[tor-dev] Questions pertaining to client to directory authority communications

[not me]

> but not what communication protocol is actually being used.

http, https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/blob/HEAD:/dir-spec.txt

section 1 line 184 "All directory information is uploaded and
downloaded with HTTP."

If you search through the document for http, you will find most of the
uris and related info youre looking for.

tl;dr/no idea for the rest of your post.