no portable.txt but torchat tries to start portable mode

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I installed torchat via the .deb provided here on my Debian system. The 
documentation 
(http://code.google.com/p/torchat/source/browse/trunk/torchat/doc/howto_second_i
nstance.html) says (in short): "if found portable.txt: Portable Mode, else: 
Permanent Installation. 

The file portable.txt does not exist on my computer. But torchat still tries to 
start the portable mode, slowing down the start of torchat. So I think either 
the documentation is unclear or torchat doesn't check properly for portable.txt.

PS: While checking the hostname following message appears: "trying to read 
hostname file (try 21 of 20)", so I guess there is one check too much. Try 21 
of 20 is semantically wrong ;-)

Log of starting torchat:

(1) [torchat,66,main] TorChat is listening on x.x.x.x:xxx
(1) [torchat,69,main] start initializing main window
(1) [tc_client,536,__init__] initializing buddy list
(1) [tc_client,2013,startPortableTor] entering function startPortableTor()
(1) [tc_client,2019,startPortableTor] current working directory is 
/usr/lib/torchat
(1) [tc_client,2021,startPortableTor] changing working directory
(1) [tc_client,2024,startPortableTor] current working directory is 
/home/erik/.torchat/Tor
(1) [tc_client,2033,startPortableTor] trying to start Tor
(1) [tc_client,2051,startPortableTor] tor pid is 5162
(1) [tc_client,2058,startPortableTor] successfully started Tor (pid=5162)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 1 of 20)
./tor.sh: 5: tor: not found
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 2 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 3 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 4 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 5 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 6 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 7 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 8 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 9 of 20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 10 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 11 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 12 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 13 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 14 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 15 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 16 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 17 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 18 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 19 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 20 of 
20)
(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] trying to read hostname file (try 21 of 
20)
(0) [tc_client,2082,startPortableTor] very strange: portable tor started but 
hostname could not be read
(0) [tc_client,2083,startPortableTor] will use section [tor] and not 
[tor_portable]
(1) [tc_client,2098,startPortableTor] changing working directory back to 
/usr/lib/torchat
(1) [tc_client,2100,startPortableTor] current working directory is 
/usr/lib/torchat
(2) [tc_client,179,__init__] initializing buddy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, 
temporary=False

Original issue reported on code.google.com by kdg83...@trash-mail.com on 26 Jan 2011 at 1:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

prorable.txt determines where to stoe all data: either in the application 
folder (portable) or in the user home directory (fixed installation)

It will still try to start tor.sh (which in turn will try to start tor). You 
can also turn this off by removing (or renaming) tor.sh, then it will not try 
to start it and wait for the hostname file and instead immediately use the 
settings torchat.ini

But there is almost never a reason to do this. The normal and recommended setup 
is to start a separate instance of tor exclusively for torchat and leaving your 
existing system-wide tor completely alone.

The documentation is a bit outdated, it is 2 years old, i should review and 
update it.

Original comment by prof7...@gmail.com on 26 Jan 2011 at 10:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

there is a nice table in the document that explains it. Its still valid.

From the traceback it seems you don't have tor installed on this system or the 
tor binary is not in the path or you made changes to torrc.txt that are not 
allowed.

What are you trying to do? TorChat is meant to operate exactly like the .deb 
package will set it up. And tor should be installed and on your path (on ubuntu 
at least it is). If tor is installed and tor.sh cannot find it then please open 
another bug to fix tor.sh

Original comment by prof7...@gmail.com on 26 Jan 2011 at 10:42

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I explained the problem of tor.sh for debian at Issue 96, explaining why the 
separate instance of tor doesn't work and resulting in "Client mode (permanent 
installation)", according to the table in the documentation.

Original comment by kdg83...@trash-mail.com on 26 Jan 2011 at 7:29

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I will close this bug since the problem is originally caused by issue 96

Original comment by prof7...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2011 at 1:12

• Changed state: Fixed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Except the small mistake try 21 of 20... "(1) [tc_client,2067,startPortableTor] 
trying to read hostname file (try 21 of 20)"

Original comment by kdg83...@trash-mail.com on 30 Jan 2011 at 1:40

[GoogleCodeExporter]

this is only a cosmetic problem. Its trying a fixed number of times (to not get 
stuck there forever) until it stops trying. The mistake here is only in the 
print statement.

Original comment by prof7...@gmail.com on 30 Jan 2011 at 2:38