[tor-bugs] #13207 [Tor]: Is rend_cache_clean_v2_descs_as_dir cutoff crazy high?

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#13207: Is rend_cache_clean_v2_descs_as_dir cutoff crazy high?
------------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  arma              |          Owner:
     Type:  defect            |         Status:  new
 Priority:  normal            |      Milestone:  Tor: 0.2.???
Component:  Tor               |        Version:
 Keywords:  SponsorR, tor-hs  |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                    |         Points:
------------------------------+------------------------------
 {{{
   time_t cutoff = now - REND_CACHE_MAX_AGE - REND_CACHE_MAX_SKEW;
 }}}

 That's currently 3 days.

 Yet
 {{{
 config.c:  V(RendPostPeriod,              INTERVAL, "1 hour"),
 }}}

 So we expect our current one to get overwritten once an hour, yet if the
 hidden service goes away (stops publishing) we continue to serve its old
 (presumably no longer working) descriptor for 71 more hours.

 One downside to this poor tuning is that we waste the time of clients who
 try to access the hidden service -- if we instead tell them there is no
 descriptor, they could go to another hsdir or give up more promptly.

 One upside is that if we say we don't have one, clients *will* go visit
 five other hsdirs before giving up, which could result in a lot of
 thrashing. Whereas providing an old one will keep the client distracted
 for a while. But that's not really a good reason.

 Another downside is that it's easier to stuff our cache full of things,
 i.e. use hsdirs for arbitrary storage of blobs for three days.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13207>
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