Hi,

Here's the summary of the IRC meeting.

---

COMMUNITY MEETING

Place: #openvpn-meeting on irc.freenode.net
Date: Wednesday 18th September 2019
Time: 11:30 CEST (9:30 UTC)

Planned meeting topics for this meeting were here:

<https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/Topics-2019-09-18>

Your local meeting time is easy to check from services such as

<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock>

SUMMARY

cron2, dazo, lev, mattock, ordex, plaisthos and rozmansi participated in
this meeting.

---

Discussed performance test results provided by Lev:

<https://patchwork.openvpn.net/patch/824/>

Based on this data we should start compiling OpenVPN and its
dependencies on Windows with Visual Studio: this provides a ~25%
performance improvement compared to MinGW builds.

Mattock will take a stab at generating NSIS installer from msvc
artefacts for the OpenVPN 2.4.8 release.

--

Discussed tap-windows6 pull requests:

<https://github.com/OpenVPN/tap-windows6/pulls>

Mattock will produce a test installer which comes with these fixes. Lev
will run it through some tests. If testing goes well and Selva gives his
ACK on

<https://github.com/OpenVPN/tap-windows6/pull/86>

we will include the new driver in the OpenVPN 2.4.8 installer.

--

Talked about the VLAN patches which ordex massaged into shape:

https://gitlab.com/ordex986/openvpn/commits/vlan

This has not moved forward because of unrelated challenges with Buildbot.

--

Talked about the build issues on the buildslaves. Fedora 29 and Ubuntu
18.04 are consistently failing the first t_client test. There are also
build issues on the Arch Linux builder. These need to be fixed.

--

Talked about the --disable-server option in OpenVPN 2.x. Nobody seems to
be (really) using it, and the "smaller executable size" argument is not
as important as it was in the distant past. Based on practical tests by
plaistos the stripped binary size with --disable-server is 562k and
without it 668k (~19% larger).

Mattock sent email to our mailing lists asking if somebody still needs
--disable-server. If not, we will kick it out in OpenVPN 2.5.

