Building Tor from Source

Sun Oct 11 14:15:08 PDT 2020

hey coderman,

you know a lot more about this than me, do you know how to quickly fix
my ssl error?

don't reply if it's a burden, i'm just trying to spend my seemingly
pointless behavior building energy towards something more helpful

On Sun, Oct 11, 2020 at 12:50 PM Karl <gmkarl at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> @zen i see the value of putting it in a git repo; i made some
> misleading typos.  should be fill-in-able though.
>
> On 10/11/20, Karl <gmkarl at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I'm too busy [s/reverse-engineering microchips from live
> > bombs/doddering around confused/] to know how to compile anything from
> > its source.
> >
> > s/A/B/ is sed script substitution notation.  It means replace A with
> > B.  I tell jokes because I'm in pain, and I'd rather share nice things
> > than harm, especially if those nice things could have some important
> > small part.
> >
> > A lot of people are working on the Tor project.  You can see what
> > they're working on at https://gitweb.torproject.org/ .  I have no clue
> > how to use gitweb to actually get source code, but I'm pretty good at
> > guessing people's [s/social security numbers/blindingly obvious facial
> > expressions three hours later/] , so I tried typing `git clone
> > https://git.torproject.org/tor.git` into a terminal and what do you
> > know, it worked.
> >
> > [Note to zfs:  I ended up using a raid1 array and git-annex
> > repositories for now, now that i have an indoor place to put
> > harddrives in.]
> >
> >
> > ```
> > $ ls
> > acinclude.m4  ChangeLog  CODE_OF_CONDUCT  configure.ac  CONTRIBUTING
> > Doxyfile.in  LICENSE  Makefile.am     README        scripts
> > warning_flags.in
> > autogen.sh    changes    config.rust.in   contrib       doc
> > INSTALL      m4       Makefile.nmake  ReleaseNotes  src
> > ```
> >
> > Tell me if I'm skipping too many steps and I can include a full log,
> > but I won't unless asked directly.  Yes, it's boring, you're expected
> > to only pretend to have read it.
> >
> > This is an "autotools" project.  Autotools is an ancient linux C thing
> > for setting up projects.  Autotools looks like dead animal vomit on
> > the inside (this means any modern coder can tell you that nobody
> > should have designed it how it is obviously designed), but it is still
> > very widely used because it just keeps working.  (the reason it keeps
> > working is because some bleary-eyed people with beards have memorized
> > all the dead vomit inside it and keep shoving it around whenever
> > needed, to keep it working).
> >
> > We're lucky here: the tor people included an `autogen.sh` script,
> > which does the autotools voodoo automatically for you.  If that script
> > isn't there, often you can get away with just running `autoreconf`,
> > which is basically all that autogen.sh script does.
> >
> > If autogen.sh doesn't work for you, you're probably missing important
> > system development packages like automake, autoconf, libtool, etc.
> > Please ask if you need more help.  Oh, junior, you think you're cool
> > by not asking?  Junior, you're going to suffer if you don't learn what
> > to do.  You won't go to college and then you'll [s/get kidnapped by a
> > drug ring and forced to collect rape victims after you run away to the
> > streets to pursue your dream of being a musician/disappoint the pretty
> > girl we all care about/] [s/disappoint the pretty girl we all care
> > about/get caught up with and protected by a bunch of genius hackers
> > who never needed to go to college, and learn to take down the
> > system/].  Just please ask if you don't understand and need to.  You
> > can even ask privately!  You can even ask the ugly girl who wishes she
> > had some way to please you!  There's one out there.
> >
> > Here's what it looks like:
> >
> > ```
> > $ ./autogen.sh
> > /bin/autoreconf
> > configure.ac:387: installing './ar-lib'
> > configure.ac:426: installing './compile'
> > configure.ac:36: installing './config.guess'
> > configure.ac:36: installing './config.sub'
> > configure.ac:25: installing './install-sh'
> > configure.ac:25: installing './missing'
> > Makefile.am: installing './depcomp'
> > parallel-tests: installing './test-driver'
> > ```
> >
> > This generates a 'configure' script, the hallmark of autotools.  It's
