relay: Reduce streaming compression ratio from HIGH to LOW

Fixes #40301

Signed-off-by: David Goulet <dgoulet@torproject.org>

changes/ticket40301

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+  o Minor bugfixes (relay):
+    - Reduce the compression level for data streaming from HIGH to LOW. Fixes
+      bug 40301; bugfix on 0.3.5.1-alpha.
+

src/feature/dircache/dircache.c

@@ -296,19 +296,22 @@ client_likes_consensus(const struct consensus_cache_entry_t *ent,
 /** Return the compression level we should use for sending a compressed
  * response of size <b>n_bytes</b>. */
 STATIC compression_level_t
-choose_compression_level(ssize_t n_bytes)
+choose_compression_level(void)
 {
-  if (! have_been_under_memory_pressure()) {
+  /* This is the compression level choice for a stream.
-    return HIGH_COMPRESSION; /* we have plenty of RAM. */
+   *
-  } else if (n_bytes < 0) {
+   * We always return LOW because this compression is done in the main thread
-    return HIGH_COMPRESSION; /* unknown; might be big. */
+   * thus we save CPU time as much as possible, and it is also done more than
-  } else if (n_bytes < 1024) {
+   * background compression for document we serve pre-compressed.
-    return LOW_COMPRESSION;
+   *
-  } else if (n_bytes < 2048) {
+   * GZip highest compression level (9) gives us a ratio of 49.72%
-    return MEDIUM_COMPRESSION;
+   * Zstd lowest compression level (1) gives us a ratio of 47.38%
-  } else {
+   *
-    return HIGH_COMPRESSION;
+   * Thus, as the network moves more and more to use Zstd when requesting
-  }
+   * directory documents that are not pre-cached, even at the
+   * lowest level, we still gain over GZip and thus help with load and CPU
+   * time on the network. */
+  return LOW_COMPRESSION;
 }
 
 /** Information passed to handle a GET request. */
@@ -1078,7 +1081,7 @@ handle_get_status_vote(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
     if (smartlist_len(items)) {
       if (compress_method != NO_METHOD) {
         conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                           choose_compression_level(estimated_len));
+                           choose_compression_level());
       }
 
       SMARTLIST_FOREACH(items, const char *, c,
@@ -1141,7 +1144,7 @@ handle_get_microdesc(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
 
     if (compress_method != NO_METHOD)
       conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                                      choose_compression_level(size_guess));
+                                      choose_compression_level());
 
     const int initial_flush_result = connection_dirserv_flushed_some(conn);
     tor_assert_nonfatal(initial_flush_result == 0);
@@ -1236,7 +1239,7 @@ handle_get_descriptor(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
       write_http_response_header(conn, -1, compress_method, cache_lifetime);
       if (compress_method != NO_METHOD)
         conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                                        choose_compression_level(size_guess));
+                                        choose_compression_level());
       clear_spool = 0;
       /* Prime the connection with some data. */
       int initial_flush_result = connection_dirserv_flushed_some(conn);
@@ -1332,7 +1335,7 @@ handle_get_keys(dir_connection_t *conn, const get_handler_args_t *args)
                                60*60);
     if (compress_method != NO_METHOD) {
       conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                                              choose_compression_level(len));
+                                              choose_compression_level());
     }
 
     SMARTLIST_FOREACH(certs, authority_cert_t *, c,
@@ -1484,7 +1487,7 @@ handle_get_next_bandwidth(dir_connection_t *conn,
                                  compress_method, BANDWIDTH_CACHE_LIFETIME);
       if (compress_method != NO_METHOD) {
         conn->compress_state = tor_compress_new(1, compress_method,
-                                        choose_compression_level(len/2));
+                                        choose_compression_level());
         log_debug(LD_DIR, "Compressing bandwidth file.");
       } else {
         log_debug(LD_DIR, "Not compressing bandwidth file.");

src/feature/dircache/dircache.h

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ MOCK_DECL(STATIC int, directory_handle_command_post,(dir_connection_t *conn,
 
 STATIC int handle_post_hs_descriptor(const char *url, const char *body);
 enum compression_level_t;
-STATIC enum compression_level_t choose_compression_level(ssize_t n_bytes);
+STATIC enum compression_level_t choose_compression_level(void);
 
 struct get_handler_args_t;
 STATIC int handle_get_hs_descriptor_v3(dir_connection_t *conn,

src/lib/compress/compress_zstd.c

@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ memory_level(compression_level_t level)
     default:
     case BEST_COMPRESSION:
     case HIGH_COMPRESSION: return 9;
-    case MEDIUM_COMPRESSION: return 8;
+    case MEDIUM_COMPRESSION: return 3;
-    case LOW_COMPRESSION: return 7;
+    case LOW_COMPRESSION: return 1;
   }
 }
 #endif /* defined(HAVE_ZSTD) */

src/test/test_dir.c

@@ -5495,31 +5495,6 @@ dir_tests_directory_initiate_request(directory_request_t *req)
   dir_tests_directory_initiate_request_called++;
 }
 
-static void
-test_dir_choose_compression_level(void* data)
-{
-  (void)data;
-
-  /* It starts under_memory_pressure */
-  tt_int_op(have_been_under_memory_pressure(), OP_EQ, 1);
-
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(-1));
-  tt_assert(LOW_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(1024-1));
-  tt_assert(MEDIUM_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048));
-
-  /* Reset under_memory_pressure timer */
-  cell_queues_check_size();
-  tt_int_op(have_been_under_memory_pressure(), OP_EQ, 0);
-
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(1024-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048-1));
-  tt_assert(HIGH_COMPRESSION == choose_compression_level(2048));
-
-  done: ;
-}
-
 /*
  * Mock check_private_dir(), and always succeed - no need to actually
  * look at or create anything on the filesystem.
@@ -7325,7 +7300,6 @@ struct testcase_t dir_tests[] = {
   DIR(should_not_init_request_to_ourselves, TT_FORK),
   DIR(should_not_init_request_to_dir_auths_without_v3_info, 0),
   DIR(should_init_request_to_dir_auths, 0),
-  DIR(choose_compression_level, 0),
   DIR(dump_unparseable_descriptors, 0),
   DIR(populate_dump_desc_fifo, 0),
   DIR(populate_dump_desc_fifo_2, 0),