tor-parallel-relay-conn/doc/TODO.external

$Id: TODO 16258 2008-07-30 13:04:38Z nickm $
Legend:
SPEC!!  - Not specified
SPEC    - Spec not finalized
N       - nick claims
R       - arma claims
P       - phobos claims
S       - Steven claims
E       - Matt claims
M       - Mike claims
J       - Jeff claims
I       - ioerror claims
W       - weasel claims
K       - Karsten claims
C       - coderman claims
        - Not done
        * Top priority
        . Partially done
        o Done
        d Deferrable
        D Deferred
        X Abandoned

=======================================================================

External constraints:

  - mid October
W   - Finish implementation of directory overhead changes: have a set
      of patches that you think work.

  - end of October
    - Auto update
C     - Get the MSI working and stable for Windows Tor installer.
E     . Vidalia calls Thandy, learns when to upgrade, requests the upgrade.
?     - Teach our OSX installer to register its version on install

  - mid January
KS  . Finish testing, debugging, unit testing, etc the hidden service
      changes. Have it in the development version and in use.
W   - Finish testing, debugging, unit testing, etc the directory overhead
      changes. Have it in the development version and in use.

  - end of January
NSE - Write first draft of research study for Paul's research problem.

  - mid February
S   - Examine current load balancing issues and evaluate trade-offs
      associated with other methods.
      - For each potential routing improvement strategy...
        - Explain method, calculate theoretical impact, estimate likely
          impact, prioritize
        - Establish implementation work plan
        - Document strategy for metrics and evaluation
      - Highlight which items on your list are doable in 2009.

N   - Write a summary of progress toward Overlapped I/O on Windows.

S   - Write a summary of progress toward understanding risks to relays
      (and thus bridges) from letting attackers route traffic through
      them.

R   - Revise and publish incentive draft paper
      - Write an explanation for its current flaws
      - Gather comments, search for new designs
      - Write up a summary of recommendations and next steps

W   - Download fewer descriptors
      - Summarize progress so far, on all the different approaches to
        reducing directory download overhead.
        - Measure/estimate impact of each improvement.
      - Build a plan and timeline for implementing the rest.

N   - Write a summary of progress toward "enumerating TLS fingerprint
      blocking risks and how we would overcome / respond to each".

I   - Email auto-responder
      - Document the design and spec.
        - Describe auto-responder "commands"
        - Describe DKIM requirement (and alternatives)
        - Describe how we're going to localize the text
      - Describe the workflow for a user that wants to know she's got
        the right file. Digitally signed installer? Feed it to the
        updater that recognizes signatures? Other options?
      - How do we better support users with limited email
        bandwidth? Multi-part download? Teach them how to reconnect
        their gmail? Does downloading your gmail work when your network
        keeps dying?

K   - Metrics.
      - Gather and document monthly usage metrics, by country
        - Using Roger's old method of counting users
        - Using Nick's new method of counting users
        - Start playing around with figuring out which one is more
          accurate, or how to combine them to get better guesses,
          or something.
      - Automatically collect and document or publish other monthly
        statistics
        - Total data over time
        - Number, availability and performance of relays
        - Advertised capacity
      - With Mike's help, use Torflow to start doing monthly rudimentary
        performance evaluations:
        - Circuit throughput and latency
        - Measure via Broadband and dialup
      - Make a few graphs of the most interesting public data
      - Publish a report addressing key long-term metrics questions:
        - What metrics should we present?
        - What data are available for these metrics?
        - What data are missing, and can collect them safely? Can we
          publish them safely?
        - What systems are available to present this data?

E   - Vidalia improvements
      - Implement Vidalia presentation of plaintext port warnings
      - Figure out a plan for presenting other Tor status warning events.
      - Move Polipo into the main Vidalia -dev bundle.
      - Vidalia displays by-country user summary for bridge operators
R       - Tor sends a status event or something so Vidalia knows what
          to display

M   - Network scanning and network health
      - Implement some initial automated scans.
      - Describe a roadmap for how to get from here to plausible,
        long-term security scanning tests for Tor network
      - Document a strategy for incorporating results into directory
        consensus documents. At what phases will we be ready to automate
        which parts? How will we recognize when we are ready?

M   - Torbutton development
      - Keep up with our bugfixes -- build a plan for (or resolve)
        every item in Flyspray, and other known issues.
      - Build a strategy for how Torbutton and Vidalia can
        communicate. E.g., what do we do with the 'new identity' button
        in Vidalia?
      - Make Torbutton happy on FF3, especially so TBB can drop FF2.

C   - Transparent interception of connections on Windows
      - Produce prototype, with screenshots for how to install and test.
      - Document open issues, future work, things users need to be aware
        of, etc.

S   - Tor Browser bundle work
      - Use native Vidalia (non-PortableFirefox) launcher for browser
      - Close Browser on clean Vidalia exit
      - Establish feasibility of simultaneous Firefox usage (also
        considering implications for (OpenVPN-style or other) system-wide
        Tor interception)
      - Switch Tor Browser Bundle to Firefox 3, once Torbutton is ready.
      - Continue analyzing "traces" left on host machine by use of
        Tor Browser. Write a summary of current progress, and what
        remains.

I   - Periodic summaries of localization progress
I   - Collecting user stories
I   - Revise the 'Tor mirror page' so it doesn't list obsolete-looking
      timestamps. Just have two tables, "new enough" and "not new enough".