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2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
4 <!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
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10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
12 <!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
13 <!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
14 <!entity p-version "3.0.2">
15 <!entity p-status "STABLE">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
29 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
32 This file belongs into
33 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
35 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes Exp $
37 Copyright (C) 2001- 2003 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
40 ========================================================================
41 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
42 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
43 ========================================================================
50 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
54 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
55 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
56 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2003 by
57 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
61 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes Exp $</pubdate>
65 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
66 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
67 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
68 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
75 <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
78 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
80 text goes here ........
92 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
93 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
94 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
100 The <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
101 install, configure and use <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
105 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
107 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
110 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
111 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
112 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
113 contact the developers.
117 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
123 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
124 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
126 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
127 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
128 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
129 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
130 configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
131 completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over
132 earlier versions. The target release date for
133 stable v3.0 is <quote>soon</quote> ;-)]]>.
136 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
139 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
140 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
141 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
146 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
147 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
149 In addition to <application>Internet Junkbuster's</application> traditional
150 features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
151 <application>Privoxy</application> provides new features<![%p-not-stable;[,
152 some of them currently under development]]>:
154 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
156 <!-- end boilerplate -->
161 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
164 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
165 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
168 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
169 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
170 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
171 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
176 Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
177 <application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
178 will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
179 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
180 <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
181 you.</emphasis> See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to
182 upgraders</link> section below.
185 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
186 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
188 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
191 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
192 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
195 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
196 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
197 of configuration files.
201 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
202 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
203 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
204 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
205 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
209 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
210 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
211 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
215 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
216 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
217 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
218 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
225 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
226 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
231 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
232 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
235 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
236 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
237 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
238 use the registry of Windows.
242 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
243 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
246 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
247 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
248 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
252 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
253 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
256 First, make sure that no previous installations of
257 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
258 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
259 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
260 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
266 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
267 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
268 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
269 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
273 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
274 into will contain all of the configuration files.
278 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
279 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
281 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
282 from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
283 Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
284 <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
285 and follow the installation process.
286 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
287 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
288 It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
289 starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
290 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
293 To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
294 <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
295 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
296 Or, type this command in the Terminal:
300 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
304 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
308 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
309 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
311 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
312 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
313 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
314 remove this directory.
318 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
319 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
321 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
322 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
323 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
324 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
327 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
328 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
329 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
333 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
334 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
335 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
341 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
342 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
345 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
346 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
351 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
352 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
353 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
354 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
355 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
359 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
361 <!-- end boilerplate -->
364 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
365 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
367 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
368 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
369 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
370 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
375 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
376 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
377 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
378 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
382 In order not to loose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
383 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
384 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> for your
385 customization of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
386 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
394 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
396 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
397 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
398 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
400 There are very significant changes from earlier
401 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
402 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
403 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
404 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
405 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
406 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
407 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
408 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
409 are now combined into the <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
410 files</quote></link>.
411 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
412 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
415 A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (typically
416 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
417 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
418 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
421 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
422 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
423 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
424 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
425 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
426 recommended to use the new configuration files.
429 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
437 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
443 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
444 important configuration files!
449 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
450 at the special URL: <ulink
451 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
452 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
453 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
454 <application>Privoxy</application>.
459 The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
460 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
461 configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
462 files</link>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
463 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
464 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
469 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
470 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
471 Some installers may not automatically start
472 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
480 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
481 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
487 If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
488 files. See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
494 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
495 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
502 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
503 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
504 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
505 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
512 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
513 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
514 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
520 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
521 HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
522 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
523 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
524 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
525 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link> below
526 for more details on this.
532 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
533 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage cookies, you should
534 remove any currently stored cookies too.
540 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
541 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
542 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
543 to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
546 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
547 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
548 <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
549 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
550 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
557 If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
558 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
559 <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
560 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
561 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
562 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
563 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
564 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
565 Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
566 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
572 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
573 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
580 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
588 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
590 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
591 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
593 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
594 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
597 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
598 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
599 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
602 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
603 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
604 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
607 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
608 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
609 things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
610 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
611 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
612 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
613 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
614 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
615 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
616 habits and preferences.
619 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
620 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
621 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
622 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
623 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
624 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
625 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
626 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
627 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
628 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
631 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
632 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
633 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
634 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
635 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
638 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
639 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
640 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
641 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
642 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
643 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
644 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
645 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
646 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
651 The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
652 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
653 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
654 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
662 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
663 any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
664 action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
665 that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
666 communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
667 own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
673 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
674 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
675 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
676 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
677 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
678 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
679 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
680 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
681 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
682 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
683 an entire HTML page in most situations.
690 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
691 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
692 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
693 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
694 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
695 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
698 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
702 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
703 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
708 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
709 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
714 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
715 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
724 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
725 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
726 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
727 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
728 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
729 appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
730 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
731 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
732 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
733 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
734 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
735 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
739 A quick and simple step by step example:
747 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
748 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
756 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
761 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
762 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
765 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
767 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
770 <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
773 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
782 You should have a section with only
783 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
784 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
785 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
786 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
787 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
788 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
789 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
790 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
796 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
797 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
798 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
799 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
800 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
801 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
806 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
807 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
815 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
816 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
817 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
818 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
823 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
824 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
825 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
832 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
835 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
837 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
839 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
840 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
841 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
842 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
843 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
846 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
847 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
850 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
852 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)</title>
855 <imagedata fileref="../images/proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
858 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
865 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
866 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
870 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
871 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
872 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>
874 <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton>
876 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton>
878 <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton>
880 <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
884 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>:
888 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
889 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
890 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton>
892 <guibutton>Internet Properties</guibutton>
894 <guibutton>Connections</guibutton>
896 <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
900 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
901 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
906 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
907 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
908 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
909 <application>Privoxy</application>!
913 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
914 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
915 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
916 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
917 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
920 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
921 <title>Red Hat and Conectiva</title>
923 We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
924 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as
925 its main configuration file.
