[tor-relays] failed setup of obfs4 on relay

[jackoreamnos at tutanota.com]

Alright, problem solved although I don't understand why.  Hope someone can educate me:

What I did.
(1) Turned on Log debug stderr in torrc, and I could see obfs4 loading correctly.
(2) Then I realized obfs4 writes to a file to help people construct the bridgeline for tow browser in pt_state/obfs4_bridgeline.txt

The format is like:
Bridge obfs4 <IP ADDRESS>:<PORT> <FINGERPRINT> cert=[scrubbed] iat-mode=[scrubbed]

Which is different from the bridge line I used by hand, i.e. has FINGERPRINT, has cert=? and iat-mode=?.  
These extra bits made all the difference, but why?

Jack

30. Mar 2018 15:02 by jackoreamnos at tutanota.com <mailto:jackoreamnos at tutanota.com>:


> Am a novice compiling Tor (0.3.2.9) and been successful using this from a Tor Browser as a private bridge by entering "a.b.c.d:9001" into Tor Browser.  However, pointing my Tor Browser to the obfs4 on the same machine fails with something like General SOCKS failure in the log.  Below is my torrc:
>
> SOCKSPort 0
> CookieAuthentication 1
> ControlPort 9051
> ORPort 9001
> ExtORPort auto
> ServerTransportPlugin obfs4 exec /usr/bin/obfs4proxy
> # ServerTransportListenAddr obfs4 [::]:60443
> ServerTransportListenAddr obfs4 0.0.0.0:60443
> ExitRelay 0
> BridgeRelay 1
> PublishServerDescriptor 0
>
> Tests I have done:
> (1) using obfs4 compiled from git repository, as well as the OS package.
> (2) opening port 60443, as well as dropping all firewalls - does not make a difference; meanwhile, pointing telnet at a.b.c.d 60443 connects successfully
> (3) using Tor Browser with default supplied obfs4 bridges works well (log shows I was able to download a list of bridges and their fingerprints).
>
> So I think I have ruled out problems with my Tor client (Tor Browser), and I have ruled out firewall configurations on the server, and ruled out obfs4 being blocked on my ISP.  Since Tor itself works, and I have tried obfs4 from source as well as from the OS package, the only thing I can think of is something wrong with the config above.
>
> Any hints would be appreciated, as well as any steps I can do to further diagnose would be helpful.
>
> Thanks,
> Jack
>
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