[tor-talk] What is going on with /var/run/tor?

[Matthew R <magickrot@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am becoming increasingly perplexed about my Tor setup.

Tor does not appear to run on start-up.  I assume this because I cannot see
it using ps aux | grep tor.

My torrc is in /etc/tor/torrc with user and group set as 'root'.

I run 'sudo tor' and receive the following errors:

Dec 29 20:12:55.076 [notice] Tor v0.2.2.35 (git-73ff13ab3cc9570d). This is
experimental software. Do not rely on it for strong anonymity. (Running on
Linux i686)
Dec 29 20:12:55.079 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.4.13-stable
using method epoll. Good.
Dec 29 20:12:55.079 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9050
Dec 29 20:12:55.079 [warn] Directory /var/run/tor does not exist.
Dec 29 20:12:55.079 [warn] Before Tor can create a control socket in
"/var/run/tor/control", the directory "/var/run/tor" needs to exist, and to
be accessible only by the user and group account that is running Tor.  (On
some Unix systems, anybody who can list a socket can conect to it, so Tor
is being careful.)
Dec 29 20:12:55.079 [notice] Closing partially-constructed listener Socks
listener on 127.0.0.1:9050
Dec 29 20:12:55.080 [warn] Failed to parse/validate config: Failed to bind
one of the listener ports.
Dec 29 20:12:55.080 [err] Reading config failed--see warnings above.

It is correct that /var/run/tor does not exist. I then create /var/run/tor
with user and group as 'root' and run 'sudo tor' again:

Dec 29 20:15:41.943 [notice] Tor v0.2.2.35 (git-73ff13ab3cc9570d). This is
experimental software. Do not rely on it for strong anonymity. (Running on
Linux i686)
Dec 29 20:15:41.948 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.4.13-stable
using method epoll. Good.
Dec 29 20:15:41.948 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9050
Dec 29 20:15:41.949 [warn] /var/run/tor is not owned by this user
(debian-tor, 115) but by root (0). Perhaps you are running Tor as the wrong
user?
Dec 29 20:15:41.949 [warn] Before Tor can create a control socket in
"/var/run/tor/control", the directory "/var/run/tor" needs to exist, and to
be accessible only by the user and group account that is running Tor.  (On
some Unix systems, anybody who can list a socket can conect to it, so Tor
is being careful.)
Dec 29 20:15:41.950 [notice] Closing partially-constructed listener Socks
listener on 127.0.0.1:9050
Dec 29 20:15:41.950 [warn] Failed to parse/validate config: Failed to bind
one of the listener ports.
Dec 29 20:15:41.950 [err] Reading config failed--see warnings above.

I don't understand why I get this error because I am 'root' not
'debian-tor'.  Su-ing into root then running tor provides the same error
message:

However, running 'tor' (without sudo) provides the following message:

Dec 29 20:18:28.270 [notice] Tor v0.2.2.35 (git-73ff13ab3cc9570d). This is
experimental software. Do not rely on it for strong anonymity. (Running on
Linux i686)
Dec 29 20:18:28.271 [warn] Could not open "/etc/tor/torrc": Permission
denied
Dec 29 20:18:28.272 [notice] Configuration file "/etc/tor/torrc" not
present, using reasonable defaults.
Dec 29 20:18:28.274 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.4.13-stable
using method epoll. Good.
Dec 29 20:18:28.274 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9050
Dec 29 20:18:28.285 [notice] Parsing GEOIP file /usr/share/tor/geoip.
Dec 29 20:18:29.084 [notice] OpenSSL OpenSSL 0.9.8k 25 Mar 2009 [9080bf]
looks like it's older than 0.9.8l, but some vendors have backported
0.9.8l's renegotiation code to earlier versions, and some have backported
the code from 0.9.8m or 0.9.8n.  I'll set both SSL3_FLAGS and SSL_OP just
to be safe.
Dec 29 20:18:31.459 [notice] We now have enough directory information to
build circuits.
Dec 29 20:18:31.459 [notice] Bootstrapped 80%: Connecting to the Tor
network.
Dec 29 20:18:32.522 [notice] Bootstrapped 85%: Finishing handshake with
first hop.
Dec 29 20:18:33.603 [notice] Bootstrapped 90%: Establishing a Tor circuit.
Dec 29 20:18:34.618 [notice] Tor has successfully opened a circuit. Looks
like client functionality is working.
Dec 29 20:18:34.618 [notice] Bootstrapped 100%: Done.

This all looks good except that it now uses "reasonable defaults" rather
than my specific torrc file.

I also have no idea why running 'tor' doesn't complain about /var/run/tor
but running 'sudo tor' does.

All I want to do is to run tor and have it load a specific torrc.  I don't
care whether I run tor in GNOME or whether I load Vidalia which then loads
tor.  At the moment, Vidalia just gives the /var/run/tor error as above.

Suggestions please?  Many thanks.
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