929 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
934 <sect2 id="start-debian">
935 <title>Debian</title>
937 We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
938 default. It will use the file
939 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
944 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
949 <sect2 id="start-suse">
952 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
953 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
963 <sect2 id="start-windows">
964 <title>Windows</title>
966 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
967 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
968 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
969 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
973 <sect2 id="start-unices">
974 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
976 Example Unix startup command:
980 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
985 <sect2 id="start-os2">
988 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
989 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
990 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
991 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
995 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
996 <title>Mac OSX</title>
998 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
999 start automatically when the system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand,
1000 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
1001 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1006 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1010 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1015 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1016 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1018 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1019 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1020 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1021 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1022 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1023 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1024 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1028 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1029 <title>Gentoo</title>
1031 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1032 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1036 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1040 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1041 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1046 rc-update add privoxy default
1054 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1058 must find a better place for this paragraph
1061 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1062 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1063 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1064 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1065 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1066 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1070 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1071 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1072 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1073 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1074 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1075 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1076 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1077 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1078 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1082 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1083 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1084 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1086 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1087 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1088 popups (explained below).
1092 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
1093 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
1094 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1095 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1096 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1097 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1098 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1099 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1100 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1104 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1105 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1106 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1107 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1108 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1109 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1110 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1111 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1112 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1116 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1117 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1118 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1119 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1120 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1121 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1122 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1126 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1127 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1128 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1129 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1130 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1131 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1136 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1137 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1138 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1143 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1144 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1145 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1146 Developers</quote></link> below.
1151 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1152 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1153 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1155 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1156 command-line options:
1164 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1167 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1172 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1175 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1180 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1183 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1184 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1189 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1193 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1194 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1195 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1196 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1201 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1205 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1206 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1207 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1212 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1216 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1217 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the Privoxy
1218 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1219 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in Privoxy to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1225 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1228 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1229 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1230 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1231 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1232 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1233 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1244 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1247 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1248 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
1250 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1251 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1252 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1253 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1257 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1260 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
1262 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1263 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1264 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1265 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1266 You will see the following section:
1270 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1273 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1277 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1280 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1283 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1286 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1289 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1292 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1300 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1301 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1302 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1303 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1304 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1305 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1309 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1310 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1311 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1312 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1313 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1314 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1315 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1316 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1322 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1327 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1329 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1330 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1332 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1333 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1334 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1335 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1336 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1337 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1341 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1342 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1343 principle configuration files are:
1351 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1352 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1353 on Windows. This is a required file.
1359 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1360 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1361 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1362 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1363 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1364 as many websites as possible.
1367 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1368 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1369 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1370 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1371 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1372 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1373 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
1374 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1377 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1379 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1381 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1382 various actions files.
1388 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1389 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1390 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1391 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1392 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. Only one filter
1393 file may be defined.
1401 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1402 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1403 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1404 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1405 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1406 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1411 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
1412 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1413 maximum flexibility.
1417 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1418 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1419 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1420 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1421 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1422 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1423 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1428 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1429 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1430 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1431 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1437 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1440 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1442 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1443 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1444 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1446 <!-- end include -->
1449 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1453 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1455 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1458 The actions files are used to define what actions
1459 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
1460 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1461 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
1462 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application>
1463 with differing purposes:
1470 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1471 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1472 provide a base level of functionality for
1473 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1474 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
1475 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1476 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1481 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1482 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1483 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1484 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1489 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
1490 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1491 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
1492 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
1493 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
1497 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1498 <filename>standard.action</filename> are:
1501 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1502 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1503 <colspec colname=c1>
1504 <colspec colname=c2>
1505 <colspec colname=c3>
1506 <colspec colname=c4>
1509 <entry>Feature</entry>
1510 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1511 <entry>Medium</entry>
1512 <entry>Adventuresome</entry>
1517 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1518 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1519 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1520 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1526 <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
1533 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1540 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
1547 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
1554 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
1556 <entry>session-only</entry>
1561 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1562 <entry>unsolicited</entry>
1563 <entry>unsolicited</entry>
1568 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
1575 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
1582 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
1589 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
1596 <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
1603 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
1610 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1617 <entry>Demoronizer</entry>
1634 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1635 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
1636 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically process before
1637 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
1639 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1643 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
1644 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
1645 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
1646 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
1647 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
1648 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
1649 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
1650 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
1651 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
1652 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
1653 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
1654 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
1658 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
1659 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
1660 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
1661 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
1662 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
1666 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1668 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
1670 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
1671 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
1672 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
1673 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
1674 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
1675 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
1676 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
1677 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
1678 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful puposes, like maybe
1679 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
1683 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
1684 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
1685 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
1686 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
1690 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1692 <title>How to Edit</title>
1694 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
1695 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
1696 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1697 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
1698 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
1699 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Adventuresome</quote>.
1700 Warning: the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> setting is not only more aggressive,
1701 but includes settings that are fun and subversive, and which some may find of
1706 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
1707 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
1713 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
1714 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
1716 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
1717 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
1718 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
1719 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
1720 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
1721 Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
1725 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
1726 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
1727 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
1728 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
1729 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
1730 the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
1731 a heading line of <literal>{
1732 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
1733 then later another one with just <literal>{
1734 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
1735 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
1739 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
1740 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
1744 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
1745 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
1749 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1750 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
1751 <title>Patterns</title>
1753 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
1754 to determine what actions might apply to which sites and pages your browser
1755 attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild card type
1756 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
1757 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
1758 against many similar patterns.
1762 Generally, a <application>Privoxy</application> pattern has the form
1763 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
1764 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
1765 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
1766 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
1767 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
1768 the pattern. This is assumed already!
1773 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
1776 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
1777 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
1782 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
1785 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
1791 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
1794 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
1795 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
1800 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
1803 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
1804 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
1809 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
1812 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
1813 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
1820 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1821 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
1824 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
1825 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
1831 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
1834 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
1835 <literal>.example.com</literal>
1840 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
1843 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
1844 <literal>www.</literal>
1849 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
1852 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
1853 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
1860 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
1861 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
1862 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
1863 any single character, you can define character classes in square
1864 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
1869 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1872 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
1873 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
1878 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1881 matches all of the above, and then some.
1886 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
1889 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
1890 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
1895 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
1898 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
1899 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
1900 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
1901 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
1909 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1912 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1913 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
1916 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
1917 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
1922 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
1923 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
1924 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
1925 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
1926 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
1927 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
1931 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
1932 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
1933 for the beginning of a line).
1937 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
1938 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
1939 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
1940 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
1941 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
1947 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1950 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1952 <sect2 id="actions">
1953 <title>Actions</title>
1955 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
1956 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
1957 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
1958 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
1959 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
1960 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
1961 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
1962 previously applied.</quote>
1967 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
1968 separated by whitespace, like in
1969 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
1970 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
1971 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
1972 of the actions file.
