2 TC: A Tor control protocol (Version 1)
6 This document describes an implementation-specific protocol that is used
7 for other programs (such as frontend user-interfaces) to communicate with a
8 locally running Tor process. It is not part of the Tor onion routing
11 This protocol replaces version 0 of TC, which is now deprecated. For
12 reference, TC is described in "control-spec-v0.txt". Implementors are
13 recommended to avoid using TC directly, but instead to use a library that
14 can easily be updated to use the newer protocol. (Version 0 is used by Tor
15 versions 0.1.0.x; the protocol in this document only works with Tor
16 versions in the 0.1.1.x series and later.)
20 TC is a bidirectional message-based protocol. It assumes an underlying
21 stream for communication between a controlling process (the "client"
22 or "controller") and a Tor process (or "server"). The stream may be
23 implemented via TCP, TLS-over-TCP, a Unix-domain socket, or so on,
24 but it must provide reliable in-order delivery. For security, the
25 stream should not be accessible by untrusted parties.
27 In TC, the client and server send typed messages to each other over the
28 underlying stream. The client sends "commands" and the server sends
31 By default, all messages from the server are in response to messages from
32 the client. Some client requests, however, will cause the server to send
33 messages to the client indefinitely far into the future. Such
34 "asynchronous" replies are marked as such.
36 Servers respond to messages in the order messages are received.
40 2.1. Description format
42 The message formats listed below use ABNF as described in RFC 2234.
43 The protocol itself is loosely based on SMTP (see RFC 2821).
45 We use the following nonterminals from RFC 2822: atom, qcontent
47 We define the following general-use nonterminals:
49 String = DQUOTE *qcontent DQUOTE
51 There are explicitly no limits on line length. All 8-bit characters are
52 permitted unless explicitly disallowed.
54 Wherever CRLF is specified to be accepted from the controller, Tor MAY also
55 accept LF. Tor, however, MUST NOT generate LF instead of CRLF.
56 Controllers SHOULD always send CRLF.
58 2.2. Commands from controller to Tor
60 Command = Keyword Arguments CRLF / "+" Keyword Arguments CRLF Data
62 Arguments = *(SP / VCHAR)
64 Specific commands and their arguments are described below in section 3.
66 2.3. Replies from Tor to the controller
68 Reply = SyncReply / AsyncReply
69 SyncReply = *(MidReplyLine / DataReplyLine) EndReplyLine
70 AsyncReply = *(MidReplyLine / DataReplyLine) EndReplyLine
72 MidReplyLine = StatusCode "-" ReplyLine
73 DataReplyLine = StatusCode "+" ReplyLine Data
74 EndReplyLine = StatusCode SP ReplyLine
75 ReplyLine = [ReplyText] CRLF
79 Specific replies are mentioned below in section 3, and described more fully
82 [Compatibility note: versions of Tor before 0.2.0.3-alpha sometimes
83 generate AsyncReplies of the form "*(MidReplyLine / DataReplyLine)".
84 This is incorrect, but controllers that need to work with these
85 versions of Tor should be prepared to get multi-line AsyncReplies with
86 the final line (usually "650 OK") omitted.]
88 2.4. General-use tokens
90 ; Identifiers for servers.
91 ServerID = Nickname / Fingerprint
93 Nickname = 1*19 NicknameChar
94 NicknameChar = "a"-"z" / "A"-"Z" / "0" - "9"
95 Fingerprint = "$" 40*HEXDIG
97 ; A "=" indicates that the given nickname is canonical; a "~" indicates
98 ; that the given nickname is not canonical. If no nickname is given at
99 ; all, Tor does not even have a guess for what this router calls itself.
100 LongName = Fingerprint [ ( "=" / "~" ) Nickname ]
102 ; How a controller tells Tor about a particular OR. There are four
104 ; $Digest -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given digest.
105 ; This is the preferred way to refer to an OR.
106 ; $Digest~Name -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given
107 ; digest, but only if the router has the given nickname.
108 ; $Digest=Name -- The router whose identity key hashes to the given
109 ; digest, but only if the router is Named and has the given
111 ; Name -- The Named router with the given nickname, or, if no such
112 ; router exists, any router whose nickname matches the one given.
113 ; This is not a safe way to refer to routers, since Named status
114 ; could under some circumstances change over time.
115 ServerSpec = LongName / Nickname
117 ; Unique identifiers for streams or circuits. Currently, Tor only
118 ; uses digits, but this may change
119 StreamID = 1*16 IDChar
120 CircuitID = 1*16 IDChar
121 IDChar = ALPHA / DIGIT
123 Address = ip4-address / ip6-address / hostname (XXXX Define these)
125 ; A "Data" section is a sequence of octets concluded by the terminating
126 ; sequence CRLF "." CRLF. The terminating sequence may not appear in the
127 ; body of the data. Leading periods on lines in the data are escaped with
128 ; an additional leading period as in RFC 2821 section 4.5.2.
129 Data = *DataLine "." CRLF
130 DataLine = CRLF / "." 1*LineItem CRLF / NonDotItem *LineItem CRLF
131 LineItem = NonCR / 1*CR NonCRLF
132 NonDotItem = NonDotCR / 1*CR NonCRLF
136 All commands are case-insensitive, but most keywords are case-sensitive.
140 Change the value of one or more configuration variables. The syntax is:
142 "SETCONF" 1*(SP keyword ["=" value]) CRLF
143 value = String / QuotedString
145 Tor behaves as though it had just read each of the key-value pairs
146 from its configuration file. Keywords with no corresponding values have
147 their configuration values reset to 0 or NULL (use RESETCONF if you want
148 to set it back to its default). SETCONF is all-or-nothing: if there
149 is an error in any of the configuration settings, Tor sets none of them.
151 Tor responds with a "250 configuration values set" reply on success.
152 If some of the listed keywords can't be found, Tor replies with a
153 "552 Unrecognized option" message. Otherwise, Tor responds with a
154 "513 syntax error in configuration values" reply on syntax error, or a
155 "553 impossible configuration setting" reply on a semantic error.
157 When a configuration option takes multiple values, or when multiple
158 configuration keys form a context-sensitive group (see GETCONF below), then
159 setting _any_ of the options in a SETCONF command is taken to reset all of
160 the others. For example, if two ORBindAddress values are configured, and a
161 SETCONF command arrives containing a single ORBindAddress value, the new
162 command's value replaces the two old values.
164 Sometimes it is not possible to change configuration options solely by
165 issuing a series of SETCONF commands, because the value of one of the
166 configuration options depends on the value of another which has not yet
167 been set. Such situations can be overcome by setting multiple configuration
168 options with a single SETCONF command (e.g. SETCONF ORPort=443
169 ORListenAddress=9001).
173 Remove all settings for a given configuration option entirely, assign
174 its default value (if any), and then assign the String provided.
175 Typically the String is left empty, to simply set an option back to
176 its default. The syntax is:
178 "RESETCONF" 1*(SP keyword ["=" String]) CRLF
180 Otherwise it behaves like SETCONF above.
184 Request the value of a configuration variable. The syntax is:
186 "GETCONF" 1*(SP keyword) CRLF
188 If all of the listed keywords exist in the Tor configuration, Tor replies
189 with a series of reply lines of the form:
191 If any option is set to a 'default' value semantically different from an
192 empty string, Tor may reply with a reply line of the form:
195 Value may be a raw value or a quoted string. Tor will try to use
196 unquoted values except when the value could be misinterpreted through
199 If some of the listed keywords can't be found, Tor replies with a
200 "552 unknown configuration keyword" message.
202 If an option appears multiple times in the configuration, all of its
203 key-value pairs are returned in order.
205 Some options are context-sensitive, and depend on other options with
206 different keywords. These cannot be fetched directly. Currently there
207 is only one such option: clients should use the "HiddenServiceOptions"
208 virtual keyword to get all HiddenServiceDir, HiddenServicePort,
209 HiddenServiceNodes, and HiddenServiceExcludeNodes option settings.
213 Request the server to inform the client about interesting events. The
216 "SETEVENTS" [SP "EXTENDED"] *(SP EventCode) CRLF
218 EventCode = "CIRC" / "STREAM" / "ORCONN" / "BW" / "DEBUG" /
219 "INFO" / "NOTICE" / "WARN" / "ERR" / "NEWDESC" / "ADDRMAP" /
220 "AUTHDIR_NEWDESCS" / "DESCCHANGED" / "STATUS_GENERAL" /
221 "STATUS_CLIENT" / "STATUS_SERVER" / "GUARD" / "NS" / "STREAM_BW" /
224 Any events *not* listed in the SETEVENTS line are turned off; thus, sending
225 SETEVENTS with an empty body turns off all event reporting.
227 The server responds with a "250 OK" reply on success, and a "552
228 Unrecognized event" reply if one of the event codes isn't recognized. (On
229 error, the list of active event codes isn't changed.)
