[tor-bugs] #1368 [Tor Client]: Implement a heartbeat log message

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#1368: Implement a heartbeat log message
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 Reporter:  Sebastian           |         Type:  enhancement
   Status:  new                 |     Priority:  major      
Milestone:  Tor: 0.2.3.x-final  |    Component:  Tor Client 
  Version:  0.2.1.25            |   Resolution:  None       
 Keywords:                      |       Parent:             
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Comment(by asn):

 Replying to [comment:7 atagar]:
 > Hi asn, here's my thoughts:
 >
 > - The transfer rates should be human friendly values (5.3 MB, 7.4 GB,
 etc).
 >

 Yep, this is yet TODO.

 > - Will the uptime be human friendly values as well (ex, "4 days")? What
 is it going to look like once it's in the realm of months? The uptime stat
 (in seconds since starting tor) would be nice to have via the control port
 but this is part of another proposal, so don't worry about it.
 >

 Right now, it's based on the uptime(1) format. For example, it will show
 something like "9 days and 12:34:02". Initially I had added months in
 there, but I took them off, shouldn't be too hard to implement though.

 > - The indicator for if you're in the consensus is both verbose and,
 imho, unnecessary. That status isn't likely to change (so saying
 "Congratulations, you're in the consensus!" every day would be pointless)
 and it's kinda obvious based on the throughput attribute (you're reachable
 if you're pushing traffic). Maybe just give this status (with the user
 friendly advice "something seems to be wrong") once, when it's first
 detected? This could be separate from the heartbeat (maybe at the warning
 runlevel).
 >

 I understand both parties' arguments on this.
 At the moment, I'm only mentioning the consensus entry if our router is
 not in the consensus.
 This is again quite easily configurable.

 > - The heartbeat message is three notice level events? That would be
 pretty noisy. My preference would be something short and sweet like:
 > Heartbeat [185]: Tor's uptime is 3 days, with 57 circuits. Since the
 last heartbeat 87 MB has been pushed.
 >

 Yeah, I agree with this. I'll probably do it like that.

 > Trying to turn the heartbeat into a controller substitute packed with
 every interesting stat there is (including the consensus status, flags,
 both upload/download rates, etc) goes pretty deeply into the territory of
 what controllers provide and also risks making this more of an annoyance
 than help (particularly for controller users who already have this
 information).
 >
 > We default to logging at the NOTICE runlevel so doing a daily event
 that's more than a short sentence means that after a couple weeks the log
 will be full of these events (drowning out any interesting alerts for
 things that happened - not so helpful). If we're intent on doing that then
 I think this should be muted by default (enabled via a flag in the torrc).
 >

 I appreciate controllers, but Sebastian's arguments are valid as well.
 I think I'll leave the heartbeat interval as is and leave the Tor dev.
 team figure what should be done about this - FOSS etcetera.

 > If we really want this to be both highly verbose and on by default then
 I'd prefer if the heartbeat defaults to being muted when users have a
 ControlPort set (unless overwritten in the torrc) so it avoids bothering
 controller users.
 >
 > Cheers! -Damian

 In my router I have the ControlPort open but I know that I would have
 appreciated heartbeat messages as well.
 What I haven't done yet and should be done, is add a way to disable the
 heartbeat.

 > As a compromise how about a short, succinct log message (like the one I
 proposed earlier) by default, then giving the option for a verbose version
 if the user wants it?

 Yes, that could be done. Raising the options to two for a heartbeat event
 is a bit of an overkill (for the typical user who doesn't really care),
 but we can try it.

 Thanks for the comments!

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/1368#comment:10>
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