1976 There are three classes of actions:
1983 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
1984 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
1988 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
1989 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
1992 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
1999 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2004 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2005 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2006 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2009 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2010 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2013 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
2019 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2020 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2021 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2022 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2023 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2024 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2028 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2029 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2030 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2031 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2034 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2035 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2043 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2044 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2045 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
2046 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2047 files will give a good starting point).
2051 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
2052 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2053 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
2054 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
2055 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
2056 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
2057 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
2058 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
2061 <!-- start actions listing -->
2063 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2067 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2068 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2069 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2071 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2074 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2076 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2077 <title>add-header</title>
2081 <term>Typical use:</term>
2083 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2088 <term>Effect:</term>
2091 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2098 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2100 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2105 <term>Parameter:</term>
2108 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2109 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2119 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2120 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2121 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2128 <term>Example usage:</term>
2131 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2139 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2140 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2141 <title>block</title>
2145 <term>Typical use:</term>
2147 <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
2152 <term>Effect:</term>
2155 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
2156 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
2157 as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
2158 and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
2165 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2167 <para>Boolean.</para>
2172 <term>Parameter:</term>
2182 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2183 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2184 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2185 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2186 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2187 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2188 right now, you can take a look at the
2189 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2193 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2194 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2195 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2196 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2197 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2198 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2201 It is important to understand this process, in order
2202 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2203 ads and other unwanted content.
2206 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2207 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2208 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2209 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2210 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2216 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2219 <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2220 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2222 {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
2233 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2234 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
2235 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
2239 <term>Typical use:</term>
2242 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
2248 <term>Effect:</term>
2251 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
2258 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2260 <para>Boolean.</para>
2265 <term>Parameter:</term>
2277 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
2278 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
2279 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
2280 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2283 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2284 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2285 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
2286 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
2292 <term>Example usage:</term>
2295 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
2303 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2304 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
2305 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
2309 <term>Typical use:</term>
2312 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
2318 <term>Effect:</term>
2321 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
2328 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2330 <para>Boolean.</para>
2335 <term>Parameter:</term>
2347 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
2348 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
2349 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
2350 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2353 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2354 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2355 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
2361 <term>Example usage:</term>
2364 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
2373 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2374 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
2375 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
2379 <term>Typical use:</term>
2381 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
2386 <term>Effect:</term>
2389 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
2396 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2398 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2403 <term>Parameter:</term>
2406 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
2415 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
2416 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
2417 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
2418 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
2419 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
2420 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
2423 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
2424 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
2431 <term>Example usage:</term>
2434 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
2441 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2442 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
2443 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
2447 <term>Typical use:</term>
2449 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
2454 <term>Effect:</term>
2457 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
2464 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2466 <para>Boolean.</para>
2471 <term>Parameter:</term>
2483 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
2484 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
2485 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
2486 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
2487 is a chance you might need this action.
2493 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2496 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
2497 problem-host.example.com</screen>
2505 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2506 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
2507 <title>fast-redirects</title>
2511 <term>Typical use:</term>
2513 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
2518 <term>Effect:</term>
2521 Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
2528 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2530 <para>Boolean.</para>
2535 <term>Parameter:</term>
2547 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
2548 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
2549 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
2550 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
2551 <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
2554 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
2555 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
2556 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
2557 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
2558 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
2562 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
2563 It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
2564 many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
2565 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
2572 <term>Example usage:</term>
2575 <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
2584 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2585 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
2586 <title>filter</title>
2590 <term>Typical use:</term>
2592 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
2597 <term>Effect:</term>
2600 Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action
2601 applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
2602 based substitutions.
2609 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2611 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2616 <term>Parameter:</term>
2619 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
2620 (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
2621 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
2622 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>). When used in its negative form,
2623 and without parameters, filtering is completely disabled.
2632 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
2633 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
2637 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
2638 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
2639 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
2640 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
2641 noticeable on slower connections.
2644 This is very powerful feature, but <quote>rolling your own</quote>
2645 filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
2648 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
2649 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
2650 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
2651 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
2652 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
2655 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
2656 Encrypted SSL data (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either since
2657 this would violate the integrity of the secure transaction. Otherwise,
2658 <emphasis>any</emphasis> content is subject to filtering, and limited
2659 only by configuration. So, for instance, source code might be filtered
2660 in some situations - if the configuration <emphasis>does not disallow
2664 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
2665 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
2666 would normally be sent compressed, use the
2667 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
2668 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
2671 Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
2672 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2673 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
2674 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
2675 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
2679 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
2680 improved filters is particularly welcome!
2683 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
2684 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
2685 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
2686 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
2692 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
2693 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
2694 more explanation on each:</term>
2697 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
2698 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
2701 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
2702 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)</screen>
2705 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
2706 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse</screen>
2709 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
2710 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content</screen>
2713 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
2714 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
2717 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
2718 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows</screen>
2721 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
2722 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML</screen>
2725 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
2726 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
2729 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
2730 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size</screen>
2733 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
2734 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers</screen>
2737 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
2738 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
2741 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
2742 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap</screen>
2745 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
2746 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves</screen>
2749 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
2750 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable</screen>
2753 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
2754 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets</screen>
2757 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
2758 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
2761 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
2762 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable</screen>
2765 <anchor id="filter-fun">
2766 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
2769 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
2770 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)</screen>
2773 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
2774 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
2782 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2783 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
2784 <title>handle-as-image</title>
2788 <term>Typical use:</term>
2790 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
2795 <term>Effect:</term>
2798 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
2799 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
2800 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
2801 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
2802 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
2803 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
2810 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2812 <para>Boolean.</para>
2817 <term>Parameter:</term>
2829 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
2830 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
2834 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
2835 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
2836 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
2839 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
2840 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
2841 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
2842 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
2848 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
2851 <screen># Generic image extensions:
2854 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
2856 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
2857 # blocked as images:
2859 {+block +handle-as-image}
2860 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
2862 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
2872 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2873 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
2874 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
2878 <term>Typical use:</term>
2880 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
2885 <term>Effect:</term>
2888 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
2889 and prevents adding a new one.
2896 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2898 <para>Boolean.</para>
2903 <term>Parameter:</term>
2915 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
2918 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
2919 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
2920 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
2921 users sharing the same proxy.
