[tor-talk] Reload "torrc" without restart TorBrowser possible? Reload every 600 seconds?

[Roger Dingledine]

On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 01:59:21PM +0100, Ben Stover wrote:
> When I start TorBrowser the current "torrc" file is read.
> 
> Now assume I change the instructions in "torrc".
> 
> Do I have to exit and restart TorBrowser to get the new "torrc" instructions working?

On Windows, yes.

On other operating systems (Linus, OS X, Unix), you can send a HUP
signal to the Tor process ("kill -HUP <pid>"), and Tor will reload
its torrc file.

All of that said, exiting and restarting is the most thorough (and thus
the simplest) approach.

(On Windows, the Tor control protocol interface lets you send "signal
reload" to do the equivalent to a hup signal. But it's not straightforward
to get an authenticated connection to Tor's control port in the Tor
Browser case, so I wouldn't call that an easy avenue either.)

--Roger