--

Full chatlog attached.
(12:29:59) mattock: hello
(12:30:05) cron2: just in time!
(12:30:11) cron2: and good morning :-)
(12:30:25) mattock: that as well :)
(12:31:25) lev__: guten morgen
(12:31:58) mattock: hyvää huomenta
(12:32:27) mattock: https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/Topics-2019-09-18
(12:32:28) vpnHelper: Title: Topics-2019-09-18 – OpenVPN Community (at 
community.openvpn.net)
(12:32:38) mattock: hmm we can probably consider removing topic #1 now
(12:32:49) cron2: bah, non-7bit letters in IRC, that ruins the efefct
(12:33:24) mattock: then we can do either "hyvaa huomenta" or "hyvaeae huomenta"
(12:33:31) mattock: anyways
(12:33:45) mattock: no tap-windows6 updates as the HLK requirement disappeared 
overnight
(12:34:06) dazo: morning!
(12:34:16) cron2: #1 - well, not really yet.  We have a few PRs, if I remember 
right, and we need to agree on a release (like, "which bits go in", "which 
version number", "togehter with 2.4.x")
(12:34:33) cron2: it will be much less painful, tho
(12:35:33) ordex: !!
(12:35:36) mattock: yes, tap-windows6 was tied with 2.4.x release
(12:35:55) lev__: for the next Windows release we need to build with VS, since 
it produces code which is 25% faster comparison to mingw when using 
tap-windows6 (425Mbit/s vs 340Mbit/s)
(12:36:19) mattock: interesting
(12:36:32) lev__: (see my mail)
(12:37:17) mattock: it may have been lost through the cracks
(12:37:25) mattock: is it a public or private email?
(12:37:33) dazo: public
(12:37:36) lev__: https://patchwork.openvpn.net/patch/824/
(12:37:37) vpnHelper: Title: [Openvpn-devel,1/7] Visual Studio: upgrade project 
files to VS2019 - Patchwork (at patchwork.openvpn.net)
(12:37:38) ordex: what a difference
(12:38:49) mattock: quite significant
(12:38:55) dazo: lev__: have you looked into compiler optimization flags and 
differences there?
(12:38:59) mattock: I was about to ask
(12:39:46) ordex: I guess they are completely different compilers, no? or do 
they use the same software under te hood ?
(12:39:48) ordex: *the
(12:39:53) cron2: yeah, I find this highly amazing and wonder what makes such a 
huge difference
(12:40:01) cron2: ordex: mingw is gcc, MSVC is MSVC
(12:40:07) ordex: oh gcc
(12:40:08) ordex: ok
(12:40:23) dazo: it's different compiler ... but an optimized VC and an 
unoptimized GCC will also cause more extreme differences
(12:40:26) ordex: this said: the difference may not be exposed by some compiler 
flags, as the two compilers may just make different decisions
(12:40:29) lev__: dazo: not really, I used "release" configuration in VS and 
./build-complete script in windows-nsis directory
(12:40:54) cron2: gcc is not like 30% worse in general, so it might be mingw 
runtime, adding *latency*, or possibly something in OpenSSL assembly which 
doesn't work out when cross compiled, or whatnot
(12:41:06) ordex: yap
(12:41:28) ordex: I'd dare to say that compiling with a real windows compiler 
is not a bad idea ;p
(12:41:38) cron2: dazo: even if unoptimized we don't actually *do* very much 
inside the OpenVPN packet loop
(12:42:27) dazo: I haven't looked into the CFLAGS for our build script ... but 
if do builds without -O flags and adds various debug helpers, that may have an 
impact
(12:42:42) cron2: dazo: it doesn't
(12:44:45) cron2: so while I'm curious why this is happening, I suspect it's 
somewhat outside our control (mingw runtime, OpenSSL cross-build).
(12:45:01) cron2: lev__: is this cpu bound, as in "while the test runs, OpenVPN 
is using 100% of one core"?
(12:45:01) ordex: yap, likely
(12:45:38) lev__: cron2: I haven't looked at CPU usage, just checked iperf stats
(12:45:39) cron2: if it's CPU bound, compiler optimization / openssl assembly / 
... would be my guess.  If not, it's more like "something is adding latency, 
and TCP performance tests tend to be very sensitve to that"
(12:46:16) dazo: yeah, it's not openvpn code ... this is compiler and build 
optimization related
(12:46:16) cron2: it would be interesting to know ("differences in latency" and 
