[tor-bugs] #10848 [Tor]: Tor should be an HTTP proxy server

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#10848: Tor should be an HTTP proxy server
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 Reporter:  ben     |          Owner:
     Type:  task    |         Status:  new
 Priority:  normal  |      Milestone:
Component:  Tor     |        Version:
 Keywords:          |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:          |         Points:
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 Tor accepts connections (from applications that want to use the Tor
 network) using the SOCKS protocol.

 However, SOCKS is a very old and very limited protocol, and is rarely used
 in the wild. Not many applications support it, and the existing (non-
 Tor/-SSH) SOCKS server implementations are 10-20 years old and very simple
 and buggy.

 In contrast, HTTP proxies are widespread, and there are several good
 implementations of it. Many companies are allowing outward connections
 only via HTTP proxies. As a result, many client-side applications have
 native support for HTTP proxies.

 For non-HTTP apps, HTTP proxies have the CONNECT command that gives a raw
 socket to the target server. It's used primarily for SSL, but can be used
 for other protocols, too.

 For HTTP, as an added bonus, the HTTP proxy sees all headers that the
 client sends, and thus has much richer meta-data to make decisions for
 circuits etc.. Also, a client can send additional metadata in X-Tor-Foo
 headers that is intended only for Tor, e.g. grouping requests based on
 windows or similar. This is what #6733 tries to achieve.

 Note: This isn't a request for Tor to connect to an HTTP proxy. That
 support already exists. It's for Tor to //be// an HTTP proxy.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/10848>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
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