I cannot connect to TOR through bridges that work

I use Linux Mint 19.1. I live in a country where Tor is censored (Turkey). So I use bridges when I want to use Tor. But for some reason, I cannot join to Tor network from bridges that work. I requested many different bridges and it didn’t work either.

The bridges I tried to use worked with Tor browser and I was able to use internet.
Bisq is stuck at “(1/4) Connecting the tor network…”

I tried to:

  • change the bridge config and add updated bridges
  • wait
  • restart the app or computer
  • delete outdated tor files and shutdown
  • after a while add different bridge configs

None of them worked. Some console outputs from my trials:

Apr-02 22:26:04.546 [main] INFO  bisq.core.setup.CoreSetup: 


Log files under: /home/umut/.local/share/Bisq/bisq 
Apr-02 22:26:04.558 [main] INFO  bisq.common.util.Utilities: System info: os.name=Linux; os.version=4.15.0-91-generic; os.arch=amd64; sun.arch.data.model=64; JRE=10.0.2+13 (Oracle Corporation); JVM=10.0.2+13 (Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM) 
Apr-02 22:26:04.560 [main] INFO  b.c.s.CoreNetworkCapabilities: Set Capability.RECEIVE_BSQ_BLOCK 
Apr-02 22:26:04.685 [main] INFO  bisq.common.app.Version: Version{VERSION=1.2.9, P2P_NETWORK_VERSION=1, LOCAL_DB_VERSION=1, TRADE_PROTOCOL_VERSION=2, BASE_CURRENCY_NETWORK=0, getP2PNetworkId()=10} 
Apr-02 22:26:04.686 [main] INFO  bisq.core.setup.CoreSetup: Path to Bisq jar file: /opt/Bisq/app/desktop-1.2.9-all.jar 
WARNING: An illegal reflective access operation has occurred
WARNING: Illegal reflective access by com.google.inject.internal.cglib.core.$ReflectUtils$1 (file:/opt/Bisq/app/desktop-1.2.9-all.jar) to method java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(java.lang.String,byte[],int,int,java.security.ProtectionDomain)
WARNING: Please consider reporting this to the maintainers of com.google.inject.internal.cglib.core.$ReflectUtils$1
WARNING: Use --illegal-access=warn to enable warnings of further illegal reflective access operations
WARNING: All illegal access operations will be denied in a future release
Apr-02 22:26:06.099 [JavaFX Application Thread] WARN  b.c.p.ProvidersRepository: We have banned provider nodes: bannedNodes=[], selected provider baseUrl=http://gztmprecgqjq64zh.onion/, providerList=[http://gztmprecgqjq64zh.onion/, http://44mgyoe2b6oqiytt.onion/, http://xc3nh4juf2hshy7e.onion/, http://62nvujg5iou3vu3i.onion/, http://ceaanhbvluug4we6.onion/] 
Apr-02 22:26:06.134 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  b.c.n.p.s.DefaultSeedNodeRepository: Seed nodes: [723ljisnynbtdohi.onion:8000, fl3mmribyxgrv63c.onion:8000, s67qglwhkgkyvr74.onion:8000, 3f3cu2yw7u457ztq.onion:8000, rm7b56wbrcczpjvl.onion:8000, jhgcy2won7xnslrb.onion:8000, 5quyxpxheyvzmb2d.onion:8000, ef5qnzx6znifo3df.onion:8000] 
Apr-02 22:26:06.330 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  b.c.s.CoreNetworkCapabilities: Set Capability.RECEIVE_BSQ_BLOCK 
Apr-02 22:26:06.597 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  b.c.btc.nodes.LocalBitcoinNode: No local Bitcoin node detected on port 8333. 
Apr-02 22:26:08.153 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  b.c.a.AvoidStandbyModeService: AvoidStandbyModeService started 
Apr-02 22:26:08.669 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: SignedWitnessStorageService: size of Storage: 1.782851 MB 
Apr-02 22:26:08.910 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: AccountAgeWitnessStorageService: size of Storage: 1.479293 MB 
Apr-02 22:26:17.580 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: TradeStatistics2StorageService: size of Storage: 11.814004 MB 
Apr-02 22:26:17.653 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: ProposalStorageService: size of Storage: 0.013841 MB 
Apr-02 22:26:17.678 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: BlindVoteStorageService: size of Storage: 0.08813 MB 
Apr-02 22:26:17.679 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: We copy resource to file: resourceFileName=TempProposalStore_BTC_MAINNET, destinationFile=/home/umut/.local/share/Bisq/btc_mainnet/db/TempProposalStore 
Apr-02 22:26:17.692 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: Could not find resourceFile TempProposalStore_BTC_MAINNET. That is expected if none is provided yet. 
Apr-02 22:26:22.076 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  b.n.p.s.p.StoreService: DaoStateStorageService: size of Storage: 52.658777 MB 
Apr-02 22:26:22.089 [readFromResourcesThread] INFO  bisq.core.app.SetupUtils: readFromResources took 13908 ms 
