1337647 - Make a prototype of Fennec connecting to Tor network

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: General, defect, P3)

Description

[Jonathan Hao (inactive) [:jhao]]

We'd like to have a prototype of Fennec connecting to Tor network using NetCipher's OrbotHelper.

Comment 1

[Jonathan Hao (inactive) [:jhao]]

Attachment: Checks if Orbot is installed by NetCipher.

Comment 2

[Jonathan Hao (inactive) [:jhao]]

Since it's just a prototype, I copied OrbotHelper.java and TorServiceUtils.java from https://github.com/guardianproject/NetCipher.  I'm not sure how we actually use third party libraries.

Comment 3

[Jonathan Hao (inactive) [:jhao]]

I looked through guardian project's patches in https://github.com/guardianproject/tor-browser/commits/orfox-tor-browser-38.5.0esr-5.5-2 but I couldn't find where it makes Gecko use Orbot as a proxy.  I guess there are probably patches in tor-browser which does that.

Hi, Arthur.  Do you have any idea where that is?

Comment 4

[Arthur Edelstein [:arthur]]

Hi Amogh -- wondering if you might be able to answer Jonathan's question. Thanks! :)

Comment 5

[Tom Ritter [:tjr] (OOTO until 4/30 at least)]

Do the following patches answer the question?

https://github.com/guardianproject/tor-browser/commit/97705b553394f130cd472bdaa7580283bfb3d91f
https://github.com/guardianproject/tor-browser/commit/2866b9a739fba4b8d1bf72cd51e30b2fefa62263
https://github.com/guardianproject/tor-browser/commit/4b68807942c7bce90760ea1f9450f6b4ab9e8db9 <- this one in particular

Comment 6

[Jonathan Hao (inactive) [:jhao]]

Thanks, Tom.  Actually I already applied those patches locally, but when I go to http://whatismyipaddress.com, my IP still doesn't change.  I was guessing that those patches are for connections open in Java, but not for connections in Gecko.  I was trying to find how Gecko connections was hooked to Orbot.

Comment 7

[Tom Ritter [:tjr] (OOTO until 4/30 at least)]

Ah it might be the prefs, checkout out these: https://github.com/guardianproject/tor-browser/blob/tor-browser-45.5.1esr-6.5-1-with-tor-settings/mobile/android/app/mobile.js#L1064

Comment 8

[Jonathan Hao (inactive) [:jhao]]

Attachment: Connect Fennec to Tor Network through Orbot.

Thanks, Tom.  That's it!

Comment 9

[amoghbl1]

After analyzing the FF for Android codebase, we realize that there are two ways of network communications that take place:
1) Gecko Layer
For the Gecko layer, we set the proxy in preferences and let it get handled there.
Ref: https://github.com/guardianproject/tor-browser/commit/0cd1d08340cd4545d7fd23f20c5857b09ec59adc
There are a bunch of TorBrowser specific settings there, the lines that interest you would be 968-973.
But I would also recommend that you go through other settings just to be sure.

2) Java Layer
These links might be useful:
A network audit of all the FF45 ESR Java code that does any kind of network communications:
https://gitweb.torproject.org/tor-browser-spec.git/commit/?id=208cad5532fc28e797860e8b82446066f5136e8a
Based on the audit, I've made changes to some classes and applied proxy there. Right now, we have it centralized so that it's easy to handle.
Another point to note in the Java layer is that on Orfox, we've moved entirely to ch.boye whereas the last time I checked, FF for Android used two different http clients, not entirely sure about the state of that now though.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions if you have any!

Comment 10

[Jonathan Hao (inactive) [:jhao]]

Thanks, Amogh, for the information.  They're helpful.

Comment 11

[Tom Ritter [:tjr] (OOTO until 4/30 at least)]

With the new strategy for mobile, this sort of feature is a WONTFIX

Comment 12

[rakeshk000777]

Thanks, Tom. Actually I already applied those patches locally, but when I go to https://htlmadras.com, my IP still doesn't change. I was guessing that those patches are for connections open in Java, but not for connections in Gecko. I was trying to find how Gecko connections was hooked to Orbot.