231 If the flag string "EXTENDED" is provided, Tor may provide extra
232 information with events for this connection; see 4.1 for more information.
233 NOTE: All events on a given connection will be provided in extended format,
235 NOTE: "EXTENDED" is only supported in Tor 0.1.1.9-alpha or later.
237 Each event is described in more detail in Section 4.1.
241 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
242 "AUTHENTICATE" [ SP 1*HEXDIG / QuotedString ] CRLF
244 The server responds with "250 OK" on success or "515 Bad authentication" if
245 the authentication cookie is incorrect. Tor closes the connection on an
246 authentication failure.
248 The format of the 'cookie' is implementation-dependent; see 5.1 below for
249 information on how the standard Tor implementation handles it.
251 Before the client has authenticated, no command other than PROTOCOLINFO,
252 AUTHENTICATE, or QUIT is valid. If the controller sends any other command,
253 or sends a malformed command, or sends an unsuccessful AUTHENTICATE
254 command, or sends PROTOCOLINFO more than once, Tor sends an error reply and
255 closes the connection.
257 To prevent some cross-protocol attacks, the AUTHENTICATE command is still
258 required even if all authentication methods in Tor are disabled. In this
259 case, the controller should just send "AUTHENTICATE" CRLF.
261 (Versions of Tor before 0.1.2.16 and 0.2.0.4-alpha did not close the
262 connection after an authentication failure.)
266 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
269 Instructs the server to write out its config options into its torrc. Server
270 returns "250 OK" if successful, or "551 Unable to write configuration
271 to disk" if it can't write the file or some other error occurs.
275 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
277 "SIGNAL" SP Signal CRLF
279 Signal = "RELOAD" / "SHUTDOWN" / "DUMP" / "DEBUG" / "HALT" /
280 "HUP" / "INT" / "USR1" / "USR2" / "TERM" / "NEWNYM" /
283 The meaning of the signals are:
285 RELOAD -- Reload: reload config items, refetch directory. (like HUP)
286 SHUTDOWN -- Controlled shutdown: if server is an OP, exit immediately.
287 If it's an OR, close listeners and exit after 30 seconds.
289 DUMP -- Dump stats: log information about open connections and
290 circuits. (like USR1)
291 DEBUG -- Debug: switch all open logs to loglevel debug. (like USR2)
292 HALT -- Immediate shutdown: clean up and exit now. (like TERM)
293 CLEARDNSCACHE -- Forget the client-side cached IPs for all hostnames.
294 NEWNYM -- Switch to clean circuits, so new application requests
295 don't share any circuits with old ones. Also clears
296 the client-side DNS cache. (Tor MAY rate-limit its
297 response to this signal.)
299 The server responds with "250 OK" if the signal is recognized (or simply
300 closes the socket if it was asked to close immediately), or "552
301 Unrecognized signal" if the signal is unrecognized.
305 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
307 "MAPADDRESS" 1*(Address "=" Address SP) CRLF
309 The first address in each pair is an "original" address; the second is a
310 "replacement" address. The client sends this message to the server in
311 order to tell it that future SOCKS requests for connections to the original
312 address should be replaced with connections to the specified replacement
313 address. If the addresses are well-formed, and the server is able to
314 fulfill the request, the server replies with a 250 message:
315 250-OldAddress1=NewAddress1
316 250 OldAddress2=NewAddress2
318 containing the source and destination addresses. If request is
319 malformed, the server replies with "512 syntax error in command
320 argument". If the server can't fulfill the request, it replies with
321 "451 resource exhausted".
323 The client may decline to provide a body for the original address, and
324 instead send a special null address ("0.0.0.0" for IPv4, "::0" for IPv6, or
325 "." for hostname), signifying that the server should choose the original
326 address itself, and return that address in the reply. The server
327 should ensure that it returns an element of address space that is unlikely
328 to be in actual use. If there is already an address mapped to the
329 destination address, the server may reuse that mapping.
331 If the original address is already mapped to a different address, the old
332 mapping is removed. If the original address and the destination address
333 are the same, the server removes any mapping in place for the original
337 C: MAPADDRESS 0.0.0.0=torproject.org 1.2.3.4=tor.freehaven.net
338 S: 250-127.192.10.10=torproject.org
339 S: 250 1.2.3.4=tor.freehaven.net
341 {Note: This feature is designed to be used to help Tor-ify applications
342 that need to use SOCKS4 or hostname-less SOCKS5. There are three
343 approaches to doing this:
344 1. Somehow make them use SOCKS4a or SOCKS5-with-hostnames instead.
345 2. Use tor-resolve (or another interface to Tor's resolve-over-SOCKS
346 feature) to resolve the hostname remotely. This doesn't work
347 with special addresses like x.onion or x.y.exit.
348 3. Use MAPADDRESS to map an IP address to the desired hostname, and then
349 arrange to fool the application into thinking that the hostname
350 has resolved to that IP.
351 This functionality is designed to help implement the 3rd approach.}
353 Mappings set by the controller last until the Tor process exits:
354 they never expire. If the controller wants the mapping to last only
355 a certain time, then it must explicitly un-map the address when that
360 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is as for GETCONF:
361 "GETINFO" 1*(SP keyword) CRLF
362 one or more NL-terminated strings. The server replies with an INFOVALUE
363 message, or a 551 or 552 error.
365 Unlike GETCONF, this message is used for data that are not stored in the Tor
366 configuration file, and that may be longer than a single line. On success,
367 one ReplyLine is sent for each requested value, followed by a final 250 OK
368 ReplyLine. If a value fits on a single line, the format is:
370 If a value must be split over multiple lines, the format is:
374 Recognized keys and their values include:
376 "version" -- The version of the server's software, including the name
377 of the software. (example: "Tor 0.0.9.4")
379 "config-file" -- The location of Tor's configuration file ("torrc").
381 ["exit-policy/prepend" -- The default exit policy lines that Tor will
382 *prepend* to the ExitPolicy config option.
383 -- Never implemented. Useful?]
385 "exit-policy/default" -- The default exit policy lines that Tor will
386 *append* to the ExitPolicy config option.
388 "desc/id/<OR identity>" or "desc/name/<OR nickname>" -- the latest
389 server descriptor for a given OR, NUL-terminated.
391 "desc-annotations/id/<OR identity>" -- outputs the annotations string
392 (source, timestamp of arrival, purpose, etc) for the corresponding
393 descriptor. [First implemented in 0.2.0.13-alpha.]
395 "extra-info/digest/<digest>" -- the extrainfo document whose digest (in
396 hex) is <digest>. Only available if we're downloading extra-info
399 "ns/id/<OR identity>" or "ns/name/<OR nickname>" -- the latest router
400 status info (v2 directory style) for a given OR. Router status
402 dir-spec.txt, and reflects the current beliefs of this Tor about the
403 router in question. Like directory clients, controllers MUST
404 tolerate unrecognized flags and lines. The published date and
405 descriptor digest are those believed to be best by this Tor,
406 not necessarily those for a descriptor that Tor currently has.
407 [First implemented in 0.1.2.3-alpha.]
409 "ns/all" -- Router status info (v2 directory style) for all ORs we
410 have an opinion about, joined by newlines. [First implemented
413 "ns/purpose/<purpose>" -- Router status info (v2 directory style)
414 for all ORs of this purpose. Mostly designed for /ns/purpose/bridge
415 queries. [First implemented in 0.2.0.13-alpha.]
417 "desc/all-recent" -- the latest server descriptor for every router that
420 "network-status" -- a space-separated list (v1 directory style)
421 of all known OR identities. This is in the same format as the
422 router-status line in v1 directories; see dir-spec-v1.txt section
423 3 for details. (If VERBOSE_NAMES is enabled, the output will
424 not conform to dir-spec-v1.txt; instead, the result will be a
425 space-separated list of LongName, each preceded by a "!" if it is
426 believed to be not running.) This option is deprecated; use
429 "address-mappings/all"
430 "address-mappings/config"
431 "address-mappings/cache"
432 "address-mappings/control" -- a \r\n-separated list of address
433 mappings, each in the form of "from-address to-address expiry".
434 The 'config' key returns those address mappings set in the
435 configuration; the 'cache' key returns the mappings in the
436 client-side DNS cache; the 'control' key returns the mappings set
437 via the control interface; the 'all' target returns the mappings
438 set through any mechanism.