2927 <term>Example usage:</term>
2930 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
2938 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2939 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
2940 <title>hide-from-header</title>
2944 <term>Typical use:</term>
2946 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
2951 <term>Effect:</term>
2954 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
2962 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2964 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2969 <term>Parameter:</term>
2972 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
2981 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
2982 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2986 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
2987 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
2988 is actually used by a real person.
2991 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
2992 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
2998 <term>Example usage:</term>
3001 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
3002 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
3010 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3011 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
3012 <title>hide-referrer</title>
3013 <anchor id="hide-referer">
3016 <term>Typical use:</term>
3018 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
3023 <term>Effect:</term>
3026 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
3027 or replaces it with a forged one.
3034 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3036 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3041 <term>Parameter:</term>
3045 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
3048 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
3051 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
3061 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
3062 not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
3063 content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
3064 by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
3067 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
3068 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
3069 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
3070 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
3071 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
3077 <term>Example usage:</term>
3080 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
3081 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
3089 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3090 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
3091 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
3095 <term>Typical use:</term>
3097 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
3102 <term>Effect:</term>
3105 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
3106 in client requests with the specified value.
3113 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3115 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3120 <term>Parameter:</term>
3123 Any user-defined string.
3133 This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
3134 to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
3135 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
3136 url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
3141 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
3142 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
3143 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
3144 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
3145 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
3146 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
3147 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
3148 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
3149 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
3150 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
3151 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
3154 This action is scheduled for improvement.
3160 <term>Example usage:</term>
3163 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
3171 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3172 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
3173 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
3177 <term>Typical use:</term>
3179 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)</para>
3184 <term>Effect:</term>
3187 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
3188 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
3195 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3197 <para>Boolean.</para>
3202 <term>Parameter:</term>
3214 This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
3215 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
3216 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
3217 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
3219 linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>all-popups</replaceable>}</link></literal>
3220 does and is not as smart as <literal><link
3221 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
3225 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
3226 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
3227 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
3228 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
3229 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
3230 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
3233 Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
3234 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the <literal><link
3235 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
3236 </literal> does a fairly good job of catching only the unwanted ones.
3239 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
3240 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
3241 one), you might want to use
3243 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
3249 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
3257 <term>Example usage:</term>
3259 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
3266 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3267 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
3268 <title>limit-connect</title>
3272 <term>Typical use:</term>
3274 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
3279 <term>Effect:</term>
3282 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
3289 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3291 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3296 <term>Parameter:</term>
3299 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
3300 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
3309 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
3310 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
3311 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
3312 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
3313 for some or all destinations.
3316 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
3317 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
3318 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
3319 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
3320 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
3321 abused as TCP relays very easily.
3324 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
3325 change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
3331 <term>Example usages:</term>
3333 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
3334 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
3335 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
3337 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
3338 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
3339 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
3340 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
3347 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3348 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
3349 <title>prevent-compression</title>
3353 <term>Typical use:</term>
3356 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
3357 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
3363 <term>Effect:</term>
3366 Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
3373 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3375 <para>Boolean.</para>
3380 <term>Parameter:</term>
3392 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
3393 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
3394 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
3395 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
3396 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
3397 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
3398 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
3399 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
3402 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
3403 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
3407 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
3408 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
3409 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
3415 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3418 <screen># Set default:
3420 {+prevent-compression}
3423 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
3425 {-prevent-compression}
3427 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
3436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3437 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
3438 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
3442 <term>Typical use:</term>
3445 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
3451 <term>Effect:</term>
3454 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
3455 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
3462 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3464 <para>Boolean.</para>
3469 <term>Parameter:</term>
3481 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
3484 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3490 <term>Example usage:</term>
3493 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
3502 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3503 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
3504 <title>send-wafer</title>
3508 <term>Typical use:</term>
3511 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
3517 <term>Effect:</term>
3520 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
3527 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3529 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3534 <term>Parameter:</term>
3537 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
3538 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
3547 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
3548 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
3551 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3556 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3559 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
3560 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
3568 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3569 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
3570 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
3574 <term>Typical use:</term>
3577 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
3578 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
3584 <term>Effect:</term>
3587 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
3588 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
3589 forget them in between sessions.
3596 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3598 <para>Boolean.</para>
3603 <term>Parameter:</term>
3615 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
3616 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
3617 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
3620 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
3621 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
3622 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
3623 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
3624 sites, and is the recommended setting.
3627 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
3628 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
3629 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
3630 will be plainly killed.
3633 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
3634 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
3637 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
3638 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
3639 These would have to be removed manually.
3642 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
3643 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
3644 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
3645 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
3651 <term>Example usage:</term>
3654 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
3662 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3663 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
3664 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
3668 <term>Typical use:</term>
3670 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
3675 <term>Effect:</term>
3678 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3679 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
3680 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
3681 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
3682 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
3683 sent as a replacement.
3690 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3692 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3697 <term>Parameter:</term>
3702 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
3703 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
3708 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
3709 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
3710 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
3711 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
3716 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
3717 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
3718 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
3721 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
3722 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
3723 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
3724 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
3725 it over and over again.
3736 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
3737 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
3738 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
3741 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
3742 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
3743 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
3749 <term>Example usage:</term>
3755 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
3758 Redirect to the BSD devil:
3761 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
3764 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
3767 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
3775 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3777 <title>Summary</title>
3779 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
3780 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
3781 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
3782 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
3783 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
3784 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
3790 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3791 <sect2 id="aliases">
3792 <title>Aliases</title>
3794 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
3795 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
3796 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
3797 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
3799 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
3800 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
3801 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
3802 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
3803 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
3807 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
3808 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
3809 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
3810 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
3814 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
3815 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
3816 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
3817 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
3818 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
3819 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
3820 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
3823 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
3824 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
3825 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
3826 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
3827 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
3829 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
3833 Now let's define some aliases...
3838 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
3840 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
3841 # must be at the top of the actions file!
3845 # These aliases just save typing later:
3846 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3848 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
3849 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
3850 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3851 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
3853 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3854 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3856 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
3857 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
3859 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
3861 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
3862 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
3866 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
3867 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
3868 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
3873 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
3874 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
3877 .office.microsoft.com
3878 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
3882 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
3886 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
3889 # These shops require pop-ups:
3891 {shop -kill-popups -filter{all-popups}}
3893 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
3897 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
3898 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
3899 in order to function properly.
