Georg Koppen:
Hello!
Relays running unsupported Tor versions is a problem we have never really dealt with in a systematic way in the way. Some of you might recall that we (with the help of volunteers) tried back in 2019/2020 to get operators, running an unsupported Tor version, to upgrade[1] but then we dropped the ball. Alas.
We just started that process again by contacting every relay operator running an outdated Tor version (any version not 0.3.5.x or 0.4.5.x or 0.4.6.x or 0.4.7.x) by email where possible.
Just to give an update on that: We've reached out to every relay operator affected, provided they had a valid contact info set. Additionally, I am taking new relays with outdated versions into account on a weekly basis, contacting those operators where possible, too. You can follow the overall progress in our bug tracker[1] but things are pointing into the right direction. However, there are plenty of relays still on unsupported Tor versions. If you reading this mail are one of their operators please upgrade your Tor version.
Tor 0.4.7 will contain a hard block of those unsupported versions at the directory authority level[2]. But we don't want to wait until 0.4.7 stable finally gets out and directory authorities have upgraded to it. Therefore, we plan to reject all relays which are still running unsupported versions by *December 1 2021*. This gives more than another month to get relays upgraded.
Georg
[1] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/network-health/team/-/issues/56 [2] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/40480