+ Below are a list of Tor related projects we're developing and/or + maintaining. Most discussions happen on IRC so if you're interested in any + of these (or you have a project idea of your own), then please join us in #tor-dev. Project + contributors are listed by their IRC nicks. +
+ +| Name | +Category | +Language | +Activity | +Contributors | +
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tor | +Core | +C | +Heavy | +nickm, arma, etc | +
| TBB | +Usability | +Multiple | +Heavy | +helix | +
| Torsocks | +Usability | +C | +Light | +mwenge | +
| *Torouter | +Usability | +None | +Light | +ioerror, Runa | +
| Vidalia | +User Interface | +C++, Qt | +Light | +chiiph | +
| Arm | +User Interface | +Python, Curses | +Heavy | +atagar | +
| Orbot | +User Interface | +Java | +None | +n8fr8 | +
| Torbutton | +Browser Add-on | +Javascript | +Moderate | +mikeperry | +
| *Thandy | +Updater | +Python | +Light | +Sebastian, helix | +
| TorCtl | +Library | +Python | +Light | +mikeperry | +
| *JTor | +Library | +Java | +None | ++ |
| Metrics | +Client Service | +Java | +Heavy | +karsten | +
| TorStatus | +Client Service | +PHP | +None | ++ |
| Weather | +Client Service | +Python | +Light | +kaner | +
| GetTor | +Client Service | +Python | +None | ++ |
| TorCheck | +Client Service | +Python, Perl | +None | ++ |
| BridgeDB | +Backend Service | +Python | +None | +kaner | +
| TorFlow | +Backend Service | +Python | +None | +mikeperry | +
| *TorBEL | +Backend Service | +Python | +None | +Sebastian | +
+ Central project, providing the core software for using and participating in + the Tor network. Numerous people contribute to the project to varying + extents, but the chief architects are Nick Mathewson and Roger Dingledine. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ Improving Tor's ability to resist
+ censorship
+ Improve our unit testing process
+ Simulator for slow Internet connections
+
+ The Tor Browser Bundle is an easy-to-use portable package of Tor, Vidalia, + and Firefox preconfigured to work together out of the box. This is actively + being worked on by Erinn Clark. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ Audit Tor Browser Bundles for data leaks
+ Usability testing of Tor
+
+ Utility for adapting other applications to work with Tor. Development has + slowed and compatibility issues remain with some platforms, but it's + otherwise feature complete. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ Make torsocks/dsocks work on OS X
+
+ Project to provide an easy-to-use, embedded Tor instance for routers. This + had a couple months of high activity, but has since been rather quiet. +
+ + ++ The most commonly used user interface for Tor. Matt Edman started the + project in 2006 and brought it to its current stable state. Development + slowed for several years, though Tomás Touceda has since taken a lead with + pushing the project forward. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ Tor Controller Status Event Interface for Vidalia
+ An Improved and More Usable Network Map in Vidalia
+
+ Command-line monitor for Tor. This has been under very active development + by its author, Damian Johnson, since early 2009 to make it a better + general-purpose controller for *nix environments. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ Client Mode Use Cases for Arm
+
+ Provides Tor on the Android platform. This was under very active + development up through Fall 2010, after which things have been quiet. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ More on Orbot & Android OS-specific development
+
+ Firefox addon that addresses many of the client-side threats to browsing + the Internet anonymously. Mike has since continued to adapt it to new + threats, updated versions of Firefox, and possibly Chrome + as well. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ Torbutton equivalent for Thunderbird
+
+ Updater for Tor. The project began in the Summer of 2008 but wasn't + completed. Recently interest in it has been rekindled and many aspects of + its design (including the language it'll be in) are currently in flux. +
+ + ++ Python bindings and utilities for using the Tor control port. It has been + stable for several years, with only minor revisions. +
+ + ++ Java implementation of Tor. This project isn't yet complete, and has been + inactive since Fall 2010. +
