How to Use Tor with Terminal on Mac: Two Methods

In this article, we will discuss how to use the Tor terminal on a Mac computer. Tor is a free software that enables anonymous communication by directing Internet traffic through a volunteer overlay network consisting of more than seven thousand relays. There are two methods to use Tor terminal on Mac - using the 'brew services start tor' command and using the 'tor' command.

Method 1: Using 'brew services start tor' command

Homebrew is a popular package manager for Mac that provides a simple way to install software and manage dependencies. Here are the steps to use Tor terminal on Mac using Homebrew:

1. $ brew install tor

This command installs the Tor package on your Mac.

2. $ brew services start tor

This command starts the Tor service on your Mac. The Tor service will automatically start every time your Mac starts up.

3. $ tor

This command starts the Tor client, which will connect you to the Tor network.

Method 2: Using 'tor' command

If you do not want to use Homebrew, you can install Tor manually. Here are the steps:

1. Download the Tor package from the official Tor website.
3. open a terminal window and navigate to the location where you extracted the Tor package.
4. ./Tor to start the Tor client. This will connect you to the Tor network.

Key Concepts

Here are some key concepts related to Tor that you should understand:

• Onion Routing: Tor uses onion routing to encrypt and anonymize Internet traffic. Each data packet is encrypted multiple times and sent through a series of relays. Each relay decrypts one layer of encryption before passing it on to the next relay in the circuit.
• Tor Circuit: A Tor circuit is a path that data takes through the Tor network. Each circuit consists of three relays - an entry relay, a middle relay, and an exit relay. The entry relay receives your request, the middle relay passes it on, and the exit relay sends the response back to you.
• Entry Guard: An entry guard is a relay that you use to enter the Tor network. The Tor network randomly assigns you several entry guards, which you will use for a period of time before they are rotated. Entry guards are designed to protect against a class of attacks known as Sybil attacks.

• There are two ways to use Tor terminal on Mac - using the 'brew services start tor' command and using the 'tor' command.
• Homebrew is a package manager that simplifies the installation of Tor on Mac.
• Tor uses onion routing, circuits, and entry guards to anonymize and encrypt Internet traffic.

References

• The Tor Project
• Tor Manual
• Tor package on GNU Guix