[tor-bugs] #2763 [Metrics]: Do we collect descriptors that don't get into the consensus?

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#2763: Do we collect descriptors that don't get into the consensus?
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 Reporter:  arma     |          Owner:  karsten 
     Type:  task     |         Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal   |      Milestone:          
Component:  Metrics  |        Version:          
 Keywords:           |         Parent:          
   Points:           |   Actualpoints:          
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Comment(by karsten):

 Replying to [comment:7 Sebastian]:
 > Hrm, I'm not sure if fetching once per day is sufficient, because
 wouldn't that mean that we don't learn about a descriptor that was
 published at hour 1, then superseded at hour 19?

 Ugh.  You're right.  I was under the impression that a directory would
 tell us the full content of cached-descriptors[.new] when asking for
 /tor/server/all.  Looks like I was wrong.  It tells us exactly one
 descriptor per fingerprint.

 Does that mean we need to extend Tor, or is there some other way to learn
 the descriptors in cached-descriptors[.new], cached-extrainfo[.new], and
 cached-microdescs[.new]?

 If we need to extend Tor, how about we add three new URLs to request the
 descriptor identifiers of '''all''' known server descriptors, extra-info
 descriptors, and microdescriptors.  We could also make sure that the
 directory authorities store all descriptors that might be interesting for
 debugging, including those with cosmetic changes.  metrics-db could then
 compare the identifiers to see which descriptors it is missing and
 download them by ID.  This probably needs a (short) proposal.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/2763#comment:8>
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