[tor-bugs] #28281 [Core Tor/Tor]: outline of high-level bootstrap tracker abstractions

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#28281: outline of high-level bootstrap tracker abstractions
--------------------------+------------------------------------
 Reporter:  catalyst      |          Owner:  catalyst
     Type:  task          |         Status:  assigned
 Priority:  Medium        |      Milestone:  Tor: 0.4.0.x-final
Component:  Core Tor/Tor  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal        |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  s8-boostrap   |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:  #28018        |         Points:  0.5
 Reviewer:                |        Sponsor:  Sponsor8
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Comment (by mcs):

 Replying to [comment:4 arma]:
 > A thought for this part in particular: incremental progress at fetching
 descriptors can be confirmed as we go (we verify that we got the bytes we
 wanted). But if we try to show incremental progress at fetching a
 consensus, but then we get it and we don't like it, we'll find ourselves
 going backwards in bootstrap progress. Not the end of the world but maybe
 something to avoid getting ourselves into if we can.

 We would like to avoid showing "backwards" progress in the Tor Launcher
 UI, but there are ways the situation you described could be addressed. Fr
 example, if each bootstrap phase that reports incremental progress was
 delineated clearly with "start" and "end" messages, then one could create
 a "checkmark" based UI that showed a second attempt rather than moving a
 simple progress bar backwards. For example:
 {{{
   Connecting to the Tor network
   ...
   x Fetching relay information                [######           ]  FAILED;
 will retry
   ✓ Fetching relay information (attempt #2)   [#################]
   ...
 }}}
 A general principle that I mentioned before is that the tor daemon itself
 should enable many different types of user interfaces. Making a rich set
 of info available that includes start and end milestones will make that
 possible.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/28281#comment:7>
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