+ + ++ Processing and analytics of consensus data, provided to users via the + metrics portal. This has been under active development for several years by + Karsten Loesing. +
+ +
+ Project Ideas:
+ Help track the overall Tor Network status
+
+ Portal providing an overview of the Tor network, and details on any of its + current relays. Though very actively used, this project has been + unmaintained for a long while. +
+ + ++ Provides automatic notification to subscribed relay operators when their + relay's unreachable. This underwent a rewrite by the Wesleyan HFOSS team, which went live + in early 2011. +
+ + ++ E-mail autoresponder providing Tor's packages over SMTP. This has been + relatively unchanged for quite a while. +
+ + ++ Provides a simple site for determining if the visitor is using Tor or not. + This has been relatively unchanged for quite a while. +
+ + ++ Backend bridge distributor, handling the various pools they're distributed + in. This was actively developed until Fall of 2010. +
+ + ++ Library and collection of services for actively monitoring the Tor network. + These include the Bandwidth Scanners (measuring throughput of relays) and + SoaT (scans for malicious or misconfigured exit nodes). SoaT was last + actively developed in the Summer of 2010, and the Bandwidth Scanners a few + months later. Both have been under active use since then, but development + has stopped. +
+ + ++ The Tor Bulk Exitlist provides a method of identifying if IPs belong to + exit nodes or not. This is a replacement for TorDNSEL which is a stable + (though unmaintained) Haskell application for this purpose. The initial + version of TorBEL was started in GSOC 2010 but since then the project has + been inactive. +
+ + + - -You may find some of these projects to be good
The Tor 0.2.1.x series makes significant improvements in resisting national and organizational censorship. @@ -180,6 +649,7 @@ meetings around the world. robustness.
+Android Java UI work: Improved home screen to show better statistics about data transferred (up/down), number of circuits connected, quality of connection and so on. The "Tether Wifi" @@ -323,6 +795,7 @@ meetings around the world. from 2G to 3G to Wifi, and so forth.
+
- Vidalia currently doesn't play nicely with Tor on Linux and Unix platforms.
- Currently, on Debian and Ubuntu, there is a configuration mechanism which
- allows Vidalia to override Tor's ability to start on boot (by sourcing
- /etc/default/tor.vidalia which sets RUN_DAEMON=no at the user's
- request), but full implementation of ControlPort
- communication is still required.
-
- A better solution on Linux and Unix platforms would be to use Tor's - ControlSocket, which allows Vidalia to talk to Tor via a Unix domain socket, - and could possibly be enabled by default in Tor's distribution packages. - Vidalia can then authenticate to Tor using filesystem-based (cookie) - authentication if the user running Vidalia is also in the distribution-specific - tor group. -
- -- This project will first involve adding support for Tor's ControlSocket to - Vidalia. The student will then develop and test this support on various - distributions to make sure it behaves in a predictable and consistent manner on - all of them. -
- -
- The next challenge would be to find an intuitive and usable way for Vidalia to be
- able to change Tor's configuration (torrc) even though it is located in
- /etc/tor/torrc and thus immutable. In Debian and Ubuntu we handle
- this with the aforementioned /etc/default/tor.vidalia but this
- functionality could (or should) be less distribution-specific.
-
- The best idea we've come up with so far is to feed Tor a new configuration via
- the ControlSocket when Vidalia starts, but that's bad because if the user is not
- using the latest Debian/Ubuntu packages, they may not have disabled Tor's
- ability to run on boot and will end up with a configuration that is different
- from what they want. The second best idea we've come up with is for Vidalia to
- write out a temporary torrc file and ask the user to manually move it to
- /etc/tor/torrc, but that's bad because users shouldn't have to
- mess with files directly.
-
- A person undertaking this project should have prior knowledge of various Linux - distributions and their packaging mechanisms as well as some C++ development - experience. Previous experience with Qt is helpful, but not required. -
-+ Please note that since this isn't a coding project, it isn't suitable for + Google Summer of Code. +
+