439 Expiry is formatted as with ADDRMAP events, except that "expiry" is
440 always a time in GMT or the string "NEVER"; see section 4.1.7.
441 First introduced in 0.2.0.3-alpha.
443 "addr-mappings/*" -- as for address-mappings/*, but without the
444 expiry portion of the value. Use of this value is deprecated
445 since 0.2.0.3-alpha; use address-mappings instead.
447 "address" -- the best guess at our external IP address. If we
448 have no guess, return a 551 error. (Added in 0.1.2.2-alpha)
450 "fingerprint" -- the contents of the fingerprint file that Tor
451 writes as a server, or a 551 if we're not a server currently.
452 (Added in 0.1.2.3-alpha)
455 A series of lines as for a circuit status event. Each line is of
457 CircuitID SP CircStatus [SP Path] CRLF
460 A series of lines as for a stream status event. Each is of the form:
461 StreamID SP StreamStatus SP CircID SP Target CRLF
464 A series of lines as for an OR connection status event. Each is of the
466 ServerID SP ORStatus CRLF
469 A series of lines listing the currently chosen entry guards, if any.
471 ServerID2 SP Status [SP ISOTime] CRLF
473 Status-with-time = ("unlisted") SP ISOTime
474 Status = ("up" / "never-connected" / "down" /
475 "unusable" / "unlisted" )
477 ServerID2 = Nickname / 40*HEXDIG
479 [From 0.1.1.4-alpha to 0.1.1.10-alpha, this was called "helper-nodes".
480 Tor still supports calling it that for now, but support will be
483 [Older versions of Tor (before 0.1.2.x-final) generated 'down' instead
484 of unlisted/unusable. Current Tors never generate 'down'.]
486 [XXXX ServerID2 differs from ServerID in not prefixing fingerprints
487 with a $. This is an implementation error. It would be nice to add
488 the $ back in if we can do so without breaking compatibility.]
491 "accounting/hibernating"
493 "accounting/bytes-left"
494 "accounting/interval-start"
495 "accounting/interval-wake"
496 "accounting/interval-end"
497 Information about accounting status. If accounting is enabled,
498 "enabled" is 1; otherwise it is 0. The "hibernating" field is "hard"
499 if we are accepting no data; "soft" if we're accepting no new
500 connections, and "awake" if we're not hibernating at all. The "bytes"
501 and "bytes-left" fields contain (read-bytes SP write-bytes), for the
502 start and the rest of the interval respectively. The 'interval-start'
503 and 'interval-end' fields are the borders of the current interval; the
504 'interval-wake' field is the time within the current interval (if any)
505 where we plan[ned] to start being active.
508 A series of lines listing the available configuration options. Each is
510 OptionName SP OptionType [ SP Documentation ] CRLF
512 OptionType = "Integer" / "TimeInterval" / "DataSize" / "Float" /
513 "Boolean" / "Time" / "CommaList" / "Dependant" / "Virtual" /
514 "String" / "LineList"
518 A series of lines listing the available GETINFO options. Each is of
520 OptionName SP Documentation CRLF
521 OptionPrefix SP Documentation CRLF
522 OptionPrefix = OptionName "/*"
525 A space-separated list of all the events supported by this version of
529 A space-separated list of all the events supported by this version of
533 Maps IP addresses to 2-letter country codes. For example,
534 "GETINFO ip-to-country/18.0.0.1" should give "US".
536 "next-circuit/IP:port"
539 "dir/status-vote/current/consensus" [added in Tor 0.2.1.6-alpha]
540 "dir/status/authority"
542 "dir/status/fp/<F1>+<F2>+<F3>"
545 "dir/server/fp/<F1>+<F2>+<F3>"
547 "dir/server/d/<D1>+<D2>+<D3>"
548 "dir/server/authority"
550 A series of lines listing directory contents, provided according to the
551 specification for the URLs listed in Section 4.4 of dir-spec.txt. Note
552 that Tor MUST NOT provide private information, such as descriptors for
553 routers not marked as general-purpose. When asked for 'authority'
554 information for which this Tor is not authoritative, Tor replies with
557 "status/circuit-established"
558 "status/enough-dir-info"
559 "status/good-server-descriptor"
561 These provide the current internal Tor values for various Tor
562 states. See Section 4.1.10 for explanations. (Only a few of the
563 status events are available as getinfo's currently. Let us know if
564 you want more exposed.)
565 "status/reachability/or"
566 0 or 1, depending on whether we've found our ORPort reachable.
567 "status/reachability/dir"
568 0 or 1, depending on whether we've found our DirPort reachable.
569 "status/reachability"
570 "OR=" ("0"/"1") SP "DIR=" ("0"/"1")
571 Combines status/reachability/*; controllers MUST ignore unrecognized
572 elements in this entry.
573 "status/bootstrap-phase"
574 Returns the most recent bootstrap phase status event
575 sent. Specifically, it returns a string starting with either
576 "NOTICE BOOTSTRAP ..." or "WARN BOOTSTRAP ...". Controllers should
577 use this getinfo when they connect or attach to Tor to learn its
578 current bootstrap state.
579 "status/version/recommended"
580 List of currently recommended versions.
581 "status/version/current"
582 Status of the current version. One of: new, old, unrecommended,
583 recommended, new in series, obsolete.
584 "status/clients-seen"
585 A summary of which countries we've seen clients from recently,
586 formatted the same as the CLIENTS_SEEN status event described in
587 Section 4.1.14. This GETINFO option is currently available only
591 C: GETINFO version desc/name/moria1
592 S: 250+desc/name/moria=
593 S: [Descriptor for moria]
595 S: 250-version=Tor 0.1.1.0-alpha-cvs
600 Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
601 "EXTENDCIRCUIT" SP CircuitID SP
602 ServerSpec *("," ServerSpec)
603 [SP "purpose=" Purpose] CRLF
605 This request takes one of two forms: either the CircuitID is zero, in
606 which case it is a request for the server to build a new circuit according
607 to the specified path, or the CircuitID is nonzero, in which case it is a
608 request for the server to extend an existing circuit with that ID according
609 to the specified path.
611 If CircuitID is 0 and "purpose=" is specified, then the circuit's
612 purpose is set. Two choices are recognized: "general" and
613 "controller". If not specified, circuits are created as "general".
615 If the request is successful, the server sends a reply containing a
616 message body consisting of the CircuitID of the (maybe newly created)
617 circuit. The syntax is "250" SP "EXTENDED" SP CircuitID CRLF.
619 3.11. SETCIRCUITPURPOSE
621 Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
622 "SETCIRCUITPURPOSE" SP CircuitID SP Purpose CRLF
624 This changes the circuit's purpose. See EXTENDCIRCUIT above for details.
626 3.12. SETROUTERPURPOSE
628 Sent from the client to the server. The format is:
629 "SETROUTERPURPOSE" SP NicknameOrKey SP Purpose CRLF
631 This changes the descriptor's purpose. See +POSTDESCRIPTOR below
634 NOTE: This command was disabled and made obsolete as of Tor
635 0.2.0.8-alpha. It doesn't exist anymore, and is listed here only for
640 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
641 "ATTACHSTREAM" SP StreamID SP CircuitID [SP "HOP=" HopNum] CRLF
643 This message informs the server that the specified stream should be
644 associated with the specified circuit. Each stream may be associated with
645 at most one circuit, and multiple streams may share the same circuit.
646 Streams can only be attached to completed circuits (that is, circuits that
647 have sent a circuit status 'BUILT' event or are listed as built in a
648 GETINFO circuit-status request).
650 If the circuit ID is 0, responsibility for attaching the given stream is
653 If HOP=HopNum is specified, Tor will choose the HopNumth hop in the
654 circuit as the exit node, rather than the last node in the circuit.
655 Hops are 1-indexed; generally, it is not permitted to attach to hop 1.
657 Tor responds with "250 OK" if it can attach the stream, 552 if the circuit
658 or stream didn't exist, or 551 if the stream couldn't be attached for
661 {Implementation note: Tor will close unattached streams by itself,
662 roughly two minutes after they are born. Let the developers know if
663 that turns out to be a problem.}
665 {Implementation note: By default, Tor automatically attaches streams to
666 circuits itself, unless the configuration variable
667 "__LeaveStreamsUnattached" is set to "1". Attempting to attach streams
668 via TC when "__LeaveStreamsUnattached" is false may cause a race between
669 Tor and the controller, as both attempt to attach streams to circuits.}
671 {Implementation note: You can try to attachstream to a stream that
672 has already sent a connect or resolve request but hasn't succeeded
673 yet, in which case Tor will detach the stream from its current circuit
674 before proceeding with the new attach request.}
678 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
679 "+POSTDESCRIPTOR" [SP "purpose=" Purpose] [SP "cache=" Cache]
680 CRLF Descriptor CRLF "." CRLF
682 This message informs the server about a new descriptor. If Purpose is
683 specified, it must be either "general", "controller", or "bridge",
684 else we return a 552 error. The default is "general".