3903 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3904 <sect2 id="act-examples">
3905 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
3907 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
3908 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
3909 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
3910 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
3911 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
3912 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
3913 file and see how all these pieces come together:
3916 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
3919 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
3923 <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
3927 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
3928 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
3929 change or worry about:
3934 ##########################################################################
3935 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
3936 ##########################################################################
3939 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
3943 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
3944 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
3945 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
3950 ##########################################################################
3952 ##########################################################################
3955 # These aliases just save typing later:
3956 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3958 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
3959 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
3960 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3961 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
3963 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3964 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3966 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
3967 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></screen>
3971 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
3972 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
3973 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
3974 enable the ones we want.
3978 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
3979 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
3980 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
3981 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
3982 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
3983 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
3984 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
3989 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
3990 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
3991 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
3992 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
3993 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
3994 multiple lines with line continuation.
3999 ##########################################################################
4000 # "Defaults" section:
4001 ##########################################################################
4003 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
4004 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
4005 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
4006 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
4007 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
4008 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
4009 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
4010 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
4011 -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
4012 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
4013 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
4014 +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
4015 +<link linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{unsolicited-popups}</link> \
4016 -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> \
4017 +<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
4018 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
4019 -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
4020 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
4021 -<link linkend="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS">filter{tiny-textforms}</link> \
4022 +<link linkend="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS">filter{jumping-windows}</link> \
4023 -<link linkend="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS">filter{frameset-borders}</link> \
4024 +<link linkend="FILTER-DEMORONIZER">filter{demoronizer}</link> \
4025 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
4026 -<link linkend="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE">filter{quicktime-kioskmode}</link> \
4027 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
4028 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
4029 +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
4030 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
4031 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
4032 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
4033 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
4034 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
4035 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
4036 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
4037 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
4038 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
4039 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
4040 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
4041 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
4043 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
4047 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
4048 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
4049 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
4050 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
4051 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
4052 want to block in later sections.
4056 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
4057 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
4058 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
4059 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
4060 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
4061 of actions explicitly:
4066 ##########################################################################
4067 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
4068 ##########################################################################
4070 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
4073 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
4074 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
4078 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
4079 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
4080 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
4089 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4091 .scan.co.uk</screen>
4094 <!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
4097 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
4098 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
4099 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
4100 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
4102 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
4103 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
4104 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
4105 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
4106 chosen in the defaults section:
4111 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
4113 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
4116 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
4119 END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
4122 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
4123 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
4124 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
4129 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
4133 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
4134 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
4135 .nytimes.com</screen>
4139 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
4140 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
4141 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
4142 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
4143 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
4144 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
4145 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
4146 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
4147 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
4153 ##########################################################################
4155 ##########################################################################
4157 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
4158 # blocked further down this file:
4160 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
4161 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
4165 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
4166 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
4167 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
4168 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
4169 <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
4170 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
4171 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
4172 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
4173 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
4174 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
4175 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
4176 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
4181 # Known ad generators:
4186 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
4187 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4188 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4195 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
4196 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
4197 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
4198 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
4199 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
4200 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
4201 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
4202 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
4203 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
4206 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
4207 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
4208 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
4209 to keep the example short:
4214 ##########################################################################
4215 # Block these fine banners:
4216 ##########################################################################
4217 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
4225 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
4226 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
4228 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
4230 .hitbox.com</screen>
4234 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
4235 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
4236 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
4237 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
4240 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
4241 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
4242 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
4243 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
4244 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
4245 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
4249 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
4250 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
4251 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
4252 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
4253 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
4254 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
4255 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
4256 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
4257 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
4258 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
4263 ##########################################################################
4264 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
4265 ##########################################################################
4269 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
4270 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
4271 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
4272 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
4273 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
4274 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
4282 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
4283 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
4287 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
4288 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
4289 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
4290 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
4291 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
4296 # Don't filter code!
4298 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
4300 .sourceforge.net</screen>
4304 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
4305 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
4310 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
4313 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
4314 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
4315 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
4316 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
4317 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
4318 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
4319 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
4320 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
4321 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
4322 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
4323 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
4324 to install updated versions from time to time.
4328 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
4329 <filename>user.action</filename>:
4333 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
4337 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
4341 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
4342 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
4343 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
4348 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
4349 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
4353 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
4354 # be self explanatory.
4356 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
4357 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
4358 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
4359 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
4360 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
4361 -block-as-image = -block
4363 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
4364 # certain types of sites:
4366 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4367 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
4369 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
4371 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}</screen>
4377 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
4378 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
4379 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
4380 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
4381 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
4382 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
4387 { allow-all-cookies }
4392 .redhat.com</screen>
4396 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
4401 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
4402 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
4406 Some file types you may not want to filter.
4407 <application>Privoxy</application> makes no distinctions between regular web
4408 pages and downloads done via your web browser if it is an html or text type
4414 # A list of common file extensions that are likely to indicate raw text, and best
4416 /(.*/)?.*\.(pl|(s|p)?h|c(c|xx|pp)?|tcl|am|init?|cfg?|conf(ig)?|txt|rc|bat)$
4418 # Documentation should not need filtering (at least on some sites).
4423 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
4424 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
4425 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
4426 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
4427 <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
4428 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
4429 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
4430 in default.action anyway:
4435 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
4436 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
4437 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
4439 # Here we found one that is not in <application>Privoxy's</application> default blocked list:
4440 .adfactory.net</screen>
4444 To force URLs that tend to have ad images, but it is difficult for
4445 <application>Privoxy</application> to know this since the ultimate returned
4446 object is obscured for one reason or another, we can try to force these to be
4447 treated as images (and thus avoid <application>Privoxy's</application>
4448 <quote>BLOCKED</quote> banner page). Note that if what is returned by the
4449 server turns out NOT to be an image, then your browser typically will display
4450 a broken icon image. Use cautiously.
4456 # A shockwave ad, very annoying.
4464 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
4465 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
4466 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
4467 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
4468 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
4469 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
4470 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
4471 that is causing the problem or not.