> > a computer program generated by another computer program, that
> > generates parts of actual computer program we're building, in such a
> > way that it has the right structures for the computer you're building
> > it on.  That's a lot of automatic moving parts that build other
> > automatic moving parts, and this process is often guided by further
> > automatic moving parts in centralized build systems, but no it won't
> > [s/mind control your employees, turn into a cloud of nanites, and
> > research more wormholes/confuse you more than we can handle/] this time.
> >
> > Run the `configure` script it put in the folder, to set up the project
> > to build.  You only need to do this once.
> >
> > ```
> > $ ./configure
> > checking for a BSD-compatible install... /bin/install -c
> > checking whether build environment is sane... yes
> > checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p
> > checking for gawk... gawk
> > ...
> > ```
> >
> > At the end, `configure` generates a makefile, which is the guts of
> > building a project.  It lists all the files that will be worked with,
> > what will be done to them, and what will be produced by doing that, in
> > many layers of steps needed to reach the final goal of building Tor.
> > It's just a bunch of computer mumbo jumbo that makes Tor exist from
> > its source code.
> >
> > Whoops!  When you run `configure`, it looks to find out all the stuff
> > you need to have on your system to make it run.  On my system, the
> > dependency I was missing related to the documentation.  I like to be
> > able to work with any part of the system, so I'll probably resolve
> > this dependency so I know I can build the documentation:
> >
> > ```
> > ==================================
> >
> > Building Tor has failed since manpages cannot be built.
> >
> > You need asciidoc installed to be able to build the manpages.
> > To build without manpages, use the --disable-asciidoc argument
> > when calling configure.
> >
> > ==================================
> > $ # oh no!  what do I do!
> > ```
> >
> > Unfortunately, every system installs packages differently.  But if I
> > got to this point, I know how to install packages:
> >
> > ```
> > $ sudo yum search asciidoc
> > # I don't really prefer enterprise rpm-based systems, but this
> > # one a confused family member purchased has my favorite
> > # [s/evolved digital familiar made of malware and trojan
> > # communities/system config that i never backed up/]
> > [sudo] password for user:
> > Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos,
> > subscription-manager
> > This system is registered with an entitlement server, but is not
> > receiving updates. You can use subscription-manager to assign
> > subscriptions.
> > ===================================================================================
> > N/S matched: asciidoc
> > ====================================================================================
> > asciidoc-doc.noarch : Additional documentation and examples for asciidoc
> > asciidoc-latex.noarch : Support for asciidoc latex output
> > rubygem-asciidoctor.noarch : A fast, open source AsciiDoc implementation in
> > Ruby
> > rubygem-asciidoctor-doc.noarch : Documentation for rubygem-asciidoctor
> > asciidoc.noarch : Text based document generation
> > $ sudo yum install asciidoc
> > ```
> >
> > ```
> > $ ./configure
> > ...
> >
> > Tor Version: Tor 0.4.5.0-alpha-dev
> >
> > Build Features
> >   Compiler:                                                      gcc
> > -std=gnu99
> >   Host OS:                                                       linux-gnu
> > ...
> > ```
> >
> > The makefile is generated!  To build the source, we type `make`, which
> > loads the makefile and compiles it.  Nowadays everybody [s/expects to
> > be able to teleport their brain across the ocean whenever they need to
> > buy some milk at the grocery store (for real, see amazon.com)/enjoys
> > things more when they are faster/], so we can add `-j4` to the make
> > command, which basically speeds it up by asking the computer to get
> > four times more confused while doing it (multitasking on its parts).
> >
> > ```
> > $ make
> > make  all-am
> > make[1]: Entering directory `/shared/src/tor'
> >   CC
> > src/ext/ed25519/ref10/src_ext_ed25519_ref10_libed25519_ref10_a-fe_0.o
> > ...
> > ```
> >
> > Each line that goes by is a sourcefile that's being compiled.  A long