686 If Cache is specified, it must be either "no" or "yes", else we
687 return a 552 error. If Cache is not specified, Tor will decide for
688 itself whether it wants to cache the descriptor, and controllers
689 must not rely on its choice.
691 The descriptor, when parsed, must contain a number of well-specified
692 fields, including fields for its nickname and identity.
694 If there is an error in parsing the descriptor, the server must send a
695 "554 Invalid descriptor" reply. If the descriptor is well-formed but
696 the server chooses not to add it, it must reply with a 251 message
697 whose body explains why the server was not added. If the descriptor
698 is added, Tor replies with "250 OK".
702 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
703 "REDIRECTSTREAM" SP StreamID SP Address [SP Port] CRLF
705 Tells the server to change the exit address on the specified stream. If
706 Port is specified, changes the destination port as well. No remapping
707 is performed on the new provided address.
709 To be sure that the modified address will be used, this event must be sent
710 after a new stream event is received, and before attaching this stream to
713 Tor replies with "250 OK" on success.
717 Sent from the client to the server. The syntax is:
719 "CLOSESTREAM" SP StreamID SP Reason *(SP Flag) CRLF
721 Tells the server to close the specified stream. The reason should be one
722 of the Tor RELAY_END reasons given in tor-spec.txt, as a decimal. Flags is
723 not used currently; Tor servers SHOULD ignore unrecognized flags. Tor may
724 hold the stream open for a while to flush any data that is pending.
726 Tor replies with "250 OK" on success, or a 512 if there aren't enough
727 arguments, or a 552 if it doesn't recognize the StreamID or reason.
732 CLOSECIRCUIT SP CircuitID *(SP Flag) CRLF
735 Tells the server to close the specified circuit. If "IfUnused" is
736 provided, do not close the circuit unless it is unused.
738 Other flags may be defined in the future; Tor SHOULD ignore unrecognized
741 Tor replies with "250 OK" on success, or a 512 if there aren't enough
742 arguments, or a 552 if it doesn't recognize the CircuitID.
746 Tells the server to hang up on this controller connection. This command
747 can be used before authenticating.
753 "USEFEATURE" *(SP FeatureName) CRLF
754 FeatureName = 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "_" / "-")
756 Sometimes extensions to the controller protocol break compatibility with
757 older controllers. In this case, whenever possible, the extensions are
758 first included in Tor disabled by default, and only enabled on a given
759 controller connection when the "USEFEATURE" command is given. Once a
760 "USEFEATURE" command is given, it applies to all subsequent interactions on
761 the same connection; to disable an enabled feature, a new controller
762 connection must be opened.
764 This is a forward-compatibility mechanism; each feature will eventually
765 become a regular part of the control protocol in some future version of Tor.
766 Tor will ignore a request to use any feature that is already on by default.
767 Tor will give a "552" error if any requested feature is not recognized.
769 Feature names are case-insensitive.
773 Same as passing 'EXTENDED' to SETEVENTS; this is the preferred way to
774 request the extended event syntax.
776 This feaure was first used in 0.1.2.3-alpha. It is always-on in
777 Tor 0.2.2.1-alpha and later.
781 Instead of ServerID as specified above, the controller should
782 identify ORs by LongName in events and GETINFO results. This format is
783 strictly more informative: rather than including Nickname for
784 known Named routers and Fingerprint for unknown or unNamed routers, the
785 LongName format includes a Fingerprint, an indication of Named status,
786 and a Nickname (if one is known).
788 This will not be always-enabled until at least two stable
789 releases after 0.1.2.2-alpha, the release where it was first
790 available. It is always-on in Tor 0.2.2.1-alpha and later.
795 "RESOLVE" *Option *Address CRLF
796 Option = "mode=reverse"
797 Address = a hostname or IPv4 address
799 This command launches a remote hostname lookup request for every specified
800 request (or reverse lookup if "mode=reverse" is specified). Note that the
801 request is done in the background: to see the answers, your controller will
802 need to listen for ADDRMAP events; see 4.1.7 below.
804 [Added in Tor 0.2.0.3-alpha]
809 "PROTOCOLINFO" *(SP PIVERSION) CRLF
811 The server reply format is:
812 "250-PROTOCOLINFO" SP PIVERSION CRLF *InfoLine "250 OK" CRLF
814 InfoLine = AuthLine / VersionLine / OtherLine
816 AuthLine = "250-AUTH" SP "METHODS=" AuthMethod *(",")AuthMethod
817 *(SP "COOKIEFILE=" AuthCookieFile) CRLF
818 VersionLine = "250-VERSION" SP "Tor=" TorVersion [SP Arguments] CRLF
821 "NULL" / ; No authentication is required
822 "HASHEDPASSWORD" / ; A controller must supply the original password
823 "COOKIE" / ; A controller must supply the contents of a cookie
825 AuthCookieFile = QuotedString
826 TorVersion = QuotedString
828 OtherLine = "250-" Keyword [SP Arguments] CRLF
832 Tor MAY give its InfoLines in any order; controllers MUST ignore InfoLines
833 with keywords they do not recognize. Controllers MUST ignore extraneous
834 data on any InfoLine.
836 PIVERSION is there in case we drastically change the syntax one day. For
837 now it should always be "1". Controllers MAY provide a list of the
838 protocolinfo versions they support; Tor MAY select a version that the
839 controller does not support.
841 AuthMethod is used to specify one or more control authentication
842 methods that Tor currently accepts.
844 AuthCookieFile specifies the absolute path and filename of the
845 authentication cookie that Tor is expecting and is provided iff
846 the METHODS field contains the method "COOKIE". Controllers MUST handle
847 escape sequences inside this string.
849 The VERSION line contains the Tor version.
851 [Unlike other commands besides AUTHENTICATE, PROTOCOLINFO may be used (but
852 only once!) before AUTHENTICATE.]
854 [PROTOCOLINFO was not supported before Tor 0.2.0.5-alpha.]
858 Reply codes follow the same 3-character format as used by SMTP, with the
859 first character defining a status, the second character defining a
860 subsystem, and the third designating fine-grained information.
862 The TC protocol currently uses the following first characters:
864 2yz Positive Completion Reply
865 The command was successful; a new request can be started.
867 4yz Temporary Negative Completion reply
868 The command was unsuccessful but might be reattempted later.
870 5yz Permanent Negative Completion Reply
871 The command was unsuccessful; the client should not try exactly
872 that sequence of commands again.
874 6yz Asynchronous Reply
875 Sent out-of-order in response to an earlier SETEVENTS command.
877 The following second characters are used:
880 Sent in response to ill-formed or nonsensical commands.
883 Refers to operations of the Tor Control protocol.
886 Refers to actual operations of Tor system.
888 The following codes are defined:
891 251 Operation was unnecessary
892 [Tor has declined to perform the operation, but no harm was done.]
894 451 Resource exhausted
896 500 Syntax error: protocol
898 510 Unrecognized command
899 511 Unimplemented command
900 512 Syntax error in command argument
901 513 Unrecognized command argument
902 514 Authentication required
903 515 Bad authentication
905 550 Unspecified Tor error
908 [Something went wrong inside Tor, so that the client's
909 request couldn't be fulfilled.]
911 552 Unrecognized entity
912 [A configuration key, a stream ID, circuit ID, event,
913 mentioned in the command did not actually exist.]
915 553 Invalid configuration value
916 [The client tried to set a configuration option to an
917 incorrect, ill-formed, or impossible value.]
919 554 Invalid descriptor
923 650 Asynchronous event notification
925 Unless specified to have specific contents, the human-readable messages
926 in error replies should not be relied upon to match those in this document.
