tor/doc/state-contents.txt

Contents of the Tor state file
==============================

The state file is structured with more or less the same rules as torrc.
Recognized fields are:

  TorVersion

     The version of Tor that wrote this file

  LastWritten

     Time when this state file was written.
     Given in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)


  MinutesSinceUserActivity (integer)
  Dormant (0, 1, or "auto")

     These values are used to keep track of how long Tor has been idle,
     for the purpose of becoming 'dormant' after a long period without
     any user-initiated requests.

     "MinutesSinceUserActivity" is the number of minutes since the last
     time the user asked us to do something.  It is set to zero if we're
     dormant.

     "Dormant" is 1 if Tor was dormant when it wrote its state file, 0 if
     Tor was active, and "auto" if Tor was starting for the first time.

  AccountingBytesReadInInterval     (memory unit)
  AccountingBytesWrittenInInterval  (memory unit)
  AccountingExpectedUsage           (memory unit)
  AccountingIntervalStart           (ISO time)
  AccountingSecondsActive           (time interval)
  AccountingSecondsToReachSoftLimit (time interval)
  AccountingSoftLimitHitAt          (ISO time)
  AccountingBytesAtSoftLimit        (memory unit)

     These fields describe the state of the accounting subsystem.

     The IntervalStart is the time at which the current accounting
     interval began.  We were expecting to use ExpectedUsage over the
     course of the interval.  BytesRead/BytesWritten are the total
     number of bytes transferred over the whole interval.  If Tor has
     been active during the interval, then AccountingSecondsActive is
     the amount of time for which it has been active.  We were expecting
     to hit the bandwidth soft limit in SecondsToReachSoftLimit after we
     became active.  When we hit the soft limit, we record
     BytesAtSoftLimit.  If we hit the soft limit already, we did so at
     SoftLimitHitAt.

  TransportProxy

     One or more of these may be present.

     The format is "transportname addr:port", to remember the address
     at which a pluggable transport was listening. Tor bridges use
     this information to spawn pluggable transport listeners in the
     same IP address and TCP port even after tor client restarts.

  BWHistory___Ends           (ISO time)
  BWHistory___Interval       (integer, number of seconds)
  BWHistory___Values         (comma-separated list of integer)
  BWHistory___Maxima         (comma-separated list of integer)

     These values record bandwidth history.  The "Values" fields are a list,
     for some number of "Intervals", of the total amount read/written during
     that integer.  The "Maxima" are the highest burst for each interval.

     Interval duration is set by the "Interval" field, in seconds.  The
     "Ends" field is the ending time of the last interval in each list.

     Recognized values for "___" are:
         Read -- total bytes read
         Write -- total bytes written
         DirRead -- total bytes read for directory connections.
         DirWrite -- total bytes written for directory connections.
         IPv6Read -- total bytes read on IPv6 connections
         IPv6Write -- total bytes written on IPv6 connections

  LastRotatedOnionKey

     The last time that we changed our onion key for a new one.
     Given in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)

     This field is used to ensure that onion key rotations happen with the
     appropriate frequency.

  TotalBuildTimes
  CircuitBuildAbandonedCount
  CircuitBuildTimeBin

      These fields are used by the Circuit Build Timeout code, which
      tries to learn what times are reasonable for circuit construction,
      so that it can reject circuits that take too long to build.

      CircuitBuildTimeBin is a count of circuits that were build
      successfully in some timeframe. This entry can repeat; each of
      these represents some bar on a histogram. The first integer is a
      number of milliseconds; it tells the position of the center of the
      histogram bin on the time axis. The second number is a count of
      circuits in that bin.

      CircuitBuildTimeAbandonedCount is a count of circuits that we
      simply gave up on building because they were taking far too long.

      TotalBuildTimes is the number of circuit build times that we
      observed in order to build the above measurements fields.  If it
      reaches a cap, then older measurements get thrown away.

  Guard [key=value] [key=value]...

      Describes a single entry guard used by the client.  Key=value
      entries with unrecognized keys are persisted.  Order is not
      significant.  For more information about terminology used here,
      system, see guard-spec.txt in the tor specifications repository.

      Recognized keys are:

         in (string)

              The name of a guard selection that this guard is in.

         rsa_id (string)

              RSA fingerprint of this guard, without spaces.

         nickname (string)

              Declared nickname of this guard.

         sampled_on (Time in ISO YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS format)

              When was this guard added to the Guard sample?

         sampled_by (tor version)

              Which version of Tor added this Guard to the sample?
              (Used to help with debugging.)

         sampled_idx (integer)

              Index of this guard among sampled guards.

         listed (boolean)

              Did this guard appear in the most recent consensus?

         unlisted_since (Time in ISO YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS format)

              If this guard is not listed, when is the earliest
              consensus in which we found it unlisted?

         confirmed_on  (Time in ISO YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS format)

              When did this guard become confirmed?

         confirmed_idx (integer)

              Index of this guard among confirmed guards.

         bridge_addr (address)

              If this guard is a bridge, its current address.

         pb_use_attempts
         pb_use_successes
         pb_circ_attempts
         pb_successful_circuits_closed
         pb_collapsed_circuits
         pb_unusable_circuits
         pb_timeouts

              Used by the pathbias subsystem to keep a record of the
              behavior of circuits built through this guard, in hopes of
              detecting guards try to that interfere with traffic.

              All of these fields are floating-point integers which
              represent a count of circuits that have been trated in
              various ways.  These counts decay with time.

              "use_attempts" is a count of the circuits that we've built
              and tried to use for traffic.

              "successful_circuits_closed" is a count of circuits that
              have closed "naturally" without timeout or error.

              "use_successes" is a count of circuits that we've sent
              traffic on, and which closed "naturally" without timeout
              or error.

              "circ_attempts" is a count of circuits we've tried to
              build through this guard.

              "collapsed_circuits" is a count of circuits that failed
              after having been built, but before sending traffic.

              "unusable_circuits" is a count of circuits that we
              built, but where streams or probes but which failed,
              or which encountered questionable errors.

              "timeouts" is a count of circuits that encountered a
              timeout while we were building them.

Obsolete fields include:

  EntryGuard
  EntryGuardDownSince
  EntryGuardUnlistedSince
  EntryGuardAddedBy

      These lines formed sections related to entry guards.  Each section
      starts with a single EntryGuard line, and is then followed by
      information on the state of the Entry guard.

      The EntryGuard line contains a nickname, then an identity digest, of
      the guard.

      The EntryGuardDownSince and EntryGuardUnlistedSince lines are present
      if the entry guard is believed to be non-running or non-listed.  If
      present, they contain a line in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS).

      The EntryGuardAddedBy line is optional.  It contains three
      space-separated fields: the identity of the entry guard, the version of
      Tor that added it, and the ISO time at which it was added.

      EntryGuardPathBias and  EntryGuardPathUseBias are superseded by
      the `pb_...` elements in the Guard flag, and served a similar purpose.

      These entries have all been superseded by the Guard line type,
      since Tor 0.3.0.1-alpha.

  HidServRevCounter

      It was once used to ensure that v3 onion service directory revision
      numbers were strictly increasing; we now use an order-preserving
      encryption scheme for that purpose.

      This option could appear multiple times; each time it does, it
      applies to a different hidden service.