diff --git a/contrib/tor.sh.in b/contrib/tor.sh.in
index e9e604dd5b..771ad66ad5 100644
--- a/contrib/tor.sh.in
+++ b/contrib/tor.sh.in
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ elif [ -f /etc/init.d/functions ]; then
    . /etc/init.d/functions
 fi
 
+# Increase open file descriptors a reasonable amount
+ulimit -n 4096
+
 TORCTL=@BINDIR@/torctl
 
 # torctl will use these environment variables