928 4.1. Asynchronous events
930 These replies can be sent after a corresponding SETEVENTS command has been
931 received. They will not be interleaved with other Reply elements, but they
932 can appear between a command and its corresponding reply. For example,
933 this sequence is possible:
937 C: GETCONF SOCKSPORT ORPORT
938 S: 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
939 S: 250-SOCKSPORT=9050
942 But this sequence is disallowed:
945 C: GETCONF SOCKSPORT ORPORT
946 S: 250-SOCKSPORT=9050
947 S: 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
950 Clients MUST tolerate more arguments in an asynchonous reply than
951 expected, and MUST tolerate more lines in an asynchronous reply than
952 expected. For instance, a client that expects a CIRC message like:
953 650 CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2
955 650-CIRC 1000 EXTENDED moria1,moria2 0xBEEF
959 If clients ask for extended events, then each event line as specified below
960 will be followed by additional extensions. Additional lines will be of the
962 "650" ("-"/" ") KEYWORD ["=" ARGUMENTS] CRLF
963 Additional arguments will be of the form
964 SP KEYWORD ["=" ( QuotedString / * NonSpDquote ) ]
965 Such clients MUST tolerate lines with keywords they do not recognize.
967 4.1.1. Circuit status changed
971 "650" SP "CIRC" SP CircuitID SP CircStatus [SP Path]
972 [SP "REASON=" Reason [SP "REMOTE_REASON=" Reason]] CRLF
975 "LAUNCHED" / ; circuit ID assigned to new circuit
976 "BUILT" / ; all hops finished, can now accept streams
977 "EXTENDED" / ; one more hop has been completed
978 "FAILED" / ; circuit closed (was not built)
979 "CLOSED" ; circuit closed (was built)
981 Path = ServerID *("," ServerID)
983 Reason = "NONE" / "TORPROTOCOL" / "INTERNAL" / "REQUESTED" /
984 "HIBERNATING" / "RESOURCELIMIT" / "CONNECTFAILED" /
985 "OR_IDENTITY" / "OR_CONN_CLOSED" / "TIMEOUT" /
986 "FINISHED" / "DESTROYED" / "NOPATH" / "NOSUCHSERVICE"
988 The path is provided only when the circuit has been extended at least one
991 The "REASON" field is provided only for FAILED and CLOSED events, and only
992 if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST accept reasons
993 not listed above. Reasons are as given in tor-spec.txt, except for:
995 NOPATH (Not enough nodes to make circuit)
997 The "REMOTE_REASON" field is provided only when we receive a DESTROY or
998 TRUNCATE cell, and only if extended events are enabled. It contains the
999 actual reason given by the remote OR for closing the circuit. Clients MUST
1000 accept reasons not listed above. Reasons are as listed in tor-spec.txt.
1002 4.1.2. Stream status changed
1006 "650" SP "STREAM" SP StreamID SP StreamStatus SP CircID SP Target
1007 [SP "REASON=" Reason [ SP "REMOTE_REASON=" Reason ]]
1008 [SP "SOURCE=" Source] [ SP "SOURCE_ADDR=" Address ":" Port ]
1009 [SP "PURPOSE=" Purpose]
1013 "NEW" / ; New request to connect
1014 "NEWRESOLVE" / ; New request to resolve an address
1015 "REMAP" / ; Address re-mapped to another
1016 "SENTCONNECT" / ; Sent a connect cell along a circuit
1017 "SENTRESOLVE" / ; Sent a resolve cell along a circuit
1018 "SUCCEEDED" / ; Received a reply; stream established
1019 "FAILED" / ; Stream failed and not retriable
1020 "CLOSED" / ; Stream closed
1021 "DETACHED" ; Detached from circuit; still retriable
1023 Target = Address ":" Port
1025 The circuit ID designates which circuit this stream is attached to. If
1026 the stream is unattached, the circuit ID "0" is given.
1028 Reason = "MISC" / "RESOLVEFAILED" / "CONNECTREFUSED" /
1029 "EXITPOLICY" / "DESTROY" / "DONE" / "TIMEOUT" /
1030 "HIBERNATING" / "INTERNAL"/ "RESOURCELIMIT" /
1031 "CONNRESET" / "TORPROTOCOL" / "NOTDIRECTORY" / "END"
1033 The "REASON" field is provided only for FAILED, CLOSED, and DETACHED
1034 events, and only if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST
1035 accept reasons not listed above. Reasons are as given in tor-spec.txt,
1038 END (We received a RELAY_END cell from the other side of this
1040 [XXXX document more. -NM]
1042 The "REMOTE_REASON" field is provided only when we receive a RELAY_END
1043 cell, and only if extended events are enabled. It contains the actual
1044 reason given by the remote OR for closing the stream. Clients MUST accept
1045 reasons not listed above. Reasons are as listed in tor-spec.txt.
1047 "REMAP" events include a Source if extended events are enabled:
1048 Source = "CACHE" / "EXIT"
1049 Clients MUST accept sources not listed above. "CACHE" is given if
1050 the Tor client decided to remap the address because of a cached
1051 answer, and "EXIT" is given if the remote node we queried gave us
1052 the new address as a response.
1054 The "SOURCE_ADDR" field is included with NEW and NEWRESOLVE events if
1055 extended events are enabled. It indicates the address and port
1056 that requested the connection, and can be (e.g.) used to look up the
1059 Purpose = "DIR_FETCH" / "UPLOAD_DESC" / "DNS_REQUEST" /
1060 "USER" / "DIRPORT_TEST"
1062 The "PURPOSE" field is provided only for NEW and NEWRESOLVE events, and
1063 only if extended events are enabled (see 3.19). Clients MUST accept
1064 purposes not listed above.
1066 4.1.3. OR Connection status changed
1069 "650" SP "ORCONN" SP (ServerID / Target) SP ORStatus [ SP "REASON="
1070 Reason ] [ SP "NCIRCS=" NumCircuits ] CRLF
1072 ORStatus = "NEW" / "LAUNCHED" / "CONNECTED" / "FAILED" / "CLOSED"
1074 NEW is for incoming connections, and LAUNCHED is for outgoing
1075 connections. CONNECTED means the TLS handshake has finished (in
1076 either direction). FAILED means a connection is being closed that
1077 hasn't finished its handshake, and CLOSED is for connections that
1080 A ServerID is specified unless it's a NEW connection, in which
1081 case we don't know what server it is yet, so we use Address:Port.
1083 If extended events are enabled (see 3.19), optional reason and
1084 circuit counting information is provided for CLOSED and FAILED
1087 Reason = "MISC" / "DONE" / "CONNECTREFUSED" /
1088 "IDENTITY" / "CONNECTRESET" / "TIMEOUT" / "NOROUTE" /
1089 "IOERROR" / "RESOURCELIMIT"
1091 NumCircuits counts both established and pending circuits.
1093 4.1.4. Bandwidth used in the last second
1096 "650" SP "BW" SP BytesRead SP BytesWritten *(SP Type "=" Num) CRLF
1098 BytesWritten = 1*DIGIT
1099 Type = "DIR" / "OR" / "EXIT" / "APP" / ...
1102 BytesRead and BytesWritten are the totals. [In a future Tor version,
1103 we may also include a breakdown of the connection types that used
1104 bandwidth this second (not implemented yet).]
1109 "650" SP Severity SP ReplyText CRLF
1111 "650+" Severity CRLF Data 650 SP "OK" CRLF
1113 Severity = "DEBUG" / "INFO" / "NOTICE" / "WARN"/ "ERR"
1115 4.1.6. New descriptors available
1118 "650" SP "NEWDESC" 1*(SP ServerID) CRLF
1120 4.1.7. New Address mapping
1123 "650" SP "ADDRMAP" SP Address SP NewAddress SP Expiry
1124 [SP Error] SP GMTExpiry CRLF
1126 NewAddress = Address / "<error>"
1127 Expiry = DQUOTE ISOTime DQUOTE / "NEVER"
1129 Error = "error=" ErrorCode
1131 GMTExpiry = "EXPIRES=" DQUOTE IsoTime DQUOTE
1133 Error and GMTExpiry are only provided if extended events are enabled.
1135 Expiry is expressed as the local time (rather than GMT). This is a bug,
1136 left in for backward compatibility; new code should look at GMTExpiry
1139 These events are generated when a new address mapping is entered in the
1140 cache, or when the answer for a RESOLVE command is found.
1142 4.1.8. Descriptors uploaded to us in our role as authoritative dirserver
1145 "650" "+" "AUTHDIR_NEWDESCS" CRLF Action CRLF Message CRLF
1146 Descriptor CRLF "." CRLF "650" SP "OK" CRLF
1147 Action = "ACCEPTED" / "DROPPED" / "REJECTED"
1150 4.1.9. Our descriptor changed
1153 "650" SP "DESCCHANGED" CRLF
1155 [First added in 0.1.2.2-alpha.]
