Some notes about bridges

[hack3rcon]

Hello,
I have three questions:

1. What is the lifespan of a bridge? Should a bridge be checked every day?

2. Does the following message mean a bridge has expired?

Jan 29 15:18:43.000 [warn] Proxy Client: unable to connect OR connection (handshaking (proxy)) with IP:PORT ID=<none> RSA_ID=E3F234EE61C428413B5C8E110049B0A8CF0E34C8 ("general SOCKS server failure")
Jan 29 15:18:44.000 [warn] Proxy Client: unable to connect OR connection (handshaking (proxy)) with IP:PORT ID=<none> RSA_ID=E3F234EE61C428413B5C8E110049B0A8CF0E34C8 ("general SOCKS server failure")
Jan 29 15:18:44.000 [warn] Proxy Client: unable to connect OR connection (handshaking (proxy)) with IP:PORT ID=<none> RSA_ID=E3F234EE61C428413B5C8E110049B0A8CF0E34C8 ("general SOCKS server failure")

3. What does this one mean?

Jan 29 15:32:55.000 [notice] We tried for 15 seconds to connect to '[scrubbed]' using exit $5E52BEA22130598F200D05C42BB66709C24E8F67~relayondagon [EIEyhFkRrJfZqmN0ZF2J8AzUO2jQUUEeCUl1WAT38Zw] at IP. Retrying on a new circuit.
Jan 29 15:32:55.000 [notice] We tried for 15 seconds to connect to '[scrubbed]' using exit $5E52BEA22130598F200D05C42BB66709C24E8F67~relayondagon [EIEyhFkRrJfZqmN0ZF2J8AzUO2jQUUEeCUl1WAT38Zw] at IP. Retrying on a new circuit.

Thank you.

[abysshint]

1. Bridges have no lifespan. While it is running, you can connect to it. There is a 60-day bridge rotation period due to the fact that bridges act as EntryGuards, but if there are not enough working bridges for rotation, then the same ones will be used. You don’t have to check the bridges yourself; just add more bridges to the torrc file. When launched, tor will try to connect to all those added and select a few of them as primary ones. Of the primary ones, only two will be constantly used, and so on until rotation occurs or they are no longer available.
2. No, because Bridges have no lifespan. This message says that the connection to the bridge fails at all. Main reasons: The bridge stopped working, your Internet provider blocked the connection (Internet censorship).
3. Just a notification that tor failed to connect to the [scrubbed] site through a certain exit node and tor is trying to connect through another circuit/exit node. To see specific sites or IP addresses instead of [scrubbed], you can add the option to the torrc file: SafeLogging 0. This usually happens because some sites block IP addresses of exit nodes or exit nodes fail to resolve the site’s domain name.

[hack3rcon]

Hello,
Thank you so much for your reply.

1. Does the Tor itself have no fixed bridges and all bridges are created by people? if yes, the if everyone decides to stop their bridges the entire Tor network will be destroyed?

2. Can you tell me more about SafeLogging 0? Some sites have blocked the Tor, will this help to remove the restriction?

[Not_Ambrose]

1. To the best of my knowledge, Torproject themselves do not run any bridges. If everybody decides to stop their Obfs4 (which is very unlikely), Tor would still have webtunnel bridges[1] [2], snowflake bridges [1], and directly connecting to relays is still possible.
2. SafeLogging 0 does not “un-block” or allow you to access websites that have blocked Tor exit nodes. Tor has a “safelogging” feature that causes it to not log any sensitive material such as IPs you attempt to connect to. [1]

[hack3rcon]

Hello,
Thank you so much for your reply.

1. I meant that all the bridges are stopped. What will happen?

2. The SafeLogging 0 option is for log file only.

3. If I have two Tor configuration files, can I use the same bridges in both files?

4. If I add 3 bridges to the Tor configuration file, will Tor use all 3 bridges at the same time?

[Not_Ambrose]

1. If ALL bridges are stopped, then publicly available relays would still work.
2. No. Safe logging simply ensures that the IP addresses of websites you are trying to visit are not compromised in the event that your device is physically stolen.