Tor (The Onion Router) is a free software which provides online anonymity. More information about the tor project can be found at TOR. This post is specific to the Tor Browser Bundle in Debian based systems.
The tor browser is started by running the command from the command line. However, sometimes the browser fails to load on account of ulimit being low. What this means is that, the minimum number of file descriptors required for tor browser to start is not available.
[warn] raise your ulimit -n
When you see a warning like what is shown above, check the current maximum value of file descriptors available by typing the command -
ulimit -n
If the value is less than 1000, it is required to raise the system default limit. In order to do so, navigate to /etc/security and edit the limits.conf file. Remember to edit the file as root. Add the following lines before the end of the file -
* hard nofile 75000
* soft nofile 10000
The above two lines are used to set the value for maximum number of open files ( nofile ) as default entry ( * ). The values for hard limit and soft limit need not necessarily be what I have provided. It can be any value higher than the current value set as default by the operating system. After editing the file, save it, log out and log back in to see the changes reflected. Check by typing ulimit -n command again.
Now, you should be able to start the tor browser from the command line.