1157 4.1.10. Status events
1159 Status events (STATUS_GENERAL, STATUS_CLIENT, and STATUS_SERVER) are sent
1160 based on occurrences in the Tor process pertaining to the general state of
1161 the program. Generally, they correspond to log messages of severity Notice
1162 or higher. They differ from log messages in that their format is a
1163 specified interface.
1166 "650" SP StatusType SP StatusSeverity SP StatusAction
1167 [SP StatusArguments] CRLF
1169 StatusType = "STATUS_GENERAL" / "STATUS_CLIENT" / "STATUS_SERVER"
1170 StatusSeverity = "NOTICE" / "WARN" / "ERR"
1171 StatusAction = 1*ALPHA
1172 StatusArguments = StatusArgument *(SP StatusArgument)
1173 StatusArgument = StatusKeyword '=' StatusValue
1174 StatusKeyword = 1*(ALNUM / "_")
1175 StatusValue = 1*(ALNUM / '_') / QuotedString
1177 Action is a string, and Arguments is a series of keyword=value
1178 pairs on the same line. Values may be space-terminated strings,
1181 These events are always produced with EXTENDED_EVENTS and
1182 VERBOSE_NAMES; see the explanations in the USEFEATURE section
1185 Controllers MUST tolerate unrecognized actions, MUST tolerate
1186 unrecognized arguments, MUST tolerate missing arguments, and MUST
1187 tolerate arguments that arrive in any order.
1189 Each event description below is accompanied by a recommendation for
1190 controllers. These recommendations are suggestions only; no controller
1191 is required to implement them.
1193 Compatibility note: versions of Tor before 0.2.0.22-rc incorrectly
1194 generated "STATUS_SERVER" as "STATUS_SEVER". To be compatible with those
1195 versions, tools should accept both.
1197 Actions for STATUS_GENERAL events can be as follows:
1201 Tor spent enough time without CPU cycles that it has closed all
1202 its circuits and will establish them anew. This typically
1203 happens when a laptop goes to sleep and then wakes up again. It
1204 also happens when the system is swapping so heavily that Tor is
1205 starving. The "time" argument specifies the number of seconds Tor
1206 thinks it was unconscious for (or alternatively, the number of
1207 seconds it went back in time).
1209 This status event is sent as NOTICE severity normally, but WARN
1210 severity if Tor is acting as a server currently.
1212 {Recommendation for controller: ignore it, since we don't really
1213 know what the user should do anyway. Hm.}
1217 "REASON=NEW/OBSOLETE/UNRECOMMENDED"
1218 "RECOMMENDED=\"version, version, ...\""
1219 Tor has found that directory servers don't recommend its version of
1220 the Tor software. RECOMMENDED is a comma-and-space-separated string
1221 of Tor versions that are recommended. REASON is NEW if this version
1222 of Tor is newer than any recommended version, OBSOLETE if
1223 this version of Tor is older than any recommended version, and
1224 UNRECOMMENDED if some recommended versions of Tor are newer and
1225 some are older than this version. (The "OBSOLETE" reason was called
1226 "OLD" from Tor 0.1.2.3-alpha up to and including 0.2.0.12-alpha.)
1228 {Controllers may want to suggest that the user upgrade OLD or
1229 UNRECOMMENDED versions. NEW versions may be known-insecure, or may
1230 simply be development versions.}
1232 TOO_MANY_CONNECTIONS
1234 Tor has reached its ulimit -n or whatever the native limit is on file
1235 descriptors or sockets. CURRENT is the number of sockets Tor
1236 currently has open. The user should really do something about
1237 this. The "current" argument shows the number of connections currently
1240 {Controllers may recommend that the user increase the limit, or
1241 increase it for them. Recommendations should be phrased in an
1242 OS-appropriate way and automated when possible.}
1246 Tor has encountered a situation that its developers never expected,
1247 and the developers would like to learn that it happened. Perhaps
1248 the controller can explain this to the user and encourage her to
1251 {Controllers should log bugs, but shouldn't annoy the user in case a
1252 bug appears frequently.}
1255 SKEW="+" / "-" SECONDS
1256 MIN_SKEW="+" / "-" SECONDS.
1257 SOURCE="DIRSERV:IP:Port" / "NETWORKSTATUS:IP:PORT" / "CONSENSUS"
1258 If "SKEW" is present, it's an estimate of how far we are from the
1259 time declared in the source. (In other words, if we're an hour in
1260 the past, the value is -3600.) "MIN_SKEW" is present, it's a lower
1261 bound. If the source is a DIRSERV, we got the current time from a
1262 connection to a dirserver. If the source is a NETWORKSTATUS, we
1263 decided we're skewed because we got a v2 networkstatus from far in
1264 the future. If the source is CONSENSUS, we decided we're skewed
1265 because we got a networkstatus consensus from the future.
1267 {Controllers may want to warn the user if the skew is high, or if
1268 multiple skew messages appear at severity WARN. Controllers
1269 shouldn't blindly adjust the clock, since the more accurate source
1270 of skew info (DIRSERV) is currently unauthenticated.}
1273 "METHOD=" libevent method
1274 "VERSION=" libevent version
1275 "BADNESS=" "BROKEN" / "BUGGY" / "SLOW"
1276 "RECOVERED=" "NO" / "YES"
1277 Tor knows about bugs in using the configured event method in this
1278 version of libevent. "BROKEN" libevents won't work at all;
1279 "BUGGY" libevents might work okay; "SLOW" libevents will work
1280 fine, but not quickly. If "RECOVERED" is YES, Tor managed to
1281 switch to a more reliable (but probably slower!) libevent method.
1283 {Controllers may want to warn the user if this event occurs, though
1284 generally it's the fault of whoever built the Tor binary and there's
1285 not much the user can do besides upgrade libevent or upgrade the
1289 Tor believes that none of the known directory servers are
1290 reachable -- this is most likely because the local network is
1291 down or otherwise not working, and might help to explain for the
1292 user why Tor appears to be broken.
1294 {Controllers may want to warn the user if this event occurs; further
1295 action is generally not possible.}
1298 Tor has received and validated a new consensus networkstatus.
1299 (This event can be delayed a little while after the consensus
1300 is received, if Tor needs to fetch certificates.)
1302 Actions for STATUS_CLIENT events can be as follows:
1311 "RECOMMENDATION=" Keyword
1314 Tor has made some progress at establishing a connection to the
1315 Tor network, fetching directory information, or making its first
1316 circuit; or it has encountered a problem while bootstrapping. This
1317 status event is especially useful for users with slow connections
1318 or with connectivity problems.
1320 "Progress" gives a number between 0 and 100 for how far through
1321 the bootstrapping process we are. "Summary" is a string that can
1322 be displayed to the user to describe the *next* task that Tor
1323 will tackle, i.e., the task it is working on after sending the
1324 status event. "Tag" is a string that controllers can use to
1325 recognize bootstrap phases, if they want to do something smarter
1326 than just blindly displaying the summary string; see Section 5
1327 for the current tags that Tor issues.
1329 The StatusSeverity describes whether this is a normal bootstrap
1330 phase (severity notice) or an indication of a bootstrapping
1331 problem (severity warn).
1333 For bootstrap problems, we include the same progress, tag, and
1334 summary values as we would for a normal bootstrap event, but we
1335 also include "warning", "reason", "count", and "recommendation"
1336 key/value combos. The "count" number tells how many bootstrap
1337 problems there have been so far at this phase. The "reason"
1338 string lists one of the reasons allowed in the ORCONN event. The
1339 "warning" argument string with any hints Tor has to offer about
1340 why it's having troubles bootstrapping.
1342 The "reason" values are long-term-stable controller-facing tags to
1343 identify particular issues in a bootstrapping step. The warning
1344 strings, on the other hand, are human-readable. Controllers
1345 SHOULD NOT rely on the format of any warning string. Currently
1346 the possible values for "recommendation" are either "ignore" or
1347 "warn" -- if ignore, the controller can accumulate the string in
1348 a pile of problems to show the user if the user asks; if warn,
1349 the controller should alert the user that Tor is pretty sure
1350 there's a bootstrapping problem.
1352 Currently Tor uses recommendation=ignore for the first
1353 nine bootstrap problem reports for a given phase, and then
1354 uses recommendation=warn for subsequent problems at that
1355 phase. Hopefully this is a good balance between tolerating
1356 occasional errors and reporting serious problems quickly.
1359 Tor now knows enough network-status documents and enough server
1360 descriptors that it's going to start trying to build circuits now.
1362 {Controllers may want to use this event to decide when to indicate
1363 progress to their users, but should not interrupt the user's browsing
1367 We discarded expired statuses and router descriptors to fall
1368 below the desired threshold of directory information. We won't
1369 try to build any circuits until ENOUGH_DIR_INFO occurs again.
