[tor-bugs] #24367 [Core Tor/Tor]: Changing pluggable transports (during start-up) in Tor Browser is broken

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#24367: Changing pluggable transports (during start-up) in Tor Browser is broken
-------------------------------------------+-------------------------------
 Reporter:  gk                             |          Owner:  nickm
     Type:  defect                         |         Status:
                                           |  needs_revision
 Priority:  Medium                         |      Milestone:  Tor:
                                           |  0.3.2.x-final
Component:  Core Tor/Tor                   |        Version:  Tor:
                                           |  0.3.2.1-alpha
 Severity:  Normal                         |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  regression, tor-bridge-client  |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                                 |         Points:  0.5
 Reviewer:                                 |        Sponsor:
-------------------------------------------+-------------------------------

Comment (by mcs):

 Replying to [comment:11 gk]:
 > Hm. Not sure, although I am still not convinced that this plays a role
 here. Maybe mcs/brade have more ideas for that part, though.

 In some cases Tor Launcher starts tor with DisableNetwork=1 to allow users
 to make configuration changes before bootstrapping begins. But I don't
 think that case is relevant here.

 Tor Launcher issues a `SETCONF DisableNetwork=1` command via the control
 port in the following three cases:
 1. After the user clicks Cancel when the bootstrap progress bar is
 showing.
 2. After the user clicks "Open Settings" when the bootstrap progress bar
 is showing (note that the new Tor Launcher design that is implemented in
 Tor Browser 7.5a8 does not include this button).
 3. After a bootstrap error is reported by tor. The reason Tor Launcher
 does that is because it is about to switch its user interface back to
 configuration mode, and we do not want bootstrapping to proceed while the
 user is making adjustments. That only leads to confusion, especially when
 users switch from using a PT and not using one and vice-versa.

 For 3, look for `mBootstrapErrorOccurred` in https://gitweb.torproject.org
 /tor-launcher.git/tree/README-BOOTSTRAP to see how Tor Launcher detects
 bootstrap errors. Once the user clicks "Connect" their settings are saved
 via the control port and Tor Launcher issues a `SETCONF DisableNetwork=0`
 command.

 If you want to see the commands that Tor Launcher issues via the control
 port, use about:config to set both `extensions.torlauncher.logmethod` and
 `extensions.torlauncher.loglevel` to `0`. Then run from the command line
 so you can capture stderr from the firefox process. Look for lines that
 contain  `Sending Tor command:`.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/24367#comment:12>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online