lox/crates/lox-distributor/README.md

# Lox Distributor

The Lox distributor receives resources from [rdsys](https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys) and writes them to [Lox
BridgeLines](https://git-crysp.uwaterloo.ca/iang/lox/src/master/src/bridge_table.rs#L42). Concurrently, it receives and responds to requests from [Lox clients](https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/lox/lox-wasm). It saves the [LoxContext](https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/lox-rs/-/blob/main/crates/lox-distributor/src/lox_context.rs) to a database every time the Lox bridgetable is updated and before the distributor is shutdown.
## Configure rdsys stream

A test `config.json` is included for testing on a local instance of rdsys. This
can be edited to correspond to the desired types of resources, endpoints and database configuration.

## Test Run

For testing purposes, you will need a running instance of rdsys as well as a running Lox client.

### Run rdsys locally

First clone rdsys from [here](https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys) then change into the backend directory:

```
cd rdsys/cmd/backend
```

Finally run rdsys:

```
 ./backend --config config.json
```

## Database Config

The database has a few configuration options. The path for where the database
should be read/written can be specified in the `config.json`. Rolling back to a
previous version of the database is also possible by passing the
`roll_back_date` flag at runtime and providing the date/time as a `%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S` string. This argument should be passed if the `LoxContext` should be rolled back to a previous state due to, for example, a mass blocking event that is likely not due to Lox user behaviour. If the exact roll back date/time is not known, the last db entry within 24 hours from the passed `roll_back_date` will be used or else the program will fail gracefully.

### Run Lox Distributor locally

Simply run `cargo run -- config.json` :)

### Run a Lox client locally

First clone lox-wasm from [here](https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/lox/lox-wasm). Follow the instructions in the [README](https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/lox/lox-wasm/-/blob/main/README.md) to build and test the Lox client.