1371 {Controllers may want to use this event to decide when to indicate
1372 progress to their users, but should not interrupt the user's browsing
1376 Tor is able to establish circuits for client use. This event will
1377 only be sent if we just built a circuit that changed our mind --
1378 that is, prior to this event we didn't know whether we could
1381 {Suggested use: controllers can notify their users that Tor is
1382 ready for use as a client once they see this status event. [Perhaps
1383 controllers should also have a timeout if too much time passes and
1384 this event hasn't arrived, to give tips on how to troubleshoot.
1385 On the other hand, hopefully Tor will send further status events
1386 if it can identify the problem.]}
1388 CIRCUIT_NOT_ESTABLISHED
1389 "REASON=" "EXTERNAL_ADDRESS" / "DIR_ALL_UNREACHABLE" / "CLOCK_JUMPED"
1390 We are no longer confident that we can build circuits. The "reason"
1391 keyword provides an explanation: which other status event type caused
1392 our lack of confidence.
1394 {Controllers may want to use this event to decide when to indicate
1395 progress to their users, but should not interrupt the user's browsing
1397 [Note: only REASON=CLOCK_JUMPED is implemented currently.]
1401 "RESULT=" "REJECT" / "WARN"
1402 A stream was initiated to a port that's commonly used for
1403 vulnerable-plaintext protocols. If the Result is "reject", we
1404 refused the connection; whereas if it's "warn", we allowed it.
1406 {Controllers should warn their users when this occurs, unless they
1407 happen to know that the application using Tor is in fact doing so
1408 correctly (e.g., because it is part of a distributed bundle). They
1409 might also want some sort of interface to let the user configure
1410 their RejectPlaintextPorts and WarnPlaintextPorts config options.}
1413 "PROTOCOL=" "SOCKS4" / "SOCKS5"
1415 A connection was made to Tor's SOCKS port using one of the SOCKS
1416 approaches that doesn't support hostnames -- only raw IP addresses.
1417 If the client application got this address from gethostbyname(),
1418 it may be leaking target addresses via DNS.
1420 {Controllers should warn their users when this occurs, unless they
1421 happen to know that the application using Tor is in fact doing so
1422 correctly (e.g., because it is part of a distributed bundle).}
1424 SOCKS_UNKNOWN_PROTOCOL
1426 A connection was made to Tor's SOCKS port that tried to use it
1427 for something other than the SOCKS protocol. Perhaps the user is
1428 using Tor as an HTTP proxy? The DATA is the first few characters
1429 sent to Tor on the SOCKS port.
1431 {Controllers may want to warn their users when this occurs: it
1432 indicates a misconfigured application.}
1435 "HOSTNAME=QuotedString"
1436 Some application gave us a funny-looking hostname. Perhaps
1437 it is broken? In any case it won't work with Tor and the user
1440 {Controllers may want to warn their users when this occurs: it
1441 usually indicates a misconfigured application.}
1443 Actions for STATUS_SERVER can be as follows:
1448 "METHOD=CONFIGURED/DIRSERV/RESOLVED/INTERFACE/GETHOSTNAME"
1449 Our best idea for our externally visible IP has changed to 'IP'.
1450 If 'HOSTNAME' is present, we got the new IP by resolving 'NAME'. If the
1451 method is 'CONFIGURED', the IP was given verbatim as a configuration
1452 option. If the method is 'RESOLVED', we resolved the Address
1453 configuration option to get the IP. If the method is 'GETHOSTNAME',
1454 we resolved our hostname to get the IP. If the method is 'INTERFACE',
1455 we got the address of one of our network interfaces to get the IP. If
1456 the method is 'DIRSERV', a directory server told us a guess for what
1459 {Controllers may want to record this info and display it to the user.}
1461 CHECKING_REACHABILITY
1463 "DIRADDRESS=IP:port"
1464 We're going to start testing the reachability of our external OR port
1467 {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
1468 the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
1470 REACHABILITY_SUCCEEDED
1472 "DIRADDRESS=IP:port"
1473 We successfully verified the reachability of our external OR port or
1474 directory port (depending on which of ORADDRESS or DIRADDRESS is
1477 {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
1478 the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
1480 GOOD_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
1481 We successfully uploaded our server descriptor to at least one
1482 of the directory authorities, with no complaints.
1484 {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
1485 the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
1489 "STATUS=" "UP" / "DOWN"
1491 One of our nameservers has changed status.
1494 {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
1495 the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
1498 All of our nameservers have gone down.
1500 {This is a problem; if it happens often without the nameservers
1501 coming up again, the user needs to configure more or better
1505 Our DNS provider is providing an address when it should be saying
1506 "NOTFOUND"; Tor will treat the address as a synonym for "NOTFOUND".
1508 {This is an annoyance; controllers may want to tell admins that their
1509 DNS provider is not to be trusted.}
1512 Our DNS provider is giving a hijacked address instead of well-known
1513 websites; Tor will not try to be an exit node.
1515 {Controllers could warn the admin if the server is running as an
1516 exit server: the admin needs to configure a good DNS server.
1517 Alternatively, this happens a lot in some restrictive environments
1518 (hotels, universities, coffeeshops) when the user hasn't registered.}
1520 BAD_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
1523 A directory authority rejected our descriptor. Possible reasons
1524 include malformed descriptors, incorrect keys, highly skewed clocks,
1527 {Controllers should warn the admin, and try to cope if they can.}
1529 ACCEPTED_SERVER_DESCRIPTOR
1531 A single directory authority accepted our descriptor.
1534 {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status, but
1535 the controller should not interrupt the user to tell them so.}
1539 "DIRADDRESS=IP:port"
1540 We failed to connect to our external OR port or directory port
1543 {This event could affect the controller's idea of server status. The
1544 controller should warn the admin and suggest reasonable steps to take.}
1546 4.1.11. Our set of guard nodes has changed
1549 "650" SP "GUARD" SP Type SP Name SP Status ... CRLF
1551 Name = The (possibly verbose) nickname of the guard affected.
1552 Status = "NEW" | "UP" | "DOWN" | "BAD" | "GOOD" | "DROPPED"
1554 [explain states. XXX]
1556 4.1.12. Network status has changed
1559 "650" "+" "NS" CRLF 1*NetworkStatus "." CRLF "650" SP "OK" CRLF
1561 The event is used whenever our local view of a relay status changes.
1562 This happens when we get a new v3 consensus (in which case the entries
1563 we see are a duplicate of what we see in the NEWCONSENSUS event,
1564 below), but it also happens when we decide to mark a relay as up or
1565 down in our local status, for example based on connection attempts.
1567 [First added in 0.1.2.3-alpha]
1569 4.1.13. Bandwidth used on an application stream
1572 "650" SP "STREAM_BW" SP StreamID SP BytesRead SP BytesWritten CRLF
1574 BytesWritten = 1*DIGIT
1576 BytesRead and BytesWritten are the number of bytes read and written since
1577 the last STREAM_BW event on this stream. These events are generated about
1578 once per second per stream; no events are generated for streams that have
1579 not read or written.
1581 These events apply only to streams entering Tor (such as on a SOCKSPort,
1582 TransPort, or so on). They are not generated for exiting streams.
1584 4.1.14. Per-country client stats
1587 "650" SP "CLIENTS_SEEN" SP TimeStarted SP CountrySummary CRLF
1589 We just generated a new summary of which countries we've seen clients
1590 from recently. The controller could display this for the user, e.g.
1591 in their "relay" configuration window, to give them a sense that they
1592 are actually being useful.
1594 Currently only bridge relays will receive this event, but once we figure
1595 out how to sufficiently aggregate and sanitize the client counts on
1596 main relays, we might start sending these events in other cases too.
1598 TimeStarted is a quoted string indicating when the reported summary
1599 counts from (in GMT).
1601 The CountrySummary keyword has as its argument a comma-separated
1602 set of "countrycode=count" pairs. For example,
1603 650-CLIENTS_SEEN TimeStarted="Thu Dec 25 23:50:43 EST 2008"
1604 650 CountrySummary=us=16,de=8,uk=8
1605 [XXX Matt Edman informs me that the time format above is wrong. -RD]
1607 4.1.15. New consensus networkstatus has arrived.
1610 "650" "+" "NEWCONSENSUS" CRLF 1*NetworkStatus "." CRLF "650" SP
1613 A new consensus networkstatus has arrived. We include NS-style lines for
1614 every relay in the consensus. NEWCONSENSUS is a separate event from the
1615 NS event, because the list here represents every usable relay: so any
1616 relay *not* mentioned in this list is implicitly no longer recommended.
