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help with getting TOR and Privoxy to work on Sabayon

i am following the HOWTO guide from http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Anonymity_ ... nd_Privoxy and when i get to the point of starting tor i get the following errors:

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    # /etc/init.d/tor start

    * Starting Tor ...

    Aug 27 20:31:51.650 [notice] Tor v0.1.2.16. This is experimental software. Do not rely on it for strong anonymity.

    Aug 27 20:31:51.652 [warn] Error setting to configured GID: Operation not permitted

    Aug 27 20:31:51.652 [warn] Failed to parse/validate config: Problem with User or Group value. See logs for details.

    Aug 27 20:31:51.652 [err] Reading config failed--see warnings above.    [ !! ]

    * ERROR: tor failed to start

now i followed the guide to the letter so i am confused. do i need to create the group and user tor?

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    ## Default username and group the server will run as

    User tor

    Group tor

that is out of the /etc/tor/torrc file, or do i need to change that to root root or user name...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lleb (Post 2872751)

do i need to create the group and user tor?

When I followed your link for the howto, I was greeted with "There is currently no text in this page ...". I wonder if there were problems with the instructions and it is undergoing revision.

The answer to your question is, yes, if the user and group tor don't exist, then you need to create them. The reason for a special user and group is a security precaution. Tor could run as another user or as root, but a separate user is created so that should a security hole in tor be exploited, the attacker still couldn't do much.

If you don't already know, you can easily check to see if such a user and/or group already exist with:

Code:

grep "^tor" /etc/passwd /etc/group