"CPU usage while iperf is running")
(12:46:49) cron2: dazo: yes, but my gut feeling is "nothing inside OpenVPN can 
be optimized in a way that makes such a difference".  OpenSSL, yes :-)
(12:47:33) cron2: our packet loop is small and doesn't really do much, except 
"call out to SSL library" plus a few if() statements here and there... (on the 
client)
(12:48:03) cron2: plus driver/socket read()/write(), which do not lend 
themselves to compiler optimization
(12:48:31) cron2: but anyway... mattock1: what do you say wrt "using MSVC to do 
release building"?
(12:48:44) dazo: lev__: which openssl library build did you use with your msvc 
build?
(12:48:45) cron2: we discussed this anyway for the .msi installers
(12:49:21) mattock: well
(12:49:45) mattock: does it help to build just openvpn with msvc, or would we 
have to build all the dependencies with msvc as well?
(12:49:55) mattock: also, does openvpn-build/msvc work nowadays?
(12:51:39) lev__: dazo: 1.0.2p built with Visual Studio
(12:51:46) lev__: mattock1: yes it does
(12:52:34) lev__: mattock1: it builds openssl etc, we use it in appveyor
(12:53:09) mattock: ok
(12:53:16) mattock: what about NSI?
(12:53:59) mattock: we're not ready for MSI for 2.4.x, so integrating 
openvpn-build/msvc and openvpn-build/windows-nsis may require some surgery
(12:54:43) lev__: mattock1: it just builds openvpn binary and dependencies
(12:55:02) dazo: I'd say we have focus getting 2.4.x out asasp ... so if msvc 
isn't fixed quickly, we build with mingw for this first release and improve for 
the next one
(12:55:11) mattock: I tend to agree
(12:55:32) dazo: we could also do a separate windows update release switching 
to msvc .... just increasing the build number instead of version
(12:55:41) mattock: adding some semi-ad-hoc stuff to package build artefacts 
from msvc build may be doable
(12:55:44) lev__: mattock1: I can look into MSI support, if it could be done 
with mingw it could surely be done with VS
(12:56:19) lev__: would be nice if someone could verify my performance results
(12:56:21) cron2: I'd go for "stick to nsis installer for the next 2.4.x 
release, and then see if msi works for the next (or for 2.5)"
(12:56:22) mattock: lev__: rozmansi has MSI installer code for OpenVPN, but the 
tap-windows6 installation part requires refactoring
(12:56:24) dazo: lev__: rozmansi and mattock1 has been working on MSI stuff 
already ... but there's still some missing pieces, I believe
(12:56:40) cron2: having new installers, new build system, new tap driver at 
the same time sounds like "support effort"
(12:57:07) dazo: yeah, lets take this in a few separate steps 
(12:57:26) mattock: +1
(12:57:44) rozmansi: @lev__: MSI support was done with Visual Studio then 
potred to mingw.
(12:57:47) mattock: now, is there any easy way to test if adjusting mingw 
parameters could produce significant improvements in performance
(12:57:51) lev__: I don't have a strong opinion on installer we use, but I care 
about performance gain provided by VS
(12:57:54) rozmansi: hi everyone
(12:57:57) mattock: hi rozmansi!
(12:58:08) dazo: sorry to wake you up, rozmansi! :-P
(12:58:31) cron2: mattock1: wrt "adjusting mingw parameters", that depends a 
bit on "is it CPU bound or latency"
(12:58:48) rozmansi: dazo: I really should put those meeting appointments to my 
calendar. I have missed all September ones. Thanks for bumping me.
(12:58:57) dazo: ;-)
(13:01:13) mattock: anyways, I'll check how easy/difficult it would be to 
produce an NSIS installer from the build artefacts of the msvc build
(13:01:44) mattock: NSIS does run on Windows so there would be no need to hop 
between Linux and Windows during the build
(13:02:03) rozmansi: mattock1: if you put all the binaries in the same folder 
layout as produced by openvpn-build and copy them in the right place, nsis 
builder should work fine.
(13:02:16) mattock: if the names match, yeah
(13:02:44) mattock: windows-nsis assumes that it is doing the build itself, so 
the NSIS step would probably have to be separated
(13:02:46) rozmansi: btw, doesn't VS build use different SSL library (ssleay)?
