Add expert settings that let TorLauncher connect easily to a running tor instance
Now that Vidalia is officially deprecated, I would like to propose adding expert settings to TorLauncher that let it connect easily to a running tor instance instead of starting a separate one. I would strongly suggest GUI settings for extensions.torlauncher.start_tor=false, SocksPort, ControlPort and ControlPassword. Of course, it might be wise to add an "expert settings" warning.
To clarify where I am coming from: I am using a system-wide tor instance (on Debian Wheezy 64bit) for TBB, torbirdy, and pidgin, among other clients. I have to disable TorLauncher in TBB to get it to use the system-wide tor instance. Doing that, I lose TorButton's "new identity" function, so right now I am using Vidalia to change the circuit when needed. I am taking a wild guess I am not the only one doing something like that.
It would be much appreciated if there was an easy way to let TBB connect to a running tor instance without setting environment variables etc. (which never worked for me, anyway) and without losing the "new identity" feature.