[guardian-dev] First version of Orbot able to be a Snowflake proxy

[David Fifield]

On Fri, Jul 07, 2023 at 10:48:59AM -0400, Nathan of Guardian wrote:
> > 
> > https://github.com/turfed/snowflake-paper/blob/333cbd9ba083c89de1eb1456e168727bbd1ee1d7/snowflake.tex#L1409
> > 	Orbot, a mobile app that provides a VPN-like Tor proxy, added a
> > 	Snowflake client in version 16.4.0 on 2021-01-12.
> 
> Yes found it here: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/guardianproject/orbot/master/CHANGELOG
> 
> /** 16.4.0-RC-1-tor-0.4.4.6 / 12 January 2021 **/
> 
> > bbe63e4e (dev_snowflake) enable selection of Snowflake from bridge wizard activity
> > f675a7f1 enable start/stop of Snowflake client
> > fa18797f add snowflake entry to built in bridges
> > 

Thanks. I did not think to check the changelog.

Related question: what's the right date to report for version 16.4.1,
which added support for being a Snowflake proxy? It is version
16.4.1-BETA-2-tor.0.4.4.6 on 2021-02-23 that has the line item:

https://github.com/guardianproject/orbot/releases/tag/16.4.1-BETA-2-tor.0.4.4.6
63ea5b1 add experimental snowflake proxy support

But if I understand correctly, the full release did not happen until
16.4.1-RC-1-tor.0.4.4.6 on 2021-04-09:
https://github.com/guardianproject/orbot/releases/tag/16.4.1-RC-1-tor.0.4.4.6
https://github.com/guardianproject/orbot/blob/a69f39bb37469e65730d0751519848ec29001959/CHANGELOG#L714
/** 16.4.1-RC-1 / 9 April 2021 / c80f18ae2508b73fcbfd6e09b394a2a196de7459 **/

I would default to the later date, if it were not for the fact that
there's a noticeable increase in "standalone" proxies corresponding with
the earlier date. (At that time, Orbot proxies were labeled "standalone"
rather than "iptproxy".)

https://gitlab.torproject.org/dcf/snowflake-graphs/-/blob/1e8ea52c2771346c936dfb24b14cc1ff789a120f/proxy-type.csv#L1931
date,type,unique_ips,coverage
2021-02-20,standalone,18.79,1.00
2021-02-21,standalone,20.21,1.00
2021-02-22,standalone,21.67,1.00
2021-02-23,standalone,41.43,1.00
2021-02-24,standalone,82.94,1.00
2021-02-25,standalone,122.12,1.00
2021-02-26,standalone,119.76,1.00
2021-02-27,standalone,149.36,1.00

Was 16.4.1-BETA-2-tor.0.4.4.6 a kind of early release that nevertheless
had enough users to affect the metrics?

https://github.com/turfed/snowflake-paper/blob/1c217201393bc15d2bf131b4be564f4bd00764af/snowflake.tex#L1845
	Orbot's Snowflake proxy feature was added in version 16.4.1 in
	February 2021.