1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
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">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
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 "0.0.0">
15 <!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
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 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9 Exp $
37 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 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, 2002 by
57 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
61 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9 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>dpkg -i
226 privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb</literal>, and will use
227 <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of configuration
232 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
233 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
236 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
237 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
238 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
239 use the registry of Windows.
243 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
244 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
247 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
248 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
249 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
253 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
254 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
257 First, make sure that no previous installations of
258 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
259 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
260 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
261 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
267 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
268 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
269 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
270 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
274 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
275 into will contain all of the configuration files.
279 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
280 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
282 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
283 from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
284 Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
285 <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
286 and follow the installation process.
287 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
288 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
289 It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
290 starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
291 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
294 To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
295 <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
296 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
297 Or, type this command in the Terminal:
301 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
305 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
309 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
310 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
312 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
313 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
314 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
315 remove this directory.
319 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
320 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
322 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
323 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
324 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
325 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
328 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
329 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
330 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
334 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
335 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
336 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
342 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
343 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
346 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
347 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
352 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
353 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
354 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
355 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
356 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
360 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
362 <!-- end boilerplate -->
365 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
366 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
368 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
369 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
370 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
371 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
376 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
377 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
378 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
379 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
383 In order not to loose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
384 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
385 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> for your
386 customization of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
387 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
395 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
397 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
398 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
399 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
401 There are very significant changes from earlier
402 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
403 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
404 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
405 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
406 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
407 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
408 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
409 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
410 are now combined into the <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
411 files</quote></link>.
412 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
413 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
416 A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (typically
417 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
418 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
419 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
422 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
423 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
424 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
425 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
426 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
427 recommended to use the new configuration files.
430 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
438 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
444 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
445 important configuration files!
450 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
451 at the special URL: <ulink
452 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
453 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
454 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
455 <application>Privoxy</application>.
460 The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
461 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
462 configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
463 files</link>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
464 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
465 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
470 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
471 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
472 Some installers may not automatically start
473 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
481 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
482 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
488 If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
489 files. See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
495 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
496 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
503 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
504 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
505 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
506 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
513 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
514 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
515 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
521 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
522 HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
523 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
524 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
525 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
526 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link> below
527 for more details on this.
533 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
534 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage cookies, you should
535 remove any currently stored cookies too.
541 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
542 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
543 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
544 to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
547 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
548 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
549 <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
550 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
551 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
558 If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
559 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
560 <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
561 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
562 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
563 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
564 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
565 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
566 Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
567 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
573 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
574 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
581 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
589 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
591 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
592 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
594 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
595 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
598 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
599 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
600 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
603 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
604 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
605 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
608 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
609 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
610 things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
611 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
612 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
613 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
614 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
615 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
616 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
617 habits and preferences.
620 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
621 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
622 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
623 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
624 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
625 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
626 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
627 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
628 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
629 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
632 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
633 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
634 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
635 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
636 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
639 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
640 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
641 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
642 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
643 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
644 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
645 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
646 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
647 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
652 The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
653 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
654 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
655 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
663 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
664 any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
665 action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
666 that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
667 communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
668 own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
674 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
675 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
676 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
677 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
678 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
679 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
680 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
681 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
682 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
683 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
684 an entire HTML page in most situations.
691 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
692 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
693 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
694 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
695 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
696 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
699 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
703 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
704 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
709 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
710 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
715 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
716 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
725 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
726 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
727 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
728 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
729 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
730 appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
731 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
732 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
733 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
734 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
735 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
736 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
740 A quick and simple step by step example:
748 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
749 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
757 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
762 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
763 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
766 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
768 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
771 <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
774 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
783 You should have a section with only
784 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
785 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
786 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
787 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
788 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
789 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
790 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
791 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
797 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
798 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
799 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
800 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
801 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
802 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
807 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
808 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
816 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
817 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
818 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
819 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
824 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
825 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
826 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
833 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
836 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
838 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
840 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
841 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
842 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
843 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
844 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
847 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
848 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
851 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
853 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)</title>
856 <imagedata fileref="../images/proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
859 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
866 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
867 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
871 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
872 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
873 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>
875 <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton>
877 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton>
879 <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton>
881 <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
885 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>:
889 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
890 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
891 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton>
893 <guibutton>Internet Properties</guibutton>
895 <guibutton>Connections</guibutton>
897 <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
901 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
902 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
907 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
908 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
909 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
910 <application>Privoxy</application>!
914 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
915 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
916 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
917 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
918 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
921 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
922 <title>Red Hat and Conectiva</title>
924 We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
925 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as
926 its main configuration file.
930 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
935 <sect2 id="start-debian">
936 <title>Debian</title>
938 We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
939 default. It will use the file
940 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
945 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
950 <sect2 id="start-suse">
953 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
954 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
964 <sect2 id="start-windows">
965 <title>Windows</title>
967 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
968 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
969 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
970 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
974 <sect2 id="start-unices">
975 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
977 Example Unix startup command:
981 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
986 <sect2 id="start-os2">
989 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
990 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
991 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
992 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
996 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
997 <title>Mac OSX</title>
999 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1000 start automatically when the system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand,
1001 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
1002 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1007 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1011 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1016 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1017 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1019 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1020 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1021 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1022 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1023 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1024 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1025 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1029 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1030 <title>Gentoo</title>
1032 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1033 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1037 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1041 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1042 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1047 rc-update add privoxy default
1055 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1059 must find a better place for this paragraph
1062 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1063 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1064 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1065 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1066 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1067 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1071 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1072 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1073 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1074 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1075 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1076 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1077 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1078 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1079 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1083 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1084 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1085 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1087 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1088 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1089 popups (explained below).
