2 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/p-config.sgml,v $
4 Purpose : Used with other docs and files only.
6 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.3 2002/10/09 01:45:05 hal9 Exp $
8 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
11 ========================================================================
12 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
13 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
14 ========================================================================
17 This file contains all the config file comments and options. It used to
18 build both the user-manual config sections, and all of config (yes, the main
21 Rationale: This is broken up into two files since a file with a prolog
22 (DTD, etc) cannot be sourced as a secondary file. config.sgml is basically
23 a wrapper for this file.
27 OPTIONS: The actual options are included in this file and prefixed with
28 '@@', and processed by the Makefile to strip the '@@'. Default options
29 that should appear commented out should be listed as: '@@#OPTION'.
30 Otherwise, as '@@OPTION'. Example:
32 @@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
34 The Makefile does significant other processing too. The final results
35 should be checked to make sure that the perl processing does not
36 fubar something!!! Makefile processing requires w3m, fmt (shell line
40 This file is included into:
43 config (the actual Privoxy config file)
48 <!-- This part only goes into user-manual -->
50 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
53 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
54 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
55 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
56 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
64 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
70 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
71 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
72 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
76 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
77 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
78 for what happens if you leave them unset.
82 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
83 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
84 where you may be surfing).
91 <!-- This part only goes into the config file -->
94 @@TITLE<!-- between the @@ is stripped by Makefile -->@@
95 Sample Configuration File for Privoxy v&p-version;
98 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.3 2002/10/09 01:45:05 hal9 Exp $
101 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers http://privoxy.org
106 #################################################################
111 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE #
113 1. CONFIGURATION AND LOG FILE LOCATIONS #
114 2. LOCAL SET-UP DOCUMENTATION #
116 4. ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY #
118 6. WINDOWS GUI OPTIONS #
120 #################################################################
124 <literallayout>I. INTRODUCTION
125 =============== <!-- fuck this madness --></literallayout>
128 This file holds the Privoxy configuration. If you modify this
129 file, you will need to send a couple of requests to the proxy
130 before any changes take effect.
133 When starting Privoxy on Unix systems, give the name of this
134 file as an argument. On Windows systems, Privoxy will look for
135 this file with the name 'config.txt' in the same directory where
136 Privoxy is installed.
140 <literallayout><!-- funky spacing -->
142 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE
143 ====================================</literallayout>
146 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list
147 of values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or
151 actionsfile default.action
154 Indicates that the actionsfile is named 'default.action'.
157 The '#' indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a '#' is
158 ignored, except if the '#' is preceded by a '\'.
161 Thus, by placing a # at the start of an existing configuration line,
162 you can make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't there.
163 This is called "commenting out" an option and can be useful.
166 Note that commenting out and option and leaving it at its default
167 are two completely different things! Most options behave very
168 differently when unset. See the the "Effect if unset" explanation
169 in each option's description for details.
172 Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a `\' as
178 <!-- ************************************************ -->
179 <!-- The following is common to both outputs (mostly) -->
180 <!-- ************************************************ -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
185 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
188 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
189 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
190 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
191 where to find those other files.
195 The user running <application>Privoxy</application>, must have read
196 permission for all configuration files, and write permission to any files
197 that would be modified, such as log files and actions files.
201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
202 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
206 <term>Specifies:</term>
208 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
212 <term>Type of value:</term>
214 <para>Path name</para>
218 <term>Default value:</term>
220 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
224 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
226 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
233 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
236 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
237 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
238 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
239 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
240 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
246 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@confdir .</literallayout>]]>
250 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
251 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
255 <term>Specifies:</term>
258 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
259 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
264 <term>Type of value:</term>
266 <para>Path name</para>
270 <term>Default value:</term>
272 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
276 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
278 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
285 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
291 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logdir .</literallayout>]]>
295 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
296 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
299 <anchor id="default.action">
300 <anchor id="standard.action">
301 <anchor id="user.action">
302 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
305 <term>Specifies:</term>
308 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
313 <term>Type of value:</term>
315 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
319 <term>Default values:</term>
323 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
326 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
329 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
335 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
338 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
346 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
349 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
350 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
351 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
352 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
355 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
356 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
357 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
358 least one actions file.
