[tor-dev] The Torouter project - where are we now?

[Daniel Bryg]

On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 11:36 PM,  <andrew at torproject.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 07:15:17PM +0100, runa.sandvik at gmail.com wrote 7.4K bytes in 195 lines about:
> : My mistake. I thought someone had a bridge running and that the only
> : problem was disk space. I'll see if I can set up my router as a bridge
> : this weekend and get things working.
>
> I did, on the buffalo.  It worked fine with a 1gb usb drive stuck in the
> router.
>
> : Sure, that would work. I believe users will have to re-flash their
> : routers to install a new image, though. Or maybe there's a nice way to
> : handle upgrades in OpenWrt?
>
> 99% of users are not going to reflash their router.  If it isn't a point
> and click automatic update, it won't happen.  I hate reflashing openwrt
> on the buffalo.

The most user-friendly way now is to upload an upgrade image via UI.
It shouldn't be very difficult to make LuCI download the image from a
website automatically.

>
> : > That's similar to what I said on IRC; it seems reasonable to keep the
> : > Tor package updated in OpenWRT. We need to decide if we want to build
> : > regular packages for installation and also if we want to host them. I
> : > think this is mostly an Erinn question - helix?
>
> We can barely keep up with the current build load, nevermind adding new
> operating systems.
>
> Torouter based on openwrt is an experiment.  It seems it's going to cost
> us more time, effort, and people than we have to spare.  The entire
> torouter, or bridge/relay-by-default in hardware, is an experiment.
>
> I'd much rather see a debian-based torouter exist.  We can more easily
> integrate debian packages of the necessary architecture, likely ARM,
> into our build farm than we can an entirely new OS and build
> environment.
>
> The openwrt-based torouter can be a community-run and maintained
> project.  I'd rather Tor Project spend its time and effort on making tor
> work on debian-compatible low-cost hardware, like a dreamplug or excito,
> than trying to force tor into a new OS and platform.

I understand that, if you're trying to provide Tor on a router as a
packaged product, it would certainly be better to have one that can
handle it well without hardware modifications. And apparently we
haven't seen it with OpenWRT. But i hope that someone will help make
Tor run better and friendlier on OpenWRT as it's probably the most
popular system on home routers that people actually use with Tor and
it would be of benefit to everybody to convert many of these clients
into stable bridges.

Daniel.