[tor-reports] Nick's post-most-of-December status report

[Nick Mathewson]

Hi, all!

I'm sending this status report early because I expect my next couple
of days to be fun and not much online; I expect to wake on New Year's
Day in no mood to write a status report, and I expect to scramble to
get things done for a day or two after.  So here goes.

This month, I:
 * Implemented the ntor handshake and CREATE2 cells. (#7202 = prop216,
#7199 = prop200)  The ntor handshake will, once it's merged and in
use, make circuit extension faster and more forward-secure.  Currently
it's waiting on a little more review and one more batch of testing.
 * Implemented a first cut of directory guards (#6526).  It's not
perfect, but it's a decent start.
 * Revised and reviewed many, many patches -- some mine, some other
people's.  Right now, except for the ntor handshake and #7691, I
believe Tor 0.2.4 has all the big features it's getting.  See the
0.2.4.7 changelog and current changs/* files in git master for more
information.  Once we shake the bugs out, 0.2.4 will be the Best Tor
Ever, as is traditional.
 * Recast the 10Dec merge deadline as a big-feature-is-implemented
deadline, since review-and-merge is taking so much longer than
expected. Must allocate more time in the next cycle.  The freeze date
for small features is now 20Jan.  I might stop merging stuff then, and
I *will* ignore any feature that isn't implemented by then.
 * Scrambled to fix last-minute and first-minute bugs in 0.2.4.7.
 * Got coverity scan working again. Didn't find anything earth-shaking.
 * Took a break on and around Chistmas.

In the remainder of December, I will try to:
 * Figure out which tasks are most critical for January.

In January, I will:
 * Write a presentation about challenges and opportunities in Tor of
interest to cryptographers.
 * Finally merge the last two chunky items in 0.2.4.x.
 * Implement and merge various small features.
 * Chase bugs in 0.2.4.
 * Attend the "Impending End of RSA" workshop and the "Real World
Crypto" workshop in the south bay
 * Attend an "internet crypto" research retreat and a little of ECRYPT
II's "Crypto for 2020" event.
 * Try to advance various threads of effort from various cool
volunteers who have been sent towards me by Andrew, and to Tor via
29c3 contacts.
 * Try to keep sane.

si vales valeo,
-- 
Nick