364 <!-- NOTE: alternate markup to make a simpler list doesn't work due to -->
365 <!-- html -> text conversion, blah -->
366 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile standard # Internal purpose, recommended</literallayout>]]>
367 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile default # Main actions file</literallayout>]]>
368 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile user # User customizations</literallayout>]]>
371 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
372 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
373 <anchor id="default.filter">
376 <term>Specifies:</term>
379 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> to use
384 <term>Type of value:</term>
386 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
390 <term>Default value:</term>
392 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
396 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
399 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
400 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
401 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
409 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> contains content modification
410 rules that use <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link>. These rules permit
411 powerful changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
412 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
413 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
414 it appears on a Web page.
418 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
419 actions rely on the relevant filter (<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>)
420 to be defined in the filter file!
423 A pre-defined filter file called <filename>default.filter</filename> that contains
424 a bunch of handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution.
425 See the section on the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
432 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@filterfile default.filter</literallayout>]]>
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
441 <term>Specifies:</term>
449 <term>Type of value:</term>
451 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
455 <term>Default value:</term>
457 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
461 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
464 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>STDERR</literal>).
471 <!-- HB removed per bug report 688728 02/20/03
474 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
478 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
479 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
480 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
481 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
482 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
485 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
486 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
487 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
488 script has been included.
491 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
492 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
493 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
494 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
497 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
498 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
504 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logfile logfile</literallayout>]]>
508 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
509 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
513 <term>Specifies:</term>
516 The file to store intercepted cookies in
521 <term>Type of value:</term>
523 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
527 <term>Default value:</term>
529 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
533 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
536 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
544 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
550 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@jarfile jarfile</literallayout>]]>
554 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
555 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
558 <term>Specifies:</term>
561 The trust file to use
566 <term>Type of value:</term>
568 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
572 <term>Default value:</term>
574 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
578 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
581 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
589 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
590 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
593 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
594 access to sites that are specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed
598 Prepending a <literal>~</literal> character limits access to this site
599 only (and any sub-paths within this site), e.g.
600 <literal>~www.example.com</literal>.
603 Or, you can designate sites as <emphasis>trusted referrers</emphasis>, by
604 prepending the name with a <literal>+</literal> character. The effect is that
605 access to untrusted sites will be granted -- but only if a link from this
606 trusted referrer was used. The link target will then be added to the
607 <quote>trustfile</quote> so that future, direct accesses will be granted.
608 Sites added via this mechanism do not become trusted referrers themselves
609 (i.e. they are added with a <literal>~</literal> designation).
612 If you use the <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow
613 considerably over time.
616 It is recommended that <application>Privoxy</application> be compiled with
617 the <literal>--disable-force</literal>, <literal>--disable-toggle</literal> and
618 <literal> --disable-editor</literal> options, if this feature is to be
622 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
628 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#trustfile trust</literallayout>]]>
632 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
635 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
636 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
637 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
640 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
641 than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
642 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
646 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
647 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
650 <term>Specifies:</term>
653 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
658 <term>Type of value:</term>
660 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
664 <term>Default value:</term>
666 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
670 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
673 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
674 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
682 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
683 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want
684 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
685 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
690 <!-- The below needs checking after a rebuild due to long file names -->
692 Unix, in local filesystem:
695 <screen> user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/index.html</screen>
698 Windows, in local filesystem, <emphasis>must</emphasis> use forward slash notation, and <literal>%20</literal> to denote
699 spaces in path names:
702 <screen> user-manual file:///c:/some%20dir/privoxy/user-manual/index.html</screen>
705 Windows, UNC notation (forward slashes required again):
708 <screen> user-manual file://///some-server/some-path/privoxy/user-manual/index.html</screen>
711 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
714 <screen> user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
717 <!-- this gets hammered in conversion to config. Text repeated below. -->
720 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config
721 file</emphasis>, because it is used while the config file is being read.
733 If set, this option should be the first option in the config
734 file, because it is used while the config file is being read.
743 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#user-manual http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</literallayout>]]>
747 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
748 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
752 <term>Specifies:</term>
755 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
760 <term>Type of value:</term>
766 <term>Default value:</term>
768 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
772 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
775 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
783 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
784 activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
787 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
788 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
789 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
792 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
793 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
799 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/why_we_block.html</literallayout>]]>
800 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/what_we_allow.html</literallayout>]]>
804 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
805 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
809 <term>Specifies:</term>
812 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
817 <term>Type of value:</term>
819 <para>Email address</para>
823 <term>Default value:</term>
825 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
829 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
832 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
840 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
841 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
848 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#admin-address privoxy-admin@example.com</literallayout>]]>
852 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
853 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
857 <term>Specifies:</term>
860 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
861 configuration or policies.
