How to properly start tor service

Question

For months I've been using:

$ sudo systemctl start tor.service

but I just realized we can start tor by simply typing "tor" into a terminal. What's the proper/safest way to start and stop tor.service?

Answer 1

Normally the Tor service should be started/stopped with either:

sudo systemctl start/stop tor.service

Or:

sudo service tor start/stop

Personally I've always used the service command because it is simpler. I'm guessing things get a little more complicated when you run multiple Tor instances, but I have no experience with that.

Running Tor in a terminal runs Tor as your user, and binds it to that terminal window. Running as a service allows Tor to run in the background with the proper permissions.