Apr-02 22:26:22.093 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  bisq.core.app.BisqSetup: onInitP2pNetwork 
Apr-02 22:26:22.093 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  bisq.core.app.BisqSetup: onInitP2pNetwork 
Apr-02 22:26:22.121 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  bisq.core.app.BisqSetup: walletInitialized=false, p2pNetWorkReady=false 
Apr-02 22:26:22.139 [NetworkNode-9999] INFO  b.network.p2p.network.NewTor: Starting tor 
Apr-02 22:26:26.223 [NetworkNode-9999] INFO  o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Starting Tor 
Apr-02 22:30:22.095 [JavaFX Application Thread] WARN  bisq.core.app.BisqSetup: startupTimeout called 
Apr-02 22:30:22.444 [JavaFX Application Thread] INFO  bisq.core.app.BisqSetup: Set log level for org.berndpruenster.netlayer classes to DEBUG to show more details for Tor network connection issues 
Apr-02 22:30:26.744 [NetworkNode-9999] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Stopping Tor 
Apr-02 22:30:26.750 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 6 FAILED BUILD_FLAGS=ONEHOP_TUNNEL,IS_INTERNAL,NEED_CAPACITY 
Apr-02 22:30:26.752 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 2 FAILED BUILD_FLAGS=ONEHOP_TUNNEL,IS_INTERNAL,NEED_CAPACITY 
Apr-02 22:30:26.752 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 4 FAILED BUILD_FLAGS=ONEHOP_TUNNEL,IS_INTERNAL,NEED_CAPACITY 
Apr-02 22:30:26.752 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 5 FAILED BUILD_FLAGS=ONEHOP_TUNNEL,IS_INTERNAL,NEED_CAPACITY 
Apr-02 22:30:26.752 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 1 FAILED BUILD_FLAGS=ONEHOP_TUNNEL,IS_INTERNAL,NEED_CAPACITY 
Apr-02 22:30:26.764 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 3 FAILED BUILD_FLAGS=ONEHOP_TUNNEL,IS_INTERNAL,NEED_CAPACITY 
Apr-02 22:30:31.109 [NetworkNode-9999] INFO  o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Starting Tor 
Apr-02 22:30:31.128 [NFO] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Apr 02 22:30:31.115 [notice] Tor 0.4.1.5 (git-439ca48989ece545) running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.8-stable, OpenSSL 1.0.2s, Zlib 1.2.11, Liblzma N/A, and Libzstd N/A. 
Apr-02 22:30:31.128 [NFO] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Apr 02 22:30:31.115 [notice] Tor can't help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at https://www.torproject.org/download/download#warning 
Apr-02 22:30:31.128 [NFO] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Apr 02 22:30:31.116 [notice] Read configuration file "/home/umut/.local/share/Bisq/btc_mainnet/tor/torrc". 
Apr-02 22:30:31.128 [NFO] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Apr 02 22:30:31.124 [notice] Opening Control listener on 127.0.0.1:0 
Apr-02 22:30:31.128 [NFO] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Apr 02 22:30:31.124 [notice] Control listener listening on port 34629. 
Apr-02 22:30:31.128 [NFO] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Apr 02 22:30:31.124 [notice] Opened Control listener on 127.0.0.1:34629 
Apr-02 22:30:31.129 [NFO] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: Apr 02 22:30:31.124 [notice] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections. 
Apr-02 22:30:32.457 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 1 LAUNCHED  
Apr-02 22:30:33.457 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 2 LAUNCHED  
Apr-02 22:30:35.462 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 3 LAUNCHED  
Apr-02 22:30:35.528 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 3 FAILED BUILD_FLAGS=ONEHOP_TUNNEL,IS_INTERNAL,NEED_CAPACITY 
Apr-02 22:30:38.464 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 4 LAUNCHED  
Apr-02 22:30:38.464 [TorControlParser] DEBUG o.b.netlayer.tor.Tor: CircuitStatus: 5 LAUNCHED

I googled your issue a little and it seems other people attempting to use a tor bridge have a line in the log right here that states that tor is “using bridges”

I think the custom bridge mode is outdated, there are people saying it does not work in china. Have you tried the “provided bridges” option in Bisq obs4, then meek if that fails?

I tried 4 of these options. No result :frowning: . Is there any user on Linux that can connect to Tor over Bisq through bridges?

Hey,

This came up as a reddit post as well. https://www.reddit.com/r/bisq/comments/ft01ym/any_iranian_here_that_uses_bisq_to_sell_and_buy/ - Iran also blocks Tor.

besides using custom bridges or trying to find one that isn’t blocked i’m not sure what else you can do.
Take a look at this https://github.com/bisq-network/bisq/issues/1023 issue. The user was eventually able to bypass censorship in china.