866 <term>Type of value:</term>
872 <term>Default value:</term>
874 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
878 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
881 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
889 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
890 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
894 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
900 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#proxy-info-url http://www.example.com/proxy-service.html</literallayout>]]>
904 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
906 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
907 <sect2 id="debugging">
908 <title>Debugging</title>
911 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
912 Note that you might also want to invoke
913 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
914 command line option when debugging.
917 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
921 <term>Specifies:</term>
924 Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
925 <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
930 <term>Type of value:</term>
932 <para>Integer values</para>
936 <term>Default value:</term>
938 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
942 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
953 The available debug levels are:
957 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
958 debug 2 # show each connection status
959 debug 4 # show I/O status
960 debug 8 # show header parsing
961 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
962 debug 32 # debug force feature
963 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
964 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
965 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
966 debug 512 # Common Log Format
967 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
968 debug 2048 # CGI user interface
969 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
970 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
974 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
975 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
978 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
979 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
980 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
981 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
982 a hell of an output (especially 16).
986 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
987 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
990 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
991 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
997 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request</literallayout>]]>
998 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings</literallayout>]]>
999 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*</literallayout>]]>
1003 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1004 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1008 <term>Specifies:</term>
1011 Whether to run only one server thread
1016 <term>Type of value:</term>
1018 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1022 <term>Default value:</term>
1024 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1028 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1031 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1032 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1040 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1041 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1047 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#single-threaded</literallayout>]]>
1052 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1055 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1056 <sect2 id="access-control">
1057 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1060 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1061 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1065 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1066 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1070 <term>Specifies:</term>
1073 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1074 listen for client requests.
1079 <term>Type of value:</term>
1081 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1086 <term>Default value:</term>
1088 <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
1092 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1095 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1096 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1105 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1108 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1109 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1110 will need to override the default.
1113 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1114 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1115 from the Internet. In that case, consider using <link
1116 linkend="acls">access control lists</link> (ACL's, see below), and/or
1120 If you open <application>Privoxy</application> to untrusted users, you will
1121 also want to turn off the <literal><link
1122 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link></literal> and
1123 <literal><link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link></literal>
1129 <term>Example:</term>
1132 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1133 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1134 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1135 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1139 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1146 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118</literallayout>]]>
1150 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1151 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1155 <term>Specifies:</term>
1158 Initial state of "toggle" status
1163 <term>Type of value:</term>
1169 <term>Default value:</term>
1175 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1178 Act as if toggled on
1186 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1187 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1188 proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
1189 <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
1190 anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
1191 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
1192 editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1195 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1196 if this option is present.
1202 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1206 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1207 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1210 <term>Specifies:</term>
1213 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1214 feature</ulink> may be used
1219 <term>Type of value:</term>
1225 <term>Default value:</term>
1231 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1234 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1242 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1243 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1247 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1248 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1249 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1250 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1251 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1252 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1255 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1256 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1262 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-remote-toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1266 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1267 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1270 <term>Specifies:</term>
1273 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1274 file editor</ulink> may be used
1279 <term>Type of value:</term>
1285 <term>Default value:</term>
1291 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1294 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1302 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1303 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1304 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1305 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1306 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1307 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1310 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1311 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1317 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-edit-actions 1</literallayout>]]>
1320 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1321 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
1322 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
1323 <anchor id="permit-access">
1324 <anchor id="deny-access">
1328 <term>Specifies:</term>
1331 Who can access what.
1336 <term>Type of value:</term>
1339 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
1340 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
1343 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
1344 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
1345 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
1346 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
1347 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
1348 destination part are optional.