> > list of very precise words handtyped by a dedicated worker with a
> > beard or glasses or likely both, likely working in a confined indoor
> > environment almost like chickens in an industrial chicken farm, but we
> > love to do it!  Really!  Ask any one of us!  It gives us nastalgia of
> > our earlier years.
> >
> > Ohhh....  My source code didn't compile.  This is pretty common.
> > Nowadays [s/the corporate thugs have killed so many of our
> > friends/people are so much more interested in adding features instead
> > of testing things/] that everybody has to use some mysterious wizardry
> > called 'docker' to copy the systems of the devs so as to make anything
> > actually compile.  I'm not a fan of docker, because it ignores all the
> > problems that the devs don't see because of the specifics of their
> > systems, [s/producing widespread bugs that are discovered in the form
> > of hacked government systems a decade later/and makes it harder for
> > people to work on the software on low-end systems/].  Here's the
> > arcane compilation error I ran into:
> >
> > ```
> >   CC       src/test/src_test_test_slow-test_slow.o
> > In file included from src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:42:0:
> > ./src/lib/tls/tortls_internal.h:55:8: error: conflicting types for
> > ‘SSL_SESSION_get_master_key’
> >  size_t SSL_SESSION_get_master_key(struct ssl_session_st *s,
> >         ^
> > In file included from src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:23:0:
> > /usr/local/include/openssl/ssl.h:2007:15: note: previous declaration
> > of ‘SSL_SESSION_get_master_key’ was here
> >  __owur size_t SSL_SESSION_get_master_key(const SSL_SESSION *sess,
> >                ^
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c: In function ‘get_cipher_by_name’:
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:541:19: error: dereferencing pointer to
> > incomplete type
> >    int num = method->num_ciphers();
> >                    ^
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:544:38: error: dereferencing pointer to
> > incomplete type
> >      const SSL_CIPHER *cipher = method->get_cipher(i);
> >                                       ^
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c: In function
> > ‘test_tortls_client_is_using_v2_ciphers’:
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:710:3: warning: ‘TLSv1_method’ is
> > deprecated (declared at /usr/local/include/openssl/ssl.h:1877)
> > [-Wdeprecated-declarations]
> >    ctx = SSL_CTX_new(TLSv1_method());
> >    ^
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:717:6: error: dereferencing pointer to
> > incomplete type
> >    ssl->session = sess;
> >       ^
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:724:6: error: dereferencing pointer to
> > incomplete type
> >    one->id = 0x00ff;
> >       ^
> > src/test/test_tortls_openssl.c:726:7: error: dereferencing pointer to
> > incomplete type
> >    sess->ciphers = ciphers;
> > make[1]: *** [src/test/src_test_test-test_tortls_openssl.o] Error 1
> > make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
> > make[1]: Leaving directory `/shared/src/tor'
> > make: *** [all] Error 2
> > ```
> >
> > It looks like my `openssl` header file differs from the one used by
> > the Tor project.
> >
> > There are some basic ways to approach this, the simplest of which is
> > of course to use docker.  Other things one might try might include
> > compiling a version of the software known to be stable, changing the
> > version of my local library, or searching for the detail of the issue
> > to identify its cause and give it a relevant fix.
> >
> > In open source, especially among the gnu crowd (which is the only
> > crowd), the idea is that everybody benefits from everyone's work.
> > When you do something, you want to contribute back to the community,
> > so that your work has value.  For this, you get appreciation,
> > friendship, collaboration and teaching, and often even lots of money
> > if you know the ropes and need it!
> >
> > So, the right solution to my build error, is likely to provide a patch
> > to the Tor project, that changes the source so that either it builds
> > on people's systems with my openssl version, or the configure script
> > gives an error and informs the user of what they need to change.
> > Thaaaat would be in a possible further e-mail.
> >
> > Tata!
> >