4477 .forbes.com</screen>
4481 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
4482 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
4483 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
4484 update-safe config, once and for all:
4489 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
4490 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
4494 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
4495 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
4496 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
4497 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
4498 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
4502 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
4503 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
4504 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
4505 sites that you feel provide value to you:
4517 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
4518 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
4519 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
4520 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
4524 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
4525 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
4526 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
4527 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
4528 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
4529 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
4535 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
4536 / # ALL sites</screen>
4542 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4546 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4548 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4550 <sect1 id="filter-file">
4551 <title>The Filter File</title>
4554 All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
4555 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
4556 must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
4557 called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
4558 selected through the <literal>
4559 <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
4564 Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
4565 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
4566 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
4567 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
4568 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
4569 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
4573 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain
4574 text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
4575 MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if
4576 you want to <quote>roll your own</quote> filters, you should be
4577 familiar with HTML syntax.
4581 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
4582 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
4583 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
4584 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
4585 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
4586 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
4587 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
4588 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
4589 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
4590 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
4591 user interface</ulink>.
4595 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
4596 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
4597 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
4598 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
4602 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
4607 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
4611 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
4612 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
4613 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
4614 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
4615 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
4616 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.3.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
4617 for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
4618 option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
4619 to ungreedy matching.
4623 If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
4624 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
4625 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
4627 <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
4628 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
4629 url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
4630 expressions</ulink> in general.
4631 The below examples might also help to get you started.
4635 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4637 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
4639 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
4640 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
4641 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
4646 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
4650 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
4651 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
4652 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
4653 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
4657 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4661 Our complete filter now looks like this:
4664 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
4665 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4669 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
4670 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
4671 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
4677 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
4679 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
4681 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
4685 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
4686 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
4687 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
4688 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
4692 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
4693 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
4694 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
4695 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
4696 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
4700 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
4701 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
4702 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
4703 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
4704 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
4705 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
4706 in the page (and appear in that order).
4710 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
4711 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
4712 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
4713 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
4714 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
4718 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
4719 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
4720 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
4721 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
4722 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
4723 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
4724 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
4725 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
4726 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
4727 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
4728 substitution is global.
4732 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
4733 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
4734 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
4735 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
4736 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
4740 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
4741 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
4742 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
4743 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
4744 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
4745 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
4746 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
4747 Business!"</literal>.
4751 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
4752 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
4753 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
4754 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
4755 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
4756 information anymore.
4760 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
4761 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
4766 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
4768 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
4772 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
4773 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
4774 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
4775 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
4776 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
4777 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
4778 a backreference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
4779 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
4780 a backreference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
4784 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
4785 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
4786 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
4787 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
4788 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
4789 you move your mouse over links.
4794 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
4796 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
4801 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
4802 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
4803 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
4804 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
4805 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
4806 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
4807 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
4808 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
4809 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
4810 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
4815 The last example is from the fun department:
4820 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
4822 # Spice the daily news:
4824 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
4828 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
4829 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
4830 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
4831 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
4832 still replacing the word everywhere else.
4837 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
4839 s* industry[ -]leading \
4841 | customer[ -]focused \
4842 | market[ -]driven \
4843 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
4844 | high[ -]performance \
4845 | solutions[ -]based \
4849 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
4854 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
4855 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
4863 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4865 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
4869 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
4870 keep these listings in sync.
4875 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
4876 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
4881 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
4884 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
4889 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
4890 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
4891 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
4896 removes the bindings to the DOM's
4897 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
4898 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
4899 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
4904 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
4905 full-screen, non-resizable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
4914 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
4917 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
4918 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
4919 resizing etc, anymore.
4922 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
4923 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
4930 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
4933 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
4936 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
4937 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
4938 resizable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
4939 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
4945 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
4948 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialogue, where they can be intercepted
4950 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
4951 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
4952 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
4953 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
4956 This filter disables HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets cookies. Use
4957 it wherever you would also use the cookie crunch actions.
4963 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
4966 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
4967 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
4968 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
4975 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
4978 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
4979 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
4980 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
4981 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
4984 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
4985 function to a dummy function during the loading and rendering phase of each
4986 HTML page access, and restoring the function afterwards.
4992 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
4995 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
4996 Note this should be used with more discretion than the above, since it is
4997 more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal usage. Use
5004 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
5007 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
5008 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
5009 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
5015 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
5018 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
5019 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
5020 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
5023 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
5024 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
5030 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
5033 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
5034 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
5035 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
5041 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
5044 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
5045 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
5046 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
5047 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
5048 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
5049 the use ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
5050 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
5053 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
5059 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
5062 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
5063 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
5064 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
5065 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
5068 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
5074 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
5077 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
5078 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
5079 or behave as intended when using this filter.
5085 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
5088 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
5089 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
5090 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
5091 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
5092 small to show their whole content.
5095 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
5102 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
5105 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
5106 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This causes those
5107 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
5110 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
5111 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
5112 UTF-8 (non-Latin-1) pages. It might be worthwhile for non-MS platforms,
5113 if wierd fonts sometimes appear on some pages.
5119 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
5122 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
5123 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
5131 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
5134 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
5135 prevents saving, is disabled.
5141 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
5144 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
5145 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
5151 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
5154 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
5155 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
5161 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
5164 A collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
5165 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
5168 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
5169 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
5175 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
5178 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
5179 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
5182 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
5183 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
5184 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
5185 anything regarding this filter.
5192 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
5206 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5210 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5212 <sect1 id="templates">
5213 <title>Templates</title>
5215 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
5216 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
5217 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
5218 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
5220 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
5221 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
5222 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
5227 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
5228 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
5230 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
5234 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
5235 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
5236 edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
5237 (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
5238 just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
5239 ignored when the templates are filled in.
5243 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
5244 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
5245 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
5246 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
5247 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
5251 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
5252 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
5253 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
5254 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
5255 in in an alpha or beta development stage:
5260 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
5262 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
5264 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
5268 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
5269 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
5270 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
5274 <screen><!-- --></screen>
5278 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
5279 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
5284 All templates refer to a style located at
5285 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
5286 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
5287 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
5288 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
5293 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5297 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5299 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
5302 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
5304 <!-- end boilerplate -->
5308 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5311 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5312 <sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
5314 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5316 <!-- end copyright -->
5318 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5319 <sect2><title>License</title>
5320 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5322 <!-- end copyright -->
5324 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5327 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5329 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
5330 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
5332 <!-- end history -->
5335 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
5336 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
5338 <!-- end authors -->
5343 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5346 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5347 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
5348 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
5350 <!-- end seealso -->
5355 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5356 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
5359 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5361 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
5363 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
5364 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
5365 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
5366 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
5367 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
5371 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
5372 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
5373 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
5374 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
5378 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
5379 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
5380 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
5381 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
5382 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
5383 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
5384 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
5385 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
5389 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
5390 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
5391 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
5392 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
5393 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
5394 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
5395 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
5396 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
5400 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
5401 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
5402 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
5403 and then some examples:
5408 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
5409 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
5411 </simplelist></para>
5415 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
5418 </simplelist></para>
5422 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
5425 </simplelist></para>
5429 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
5432 </simplelist></para>
5436 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
5437 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
5438 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
5439 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
5440 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
5441 meta-character meaning of any single character).