1353 <term>Default value:</term>
1355 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1359 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1362 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
1370 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
1371 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
1372 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
1373 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
1374 (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
1375 <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
1379 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
1380 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
1384 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
1385 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
1386 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
1387 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
1388 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
1391 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
1392 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
1393 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
1394 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
1395 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
1396 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
1399 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
1400 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
1401 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
1402 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
1405 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
1406 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
1411 <term>Examples:</term>
1414 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
1415 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
1416 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
1417 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
1421 permit-access localhost
1425 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
1426 nothing but www.example.com:
1430 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
1434 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
1435 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
1439 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
1440 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
1449 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1450 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
1454 <term>Specifies:</term>
1457 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
1462 <term>Type of value:</term>
1464 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
1468 <term>Default value:</term>
1474 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1477 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
1485 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
1486 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
1487 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
1488 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
1489 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
1493 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
1494 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
1495 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
1496 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
1497 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
1504 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@buffer-limit 4096</literallayout>]]>
1509 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1512 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1514 <sect2 id="forwarding">
1515 <title>Forwarding</title>
1518 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
1520 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
1521 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
1522 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
1523 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
1524 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
1525 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
1526 runs on has no direct Internet access.
1530 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
1531 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
1534 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
1537 <term>Specifies:</term>
1540 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
1545 <term>Type of value:</term>
1548 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1549 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1552 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1553 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1554 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1555 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1556 is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy through which the requests should be forwarded,
1557 optionally followed by its listening port (default: 8080).
1558 Use a single dot (<literal>.</literal>) to denote <quote>no forwarding</quote>.
1563 <term>Default value:</term>
1565 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1569 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1572 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
1580 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1581 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
1584 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1589 <term>Examples:</term>
1592 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
1596 forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
1601 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
1602 to that ISP's sites:
1606 forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
1607 forward .example-isp.net .
1616 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1617 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
1618 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
1619 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
1620 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
1624 <term>Specifies:</term>
1627 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
1632 <term>Type of value:</term>
1635 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1636 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1637 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1640 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1641 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1642 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1643 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
1644 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
1645 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
1646 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
1651 <term>Default value:</term>
1653 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1657 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1660 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
1668 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1671 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
1672 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
1673 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
1676 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1677 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
1683 <term>Examples:</term>
1686 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
1687 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
1688 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
1693 forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
1694 forward .example.com .
1698 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
1702 forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
1710 <![%user-man;[ <!-- not included in config due to length -->
1711 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1712 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
1715 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
1716 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
1717 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
1718 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
1722 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
1723 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
1724 configuration can look like this:
1734 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
1745 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
1750 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
1751 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
1752 of both isp-a and isp-b.
1756 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
1757 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
1758 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
1762 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
1763 run on the same box, your <application>squid</application> configuration could then look like this:
1768 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
1769 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
1771 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
1774 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
1775 always_direct allow ftp
1777 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
1778 never_direct allow all</screen>
1782 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
1783 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
1787 You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables through
1788 a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on <literal>antivir.example.com</literal>, port 8010:
1794 forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010</screen>
1802 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1805 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1807 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
1808 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
1810 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
1811 Windows GUI interface:
1814 <anchor id="activity-animation">
1815 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1817 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
1818 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
1819 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
1822 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#activity-animation 1</literallayout>]]>
1828 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
1835 <anchor id="log-messages">
1836 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1838 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1839 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
1843 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1849 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
1856 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
1857 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1859 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
1860 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
1861 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
1865 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
1866 eat up all your memory!
1869 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-buffer-size 1</literallayout>]]>
1875 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
1882 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
1883 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1885 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
1886 in the log buffer. See above.
1889 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-max-lines 200</literallayout>]]>
1895 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
1902 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
1903 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1905 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1906 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
1907 messages with a bold-faced font:
1910 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-highlight-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1916 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
1923 <anchor id="log-font-name">
1924 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1926 The font used in the console window:
1929 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-name Comic Sans MS</literallayout>]]>
1935 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
1942 <anchor id="log-font-size">
1943 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1945 Font size used in the console window:
1948 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-size 8</literallayout>]]>
1954 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
1961 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
1962 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1964 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
1965 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
1969 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#show-on-task-bar 0</literallayout>]]>
1975 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
1982 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
1983 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1985 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
1986 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
1987 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
1990 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#close-button-minimizes 1</literallayout>]]>
1996 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2003 <anchor id="hide-console">
2004 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2006 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2007 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2008 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2012 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#hide-console</literallayout>]]>
2018 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2028 <!-- end config content common to both outputs -->
2031 <!-- These are dummy anchors to keep the processor quiet -->
2032 <!-- when building config-file only (ie. they are used in u-m only) -->
2035 <anchor id="filter">
2036 <anchor id="filter-file">
2038 <anchor id="actions-file">
2039 <anchor id="af-patterns">
2043 <!-- eof p-config.sgml -->