1618 [First added in 0.2.1.13-alpha]
1620 5. Implementation notes
1624 If the control port is open and no authentication operation is enabled, Tor
1625 trusts any local user that connects to the control port. This is generally
1628 If the 'CookieAuthentication' option is true, Tor writes a "magic cookie"
1629 file named "control_auth_cookie" into its data directory. To authenticate,
1630 the controller must send the contents of this file, encoded in hexadecimal.
1632 If the 'HashedControlPassword' option is set, it must contain the salted
1633 hash of a secret password. The salted hash is computed according to the
1634 S2K algorithm in RFC 2440 (OpenPGP), and prefixed with the s2k specifier.
1635 This is then encoded in hexadecimal, prefixed by the indicator sequence
1636 "16:". Thus, for example, the password 'foo' could encode to:
1637 16:660537E3E1CD49996044A3BF558097A981F539FEA2F9DA662B4626C1C2
1638 ++++++++++++++++**^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1641 You can generate the salt of a password by calling
1642 'tor --hash-password <password>'
1643 or by using the example code in the Python and Java controller libraries.
1644 To authenticate under this scheme, the controller sends Tor the original
1645 secret that was used to generate the password, either as a quoted string
1646 or encoded in hexadecimal.
1648 5.2. Don't let the buffer get too big.
1650 If you ask for lots of events, and 16MB of them queue up on the buffer,
1651 the Tor process will close the socket.
1653 5.3. Backward compatibility with v0 control protocol.
1655 The 'version 0' control protocol was replaced in Tor 0.1.1.x. Support
1656 was removed in Tor 0.2.0.x. Every non-obsolete version of Tor now
1657 supports the version 1 control protocol.
1659 For backward compatibility with the "version 0" control protocol,
1660 Tor used to check whether the third octet of the first command is zero.
1661 (If it was, Tor assumed that version 0 is in use.)
1663 This compatibility was removed in Tor 0.1.2.16 and 0.2.0.4-alpha.
1665 5.4. Tor config options for use by controllers
1667 Tor provides a few special configuration options for use by controllers.
1668 These options can be set and examined by the SETCONF and GETCONF commands,
1669 but are not saved to disk by SAVECONF.
1671 Generally, these options make Tor unusable by disabling a portion of Tor's
1672 normal operations. Unless a controller provides replacement functionality
1673 to fill this gap, Tor will not correctly handle user requests.
1675 __AllDirOptionsPrivate
1677 If true, Tor will try to launch all directory operations through
1678 anonymous connections. (Ordinarily, Tor only tries to anonymize
1679 requests related to hidden services.) This option will slow down
1680 directory access, and may stop Tor from working entirely if it does not
1681 yet have enough directory information to build circuits.
1683 (Boolean. Default: "0".)
1685 __DisablePredictedCircuits
1687 If true, Tor will not launch preemptive "general-purpose" circuits for
1688 streams to attach to. (It will still launch circuits for testing and
1689 for hidden services.)
1691 (Boolean. Default: "0".)
1693 __LeaveStreamsUnattached
1695 If true, Tor will not automatically attach new streams to circuits;
1696 instead, the controller must attach them with ATTACHSTREAM. If the
1697 controller does not attach the streams, their data will never be routed.
1699 (Boolean. Default: "0".)
1701 __HashedControlSessionPassword
1703 As HashedControlPassword, but is not saved to the torrc file by
1704 SAVECONF. Added in Tor 0.2.0.20-rc.
1706 __ReloadTorrcOnSIGHUP
1708 If this option is true (the default), we reload the torrc from disk
1709 every time we get a SIGHUP (from the controller or via a signal).
1710 Otherwise, we don't. This option exists so that controllers can keep
1711 their options from getting overwritten when a user sends Tor a HUP for
1712 some other reason (for example, to rotate the logs).
1714 (Boolean. Default: "1")
1716 5.5. Phases from the Bootstrap status event.
1718 This section describes the various bootstrap phases currently reported
1719 by Tor. Controllers should not assume that the percentages and tags
1720 listed here will continue to match up, or even that the tags will stay
1721 in the same order. Some phases might also be skipped (not reported)
1722 if the associated bootstrap step is already complete, or if the phase
1723 no longer is necessary. Only "starting" and "done" are guaranteed to
1724 exist in all future versions.
1726 Current Tor versions enter these phases in order, monotonically.
1727 Future Tors MAY revisit earlier stages.
1730 tag=starting summary="Starting"
1732 Tor starts out in this phase.
1735 tag=conn_dir summary="Connecting to directory mirror"
1737 Tor sends this event as soon as Tor has chosen a directory mirror --
1738 e.g. one of the authorities if bootstrapping for the first time or
1739 after a long downtime, or one of the relays listed in its cached
1740 directory information otherwise.
1742 Tor will stay at this phase until it has successfully established
1743 a TCP connection with some directory mirror. Problems in this phase
1744 generally happen because Tor doesn't have a network connection, or
1745 because the local firewall is dropping SYN packets.
1748 tag=handshake_dir summary="Finishing handshake with directory mirror"
1750 This event occurs when Tor establishes a TCP connection with a relay used
1751 as a directory mirror (or its https proxy if it's using one). Tor remains
1752 in this phase until the TLS handshake with the relay is finished.
1754 Problems in this phase generally happen because Tor's firewall is
1755 doing more sophisticated MITM attacks on it, or doing packet-level
1756 keyword recognition of Tor's handshake.
1759 tag=onehop_create summary="Establishing one-hop circuit for dir info"
1761 Once TLS is finished with a relay, Tor will send a CREATE_FAST cell
1762 to establish a one-hop circuit for retrieving directory information.
1763 It will remain in this phase until it receives the CREATED_FAST cell
1764 back, indicating that the circuit is ready.
1767 tag=requesting_status summary="Asking for networkstatus consensus"
1769 Once we've finished our one-hop circuit, we will start a new stream
1770 for fetching the networkstatus consensus. We'll stay in this phase
1771 until we get the 'connected' relay cell back, indicating that we've
1772 established a directory connection.
1775 tag=loading_status summary="Loading networkstatus consensus"
1777 Once we've established a directory connection, we will start fetching
1778 the networkstatus consensus document. This could take a while; this
1779 phase is a good opportunity for using the "progress" keyword to indicate
1782 This phase could stall if the directory mirror we picked doesn't
1783 have a copy of the networkstatus consensus so we have to ask another,
1784 or it does give us a copy but we don't find it valid.
1787 tag=loading_keys summary="Loading authority key certs"
1789 Sometimes when we've finished loading the networkstatus consensus,
1790 we find that we don't have all the authority key certificates for the
1791 keys that signed the consensus. At that point we put the consensus we
1792 fetched on hold and fetch the keys so we can verify the signatures.
1795 tag=requesting_descriptors summary="Asking for relay descriptors"
1797 Once we have a valid networkstatus consensus and we've checked all
1798 its signatures, we start asking for relay descriptors. We stay in this
1799 phase until we have received a 'connected' relay cell in response to
1800 a request for descriptors.
1803 tag=loading_descriptors summary="Loading relay descriptors"
1805 We will ask for relay descriptors from several different locations,
1806 so this step will probably make up the bulk of the bootstrapping,
1807 especially for users with slow connections. We stay in this phase until
1808 we have descriptors for at least 1/4 of the usable relays listed in
1809 the networkstatus consensus. This phase is also a good opportunity to
1810 use the "progress" keyword to indicate partial steps.
1813 tag=conn_or summary="Connecting to entry guard"
1815 Once we have a valid consensus and enough relay descriptors, we choose
1816 some entry guards and start trying to build some circuits. This step
1817 is similar to the "conn_dir" phase above; the only difference is
1820 If a Tor starts with enough recent cached directory information,
1821 its first bootstrap status event will be for the conn_or phase.
1824 tag=handshake_or summary="Finishing handshake with entry guard"
1826 This phase is similar to the "handshake_dir" phase, but it gets reached
1827 if we finish a TCP connection to a Tor relay and we have already reached
1828 the "conn_or" phase. We'll stay in this phase until we complete a TLS
1829 handshake with a Tor relay.
1832 tag=circuit_create summary="Establishing circuits"
1834 Once we've finished our TLS handshake with an entry guard, we will
1835 set about trying to make some 3-hop circuits in case we need them soon.
1838 tag=done summary="Done"
1840 A full 3-hop exit circuit has been established. Tor is ready to handle
1841 application connections now.