(13:03:29) dazo: is ssleay still alive?
(13:03:32) cron2: ssleay sounds like the 0.5 name of openssl
(13:04:09) mattock: yeah
(13:04:34) lev__: rozmansi: it produces libeasy32.dll and ssleay32.dll which 
are openssl
(13:05:07) rozmansi: exactly, that's what I had in mind... File names are 
different, so this will be a problem for NSIS packager.
(13:05:41) rozmansi: but they're just different files to copy. Nothing fancy 
they'd require.
(13:06:16) mattock: yep, it is definitely doable
(13:07:21) mattock: lev: we currently bundle openssl 1.1.0 in our windows 
installers
(13:07:27) mattock: can msvc build build openssl 1.1.0?
(13:08:54) lev__: mattock1: I think so, just have to set OPENSSL_VERSION env var
(13:09:37) lev__: assuming openssl hasn't changed their nmake build scripts
(13:11:21) mattock: there's one glitch I had when moving from openssl 1.0.2 to 
1.1.0 in windows-nsis, but that might not be present in msvc builds 
(13:11:23) mattock: anyways
(13:12:37) mattock: I will take a stab at generating NSIS installer from msvc 
artefacts
(13:12:50) mattock: for the next 2.4.x release
(13:13:53) mattock: so we have two tap-windows6 PRs: 
https://github.com/OpenVPN/tap-windows6/pulls
(13:13:55) vpnHelper: Title: Pull Requests · OpenVPN/tap-windows6 · GitHub (at 
github.com)
(13:16:04) mattock: do we need a test tap-windows6 installer of those prior to 
next 2.4.x?
(13:16:48) dazo: depends on how brave you are ;-)
(13:19:07) mattock: I'm very brave if I can avoid one round of  building and 
signing tap-windows6 :)
(13:19:27) mattock: that said, if we are fine with just attestation signed 
(=Windows 10) test version then its not too bad 
(13:20:13) mattock: I suspect that even if we have test installers available on 
1-2 people will actually test them
(13:20:26) mattock: one of them being me :)
(13:20:57) lev__: mattock1: I can surely test it
(13:21:03) mattock: ok good
(13:21:34) mattock: then I shall produce tap-windows6 which includes those two 
PRs - or does https://github.com/OpenVPN/tap-windows6/pull/86 require further 
work/discussion?
(13:21:36) vpnHelper: Title: constants.h: make driver not halt on suspend by 
lstipakov · Pull Request #86 · OpenVPN/tap-windows6 · GitHub (at github.com)
(13:23:05) lev__: wintun doesn't halt on suspend, so I was thinking maybe 
tap-windows6 shouldn't too
(13:24:50) mattock: should I read selva's comment "If halt on suspend is not 
needed let's get rid of it." as an ACK?
(13:24:55) mattock: the last comment
(13:25:50) cron2: mattock1: well, let's have the test driver out, and ask Selva 
explicitly for "can you test and ack"
(13:26:06) mattock: +1
(13:26:23) cron2: the comment is a conditional ACK on the condition on "we 
agreed that we do not need halt-on-suspend", but I'm confused on whether we 
agree :)
(13:26:34) mattock: :)
(13:26:37) mattock: yeah
(13:26:51) mattock: 4 minutes left
(13:27:06) mattock: topic #2 quickly?
(13:27:26) cron2: #2 is easy - "we got distracted by buildbot failures"...
(13:27:59) mattock: ok good
(13:28:19) dazo: #3 would be nice to have some discussion around ... 
--disable-server
(13:28:22) cron2: so, no progress on the vlan patchset itself, and limited 
progress on the buildbots - we still have arch, fedora-29 and ubuntu-18 
consitently(!) fail t_client test 1 - for every single run since inception 
(ubuntu-18) and for every single run since June 06 (fedora-29 and arch), so 
this is something that needs fixing
(13:28:23) dazo: plaisthos: you around?
(13:29:09) cron2: ordex and I have tried to reproduce on ubuntu 18.04 lts and 
19.04, but couldn't, so it's not "just this particular distro" (recent kernels, 
whatnot) but also "something else"
(13:30:26) cron2: tincantech has offered access to the arch buildslave, so 
maybe we can figure out why "TCP + net30" is failing there
(13:30:27) plaisthos: oops completely missed the community meeting sorry :(
(13:30:56) plaisthos: yeah
(13:31:01) cron2: plaisthos: well, now you're here :-) - maybe we can quickly 
discuss #3
