Importance of HTTP connection keep-alive

[Juliusz Chroboczek]

>> (1) use a smaller timeout for idle connections;
>> (2) shut down a connection after some number of
>> serviced requets;
>> (3) shut down a connection after it's been used
>> for some time.

> I for one would like to see (1) and (3) implemented as
> I tend to agree with Roger.

Sigh.  Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they're asking me to
implement timeouts.

I've done all three, for the paranoid among you.  Since I don't
believe in this particular threat, the default values are very large
for (2) and (3).  They're controlled by the following variables :

  (1) serverIdleTimeout, default 45 s;
  (2) maxConnectionRequests, default 400;
  (3) maxConnectionAge, default 21 m.

> Another possible anonymity threat is when a Tor user
> routing through Polipo passes the NEWNYM signal to
> Tor.  This signal makes Tor use a new (clean) circut
> for new connections.

Ahem... you're expecting to get a new persona without flushing
Polipo's cache, your browser's cookies and your browser's cache?

> Could Polipo be made to listen for the NEWNYM signal
> passed to Tor?

There's no need for that -- whoever is sending the NEWNYM signal
should restart both the web browser and Polipo.

                                        Juliusz