bridge relays and bridge directories

[Wesley Kenzie]

I am having problems fully understanding bridges and would appreciate some
guidance or pointers to where I can learn more.

If I set "UseBridges" for my Tor client to 1, can I specify any relay(s) in
the "Bridge" configuration setting, or must I only specify a relay that is
expecting to be used as a bridge?

If I set "UpdateBridgesFromAuthority" for my Tor client to 1, I understand
that bridge authorities are used, but how can I determine which nodes are
acting as bridge authorities?  Maybe I don't trust 1 or more of them.

If I set "BridgeRelay" for my Tor server to 1, then must I have an
"ExitPolicy" to accept at least 1 port or 1 IP address/range?  If ExitPolicy
is reject *:* does this mean the bridge relay will not work?  And if I have
multiple ports accepted, will any of them be used for the bridge
connections?

If I set "BridgeAuthoritativeDir" for my Tor server to 1, does this mean
that I will be recognized by some or all "UseBridges" Tor clients as a
bridge authority?  I understand that "UseBridges" Tor clients will not know
about all bridge authorities, so what is the cut off for those known and not
known?  Is there a manual list kept somewhere, or must Tor clients
personally know about bridge authorities they can use?  I see that the
controller GETINFO ns/all and GETINFO ns/id/fingerprint commands do not
return information about bridge authorities, unless I am missing it.

Wesley