[tor-dev] Proposal: only parse .torrc files in torrc.d directory

[iry <iry@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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Dear Tor Developers,

I have been testing and using the torrc.d feature for a while, and
here is a potential improvement we may make.

Currently, when using a torrc.d directory, for example:
> %include /etc/torrc.d/

Every file in the directory will be treated and parsed as a valid Tor
configuration file. However, sometime, this may not be what users and
developers want.

For example, users may use /etc/torrc.d/50_user.torrc as the place to
put their own torrc configurations. But sometimes, when they use a
text editor to edit it, the text editor will leave a
/etc/torrc.d/50_user.torrc~ file which will also be treated as a valid
torrc file.

Another example that also happens very frequently is, when dpkg does
an update on /etc/torrc.d/30_distribution.torrc, users' previous
configuration can be saved as
/etc/torrc.d/30_distribution.torrc.dpkg-old which will also be parsed
by Tor.

In best case users will just be frustrated because Tor does not work
as expected and in worst case this could be dangerous. This could be a
severe problem especially because of the following reasons:
1. filename.torrc~ filename.torrc.dpkg-old has higher priority than
filename.torrc when Tor does the parsing.
2. In most cases, this will happen without being noticed by the normal
suer.

Therefore, may I propose to let Tor parse only the files whose name
ends with .torrc ? Or maybe even only parse number_filename.torrc for
better consistency and for more clear priority order?

Thank you very much! Looking forward to hearing your insights!

Best Regards,
iry
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