5443 </simplelist></para>
5447 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
5448 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
5449 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
5450 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
5452 </simplelist></para>
5456 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
5457 or multiple sub-expressions.
5459 </simplelist></para>
5463 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
5464 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
5465 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
5466 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
5467 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
5468 example</quote>, and nothing else.
5470 </simplelist></para>
5473 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
5474 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
5475 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
5476 be more illuminating:
5480 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
5481 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
5482 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
5483 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
5484 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
5485 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
5486 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
5487 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
5488 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
5489 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
5490 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
5491 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
5492 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
5493 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
5498 A now something a little more complex:
5502 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
5503 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
5504 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
5505 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
5506 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
5507 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
5508 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
5513 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
5514 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
5515 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
5516 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
5517 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
5518 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
5519 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
5520 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
5521 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
5522 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
5523 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
5524 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
5525 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
5526 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
5527 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
5528 changing our regular expression to:
5529 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
5534 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
5535 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
5536 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
5537 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
5538 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
5539 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
5540 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
5541 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
5542 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
5543 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
5544 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
5545 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
5546 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
5547 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
5548 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
5549 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
5550 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
5551 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
5552 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
5553 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
5554 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
5555 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
5556 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
5557 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
5558 in the expression anywhere).
5562 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
5563 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
5564 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
5565 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
5566 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
5571 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
5572 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
5576 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
5577 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
5582 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5585 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5587 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
5590 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
5591 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
5592 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
5593 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
5594 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
5595 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
5596 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
5602 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
5603 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
5604 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
5605 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
5618 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
5622 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
5623 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
5624 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
5630 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
5631 editing of actions files:
5635 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
5642 Show the source code version numbers:
5646 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
5653 Show the browser's request headers:
5657 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
5664 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
5668 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5675 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
5676 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
5680 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
5684 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
5688 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
5693 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
5702 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
5706 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
5707 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
5709 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
5710 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
5711 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
5712 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
5713 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
5714 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
5717 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
5718 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
5719 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
5720 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
5721 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
5722 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
5731 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
5738 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
5745 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
5752 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
5758 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
5763 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
5770 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
5771 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
5772 have more information about bookmarklets.
5781 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5783 <title>Chain of Events</title>
5785 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
5786 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
5793 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
5794 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
5795 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
5801 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
5802 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
5807 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
5809 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
5810 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
5811 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
5812 is then checked and if it does not match, an
5813 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
5814 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
5815 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
5816 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
5821 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
5822 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
5827 If the URL pattern matches the <link
5828 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
5829 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
5834 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
5835 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
5836 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
5837 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
5843 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
5849 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
5850 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
5851 filtered as determined by the
5852 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
5853 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
5854 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
5860 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
5861 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
5862 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
5867 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5869 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5870 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
5871 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
5872 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
5873 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
5874 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
5875 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
5876 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
5877 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
5880 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5882 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5883 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
5884 to the client browser as it becomes available.
5889 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
5890 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
5891 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
5892 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
5893 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
5894 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
5904 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5905 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
5906 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
5909 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
5910 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
5911 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
5912 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
5913 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
5914 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
5915 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
5916 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
5917 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
5922 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
5923 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
5924 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
5925 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
5926 logs is a good idea too.
5930 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
5931 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5932 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
5933 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
5937 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
5938 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
5939 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
5940 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
5941 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
5942 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
5943 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
5944 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
5945 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
5946 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
5947 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
5948 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
5949 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
5954 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
5955 and look at it one section at a time:
5960 Matches for http://google.com:
5962 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5966 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5967 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5968 +deanimate-gifs{last}
5969 -downgrade-http-version
5973 -filter{shockwave-flash}
5974 -filter{crude-parental}
5975 +filter{html-annoyances}
5976 +filter{js-annoyances}
5977 +filter{content-cookies}
5979 +filter{refresh-tags}
5981 +filter{banners-by-size}
5982 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5983 +hide-from-header{block}
5984 +hide-referer{forge}
5989 +prevent-compression
5992 +session-cookies-only
5993 +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
5996 { -session-cookies-only }
6002 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
6003 (no matches in this file)
6008 This tells us how we have defined our
6009 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
6010 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
6011 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
6012 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
6013 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
6014 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
6015 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
6016 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
6017 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
6018 -- <quote>/</quote>.
6022 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
6023 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
6024 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
6025 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
6027 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
6028 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
6029 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
6031 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
6032 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
6033 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
6034 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
6035 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
6036 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
6037 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
6042 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
6046 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
6047 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
6048 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
6059 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6060 -crunch-incoming-cookies
6061 +deanimate-gifs{last}
6062 -downgrade-http-version
6066 -filter{shockwave-flash}
6067 -filter{crude-parental}
6068 +filter{html-annoyances}
6069 +filter{js-annoyances}
6070 +filter{content-cookies}
6072 +filter{refresh-tags}
6074 +filter{banners-by-size}
6075 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
6076 +hide-from-header{block}
6077 +hide-referer{forge}
6082 +prevent-compression
6085 -session-cookies-only
6086 +set-image-blocker{pattern}
6091 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
6092 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
6096 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
6102 { +block +handle-as-image }
6105 { +block +handle-as-image }
6108 { +block +handle-as-image }
6114 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
6115 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
6116 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
6117 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
6118 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
6119 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
6124 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
6125 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
6126 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
6127 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
6128 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
6129 is done here -- as both a <link
6130 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
6131 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
6133 linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
6134 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
6139 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
6140 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
6146 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
6148 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
6152 -crunch-incoming-cookies
6153 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6155 -downgrade-http-version
6157 +filter{html-annoyances}
6158 +filter{js-annoyances}
6159 +filter{kill-popups}
6162 +filter{banners-by-size}
6165 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
6166 +hide-from-header{block}
6167 +hide-referer{forge}
6171 +prevent-compression
6174 +session-cookies-only
6175 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
6178 { +block +handle-as-image }
6184 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
6185 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
6186 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
6187 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
6188 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
6200 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
6201 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
6205 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
6212 { +block +handle-as-image }
6218 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
6219 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
6220 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
6221 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
6222 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. These
6223 tend to be harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of
6224 aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
6232 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6240 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
6241 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
6242 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
6255 This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
6256 appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
6261 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
6262 <quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote> rule, which assumes
6263 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well most of the time
6264 since these tend to be standardized).
