[tor-bugs] #25120 [Core Tor/Tor]: getrandom() syscall failure warning should be a notice and worded better

Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki blackhole at torproject.org
Wed Feb 7 14:50:09 UTC 2018


#25120: getrandom() syscall failure warning should be a notice and worded better
--------------------------+------------------------------------
 Reporter:  catalyst      |          Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect        |         Status:  needs_review
 Priority:  Medium        |      Milestone:  Tor: 0.3.3.x-final
Component:  Core Tor/Tor  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal        |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  s8-errors     |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                |         Points:
 Reviewer:                |        Sponsor:  Sponsor8-can
--------------------------+------------------------------------

Comment (by dgoulet):

 My two cents.

 NOTICE level should be information the operator needs or is useful to
 know. And I also think it is useful to provide basic status information at
 bootup so if we ever get a report about a misbehaving relay, we can ask
 for those "status" line.

 With this `getrandom()` thing, if Tor stops because it can't use its
 crypto, we ought to put a warning on why even though the users would be
 "omgwtfbbq is that?". At least, at that point, there are possible action
 items that the operator can do including seeking support about that "in
 your face" log line.

 If tor recovers from it, I would argue that it should be at NOTICE so the
 operator can see that it is not critical, that tor did recover but actions
 can still be taken to fix it.

 For instance this, I think it should be at NOTICE for the above reasons.
 This usually happens when someones run a tor not built for their system
 like Stretch Debian tor package on Ubuntu 10.04. Having the notice log
 would allow the operator to try to fix it or simply ignore it. At INFO, I
 believe most of the users will just never notice it.

 {{{
         log_info(LD_CRYPTO, "Can't get entropy from getrandom()."
                  " You are running a version of Tor built to support"
                  " getrandom(), but the kernel doesn't implement this"
                  " function--probably because it is too old?"
                  " Trying fallback method instead.");
 }}}

 In a nutshell, +1 on removing the warnings *except* if Tor does stop. And
 then +1 on NOTICE for useful logging for which the operator can notice.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25120#comment:8>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
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