(13:31:04) mattock: plaisthos: you will be mentioned in the summary
(13:31:52) plaisthos: I spend way to long to fix auth-token for disable-server 
and found out that even with --disable-server a lot of stuff of server is 
pulled in
(13:31:54) cron2: I have no strong opinion on --disable-server.  Ordex checked 
OpenWRT: they do not(!) build with --disable-server, so "these embedded folks" 
wouldn't all be impacted
(13:32:18) plaisthos: and apart from my client I don't know of anything that 
actually uses disable-server
(13:32:39) cron2: ah, it would break Android!  So we cannot do it!  *duck*
(13:32:50) plaisthos: and since we are already short on time etc, supporting 
this feature that basically no one uses seems to be a bit much
(13:33:01) dazo: I also believe the argument of "reduced binary code size" is 
not as relevant now as it was 15 years ago, esp. for embedded devices
(13:33:17) plaisthos: and the embedded devices we talk about don't seem to exist
(13:33:19) cron2: mattock1: can you ask on the openvpn-users + openvpn-devel 
lists?  If nobody answers, kick it out for 2.5...
(13:33:22) ordex: well, few hundred KB makes a difference though
(13:33:37) dazo: is it such a big difference?
(13:33:37) ordex: I build for systems with 4MB of flash :p
(13:33:48) cron2: ordex: do you build with --disable-server?
(13:33:52) ordex: no
(13:33:56) ordex: only --enable-small
(13:33:56) cron2: dazo: ~150kbyte
(13:33:59) plaisthos: in the mac build it is 685k vs 815k
(13:34:09) cron2: ordex: so it doesn't really make enough of a difference :-) - 
point made!
(13:34:52) mattock: cron2: yep, I will
(13:34:53) dazo: so roughly 15-18% code reduction
(13:35:42) cron2: I'm surprised it's so much difference in size... plaisthos: 
code or data size?
(13:36:17) cron2: quot a few options strings, option-combination warning 
messages and --help output and such will go, though
(13:36:20) cron2: quite
(13:36:25) dazo: the difference plaisthos references is 130kb :-P
(13:36:53) plaisthos: binary size
(13:37:08) plaisthos: as in ls -lh src/openvpn/openvpn
(13:37:10) cron2: plaisthos: "size $binary"...?
(13:37:17) cron2: maybe 100kbyte of it is "debug information"
(13:37:23) dazo: yeah, I think OpenVPN 2.5 is a reasonable release to kick it 
out .... 2.4 will still be supported for some time forward after the 2.5 
release ... so users with scarce space can use a reduced 2.4 build; and we hope 
those smaller devices gets more space before the the 2.4 support runs out
(13:37:57) mattock: email about --disable-server sent
(13:38:01) dazo: plaisthos: can you try to do a build with --enable-small and 
strip it .... and compare a build with --enable-small --disable-server which is 
also stripped?
(13:39:54) plaisthos: data/text: 634880 12288, stripped binary 673k
(13:40:41) plaisthos: damn the last patch in the series was not disble-server 
clean
(13:40:45) plaisthos: *bites into desktop*
(13:41:04) plaisthos: okay again with master
(13:42:16) plaisthos: 524288/12288, stripped binary: 562k
(13:44:10) mattock: 14 minutes overtime
(13:44:13) plaisthos: 630784/12288, stripped binary: 668k
(13:44:37) plaisthos: mattock1: got to run?
(13:44:46) mattock: no, but we don't do overtime :D
(13:45:03) mattock: or try not to
(13:45:55) mattock: I say we end the official part here
(13:45:57) mattock: any objections?
(13:46:00) cron2: mmmh, unix "size" splits this up more nicely into "code" and 
"data" size (so you can see how much of it is "less strings" and "less code").  
but anyway.  Looks like this is not truly worth the contortions
(13:46:33) cron2: well
(13:46:35) cron2: used to
(13:46:49) cron2: nowadays strings seem to be all in "text"... *scratch head*
(13:47:10) plaisthos: yeah
(13:47:23) plaisthos: basically text is readonly and data is readwrite
(13:47:27) plaisthos: globals etc
(13:47:41) cron2: yep
(13:48:05) dazo: so roughly 100kb saved with --disable-server .... that doesn't 
really sound like it's worth our effort and troubles
(13:48:09) ***cron2 needs to feed wife and kid now, so "official end"

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