary to have a DirPort to be a directory cache. In
+ fact, bridges act as directory caches but do not actually have a
+ DirPort exposed. It would be nice and tidy to expand that
+ property to the rest of the network.
+
+Configuration:
+
+ Add a new torrc option, "DirCache". Its values can be "0", "1",
+ and "auto". If it is 0, we never act as a directory cache, even
+ if DirPort is set. If it is 1, then we act as a directory cache
+ according to same rules as those used for nodes that set a
+ DirPort. If it is "auto", then Tor decides whether to act as a
+ directory cache.
+
+Advertising cache status:
+
+ Nodes which are running as a directory cache but which do not have
+ a DirPort set should set the entry "dir-cache 1" in their router
+ descriptors.
+
+Consensus:
+
+ Authorities should assign a "DirCache" flag to all nodes running
+ as a directory cache that do not set a DirPort.
+
+ This does not require a new version of the consensus algorithm.