6268 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
6269 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
6270 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
6271 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
6280 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
6281 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
6282 Public License as published by the Free Software
6283 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
6284 your option) any later version.
6286 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
6287 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
6288 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
6289 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
6290 License for more details.
6292 The GNU General Public License should be included with
6293 this file. If not, you can view it at
6294 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
6295 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
6296 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
6298 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
6299 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
6300 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
6302 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
6303 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
6305 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
6306 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
6307 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
6309 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
6310 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
6313 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
6314 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
6316 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
6317 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
6319 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
6320 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
6322 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
6323 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
6324 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
6327 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
6328 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
6330 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
6331 Added documentation for new chroot option
6333 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
6334 Adapted to the new filters
6336 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
6337 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
6340 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
6341 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
6343 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
6344 Add demoronizer to filter section.
6346 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
6347 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
6349 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
6350 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
6351 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
6353 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
6354 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
6356 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
6357 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
6360 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
6361 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
6363 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
6364 Update to Mac OSX startup script name
6366 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
6367 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
6369 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
6370 Nits re: actions file download
6372 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
6373 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
6375 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
6376 Added 2 Gentoo sections
6378 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
6379 - Added version info to title
6380 - Added info on new filters
6381 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
6382 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
6384 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
6385 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
6387 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
6389 Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
6391 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
6392 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
6394 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
6395 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
6397 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
6398 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
6400 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
6401 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
6402 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
6403 so that these are in sync with each other.
6405 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
6406 Ooops missed something from David.
6408 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
6409 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
6410 That's a wrap, I think.
6412 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
6413 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
6415 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
6416 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
6418 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
6419 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
6420 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
6422 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
6423 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
6425 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
6426 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
6427 <literal><link> style.
6428 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
6429 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
6430 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
6431 renders them red (bad in TOC).
6433 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
6434 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
6436 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
6439 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
6440 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
6441 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
6443 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
6444 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
6445 - Small changes to Regex appendix
6446 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
6448 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
6449 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
6451 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
6452 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
6454 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
6455 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
6457 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
6458 Extended and further commented the example actions files
6460 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
6461 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
6464 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
6467 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
6468 Restored alphabetical order of actions
6470 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
6471 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
6473 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
6474 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
6476 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
6477 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
6478 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
6480 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
6481 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
6482 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
6483 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
6485 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
6486 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
6488 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
6491 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
6492 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
6493 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
6495 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
6496 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
6498 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
6499 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
6500 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
6502 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
6503 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
6505 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
6506 more structure in starting section
6508 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
6509 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
6510 will probably break links elsewhere :(
6512 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
6513 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
6514 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
6516 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
6517 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
6518 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
6520 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
6521 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
6523 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
6524 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
6525 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
6527 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
6528 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
6529 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
6531 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
6532 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
6534 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
6535 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
6537 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
6538 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
6540 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
6541 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
6543 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
6544 Updated OSX installation section
6545 Added a few English tweaks here an there
6547 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
6548 Re-write actions section.
6550 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
6551 Fix ugly typo (mine).
6553 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
6554 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
6556 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
6557 Added RPM install detail
6559 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
6562 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
6563 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
6565 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
6566 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
6568 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
6569 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
6571 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
6574 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
6575 Proofreading, part one
6577 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
6578 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
6579 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
6581 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
6582 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
6584 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
6585 Add small section on submitting actions.
6587 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
6590 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
6591 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
6593 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
6594 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
6596 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
6599 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
6600 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
6601 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
6602 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
6603 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
6605 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
6606 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
6608 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
6609 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
6611 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
6612 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
6613 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
6614 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
6615 eventually be set by Makefile.
6616 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
6618 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
6619 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
6621 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
6622 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
6624 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
6625 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
6627 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
6628 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
6629 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
6630 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
6632 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
6635 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
6636 Added more to Anatomy section.
6638 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
6639 Touch up intro for new name.
6641 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
6642 we have a new homepage!
6644 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
6645 A few minor catch ups with name change.
6647 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
6648 configure needs to be generated.
6650 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
6651 we are too lazy to make a block-built
6652 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
6654 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
6655 name change related issue.
6657 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
6658 name change. changed filenames.
6660 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
6663 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
6664 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
6665 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
6666 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
6667 comments and remarks to history untouched.
6669 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
6672 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
6673 New section in Appendix.
6675 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
6676 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
6678 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
6679 correct feedback channels
6681 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
6682 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
6684 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
6687 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
6688 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
6690 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
6691 Added imageblock{pattern}.
6693 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
6696 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
6697 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
6699 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
6700 provide correct feedback channels
6702 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
6703 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
6705 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
6706 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
6708 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
6709 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
6711 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
6712 Add new - - user option.
6714 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
6715 Added section on command line options.
6717 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
6718 Changed default port to 8118
6720 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
6721 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
6723 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
6724 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
6725 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
6728 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
6731 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
6732 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
6734 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
6735 Update OS/2 build section
6737 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
6738 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
6739 will work - no other changes are needed.
6741 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
6742 Added a very short section on Templates
6744 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
6745 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
6747 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
6748 Touch ups for *.action files.
6750 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
6753 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
6754 Updates for recent changes.
6756 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
6757 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
6759 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
6760 Correct 2 minor errors
6762 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
6763 *** empty log message ***
6765 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
6766 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
6768 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
6769 wrong url in documentation
6771 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
6772 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
6774 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
6777 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
6780 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
6783 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
6784 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
6786 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
6787 Some additions, and re-arranging.
6789 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
6792 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
6793 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
6795 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
6798 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
6799 source files for junkbuster documentation
6801 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
6802 first proposal of a structure.
6804 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
6805 docs should have an author.
6807 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
6808 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob