release of the toolkit , used to organize an anonymous Tor network. Tor 0.4.0.5 is recognized as the first stable release of the 0.4.0 branch, which has developed over the last four months. The 0.4.0 branch will be supported through the standard maintenance cycle — updates will cease nine months from now or three months after the release of the 0.4.1.x branch. Long-term support (LTS) is provided for the 0.3.5 branch, with updates scheduled until February 1, 2022.
Key innovations:
- In the implementation of the client side energy-saving mode — after prolonged inactivity (24 hours or more), the client enters a sleep state where network activity stops and CPU resources are not consumed. Normal mode is resumed after a user request or upon receiving a control command. To manage the resumption of sleep mode after a restart, a setting called DormantOnFirstStartup is suggested (to return to sleep immediately, without waiting for another 24 hours of inactivity);
- Detailed reporting on the Tor bootstrap process has been implemented, allowing users to assess the reasons for delays during startup without waiting for the connection process to finish. Previously, information was only provided after the connection was completed, but the startup process could hang for hours due to certain issues, creating a sense of uncertainty. Now, messages regarding emerging problems and the status of the startup are displayed as progress progresses through various stages. Separate information is displayed regarding the state of connection using proxies and connecting transports;
- initial support (WTF-PAD — Adaptive Padding) to combat indirect methods of detecting accesses to websites and hidden services by analyzing the characteristics of packet streams and delays between them, which are specific to certain sites and services. The implementation includes finite state machines that operate on statistical probability distributions to substitute delays between packets to smooth out traffic. This new mode currently works only in experimental mode. At present, only padding on the level of chains has been implemented;
- A clear list of Tor subsystems invoked during initialization and shutdown has been added. Previously, these subsystems were managed from different areas of the codebase, and their usage was not structured.
- A new API has been implemented for managing child processes, providing a bidirectional communication channel between child processes in Unix-like systems and Windows.
Source: opennet.ru
