[tor-bugs] #25511 [Core Tor/Tor]: Expose TZ info on control port for better debugging of time errors

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#25511: Expose TZ info on control port for better debugging of time errors
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  nickm                                |          Owner:  neel
     Type:  enhancement                          |         Status:
                                                 |  merge_ready
 Priority:  Medium                               |      Milestone:  Tor:
                                                 |  0.3.4.x-final
Component:  Core Tor/Tor                         |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                               |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  roadmap, controller, 034-roadmap-    |  Actual Points:
  master, 034-triage-20180328,                   |
  034-included-20180328, s8-errors               |
Parent ID:                                       |         Points:
 Reviewer:  catalyst                             |        Sponsor:
                                                 |  Sponsor8
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------

Comment (by catalyst):

 Replying to [comment:24 mikeperry]:
 > Thank you neel! I really appreciate this. This was originally going to
 fall to me or catalyst. More time for vanguards now :)
 >
 > This looks good, but as a note, Tor Browser is going to have to remember
 not to overwrite the TZ environment variable before or while it launches
 Tor for current-time/local to not also be UTC. (This may mean saving the
 previous TZ value before we set it to UTC, and using that in the environ
 for tor).

 On Tor Browser "8.0a5 (based on Mozilla Firefox 52.7.3) (64-bit)" on
 macOS, the logs from the tor daemon seem to be in UTC (at least when using
 the "Copy Tor Log To Clipboard" button).

 On the other hand, Georg told me at the Rome meeting that Tor Browser sets
 TZ to UTC for anti-fingerprinting but starts the tor process in the local
 time zone.  This seems to match what I've seen in the past, but I don't
 have a working older Tor Browser to check that right now.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25511#comment:26>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online