Difference between kovri tunnel types

Question

In Stunnel, there is only 2 types of tunnels : client and server.

Why is there more types in kovri tunnels ?

What is the difference between types server and http ? and between client and irc ?

Answer 1

Conceptually speaking, there are still only 2 types of tunnels : client and server.

But the idea is that we can do "better" for a specific application/protocol by leveraging some of its characteristics.

So http is a specialization of a server tunnel for the HTTP protocol, and likewise, irc is a specialization of a client tunnel for the IRC protocol.

Currently, there is no distinction between irc and client. There is this open ticket for this task.

AFAICT, here is the only distinction between http and server : it looks like it's used to dynamically change the Host parameter in the header of an HTTP request.