1093 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
1094 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
1095 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1096 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1097 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1098 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1099 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1100 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1101 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1105 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1106 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1107 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1108 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1109 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1110 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1111 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1112 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1113 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1117 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1118 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1119 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1120 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1121 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1122 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1123 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1127 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1128 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1129 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1130 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1131 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1132 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1137 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1138 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1139 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1144 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1145 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1146 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1147 Developers</quote></link> below.
1152 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1153 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1154 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1156 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1157 command-line options:
1165 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1168 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1173 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1176 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1181 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1184 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1185 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1190 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1194 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1195 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1196 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1197 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1202 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1206 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1207 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1208 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1213 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1216 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1217 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1218 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1219 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1220 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1221 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1232 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1235 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1236 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
1238 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1239 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1240 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1241 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1245 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1248 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
1250 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1251 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1252 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1253 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1254 You will see the following section:
1258 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1261 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1265 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1268 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1271 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1274 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1277 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1280 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1288 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1289 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1290 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1291 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1292 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1293 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1297 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1298 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1299 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1300 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1301 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1302 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1303 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1304 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1310 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1315 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1317 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1318 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1320 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1321 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1322 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1323 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1324 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1325 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1329 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1330 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1331 principle configuration files are:
1339 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1340 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1341 on Windows. This is a required file.
1347 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1348 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1349 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1350 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1351 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1352 as many websites as possible.
1355 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1356 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1357 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1358 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1359 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1360 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1361 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
1362 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1365 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1367 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1369 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1370 various actions files.
1376 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1377 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1378 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1379 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1380 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1388 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1389 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1390 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1391 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1392 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1393 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1398 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
1399 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1400 maximum flexibility.
1404 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1405 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1406 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1407 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1408 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1409 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1410 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1415 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1416 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1417 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1418 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1424 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1427 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1429 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1430 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1431 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1433 <!-- end include -->
1436 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1440 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1442 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1445 The actions files are used to define what actions
1446 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
1447 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1448 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
1449 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application>
1450 with differing purposes:
1457 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1458 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1459 provide a base level of functionality for
1460 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1461 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
1462 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1463 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1468 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1469 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1470 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1471 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1476 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
1477 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1478 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
1479 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
1480 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
1488 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1489 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
1490 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
1491 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1495 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
1496 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
1497 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
1498 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
1499 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
1500 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
1501 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
1502 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
1503 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
1504 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
1505 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
1506 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
1510 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
1511 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
1512 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
1513 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
1514 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
1518 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1520 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
1522 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
1523 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
1524 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
1525 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
1526 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
1527 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
1528 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
1529 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
1530 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
1531 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
1535 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
1536 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
1537 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
1538 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
1542 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1544 <title>How to Edit</title>
1546 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
1547 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
1548 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1549 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
1550 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
1551 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
1555 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
1556 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
1562 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
1563 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
1565 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
1566 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
1567 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
1568 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
1569 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
1570 Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
1574 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
1575 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
1576 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
1577 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
1578 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
1579 the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
1580 a heading line of <literal>{
1581 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
1582 then later another one with just <literal>{
1583 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
1584 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
1588 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
1589 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
1593 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
1594 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
1598 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1599 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
1600 <title>Patterns</title>
1602 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
1603 to determine what actions might apply to which sites and pages your browser
1604 attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild card type
1605 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
1606 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
1607 against many similar patterns.
1611 Generally, a <application>Privoxy</application> pattern has the form
1612 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
1613 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
1614 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
1615 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
1616 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
1617 the pattern. This is assumed already!
1622 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
1625 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
1626 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
1631 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
1634 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
1640 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
1643 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
1644 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
1649 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
1652 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
1653 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
1658 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
1661 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
1662 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
1669 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1670 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
1673 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
1674 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
1680 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
1683 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
1684 <literal>.example.com</literal>
1689 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
1692 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
1693 <literal>www.</literal>
1698 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
1701 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
1702 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
1709 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
1710 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
1711 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
1712 any single character, you can define character classes in square
1713 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
1718 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1721 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
1722 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
1727 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1730 matches all of the above, and then some.
1735 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
1738 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
1739 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
1744 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
1747 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
1748 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
1749 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
1750 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
1758 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1761 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1762 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
1765 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
1766 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
1771 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
1772 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
1773 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
1774 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
1775 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
1776 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
1780 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
1781 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
1782 for the beginning of a line).
1786 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
1787 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
1788 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
1789 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
1790 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
1796 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1799 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1801 <sect2 id="actions">
1802 <title>Actions</title>
1804 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
1805 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
1806 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
1807 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
1808 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
1809 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
1810 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
1811 previously applied.</quote>
1816 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
1817 separated by whitespace, like in
1818 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
1819 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
1820 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
1821 of the actions file.
1825 There are three classes of actions:
1832 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
1833 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
1837 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
1838 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
1841 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
1848 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
1853 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
1854 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
1855 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
1858 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
1859 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
1862 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
1868 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
1869 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
1870 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
1871 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
1872 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
1873 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
1877 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
1878 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
1879 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
1880 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
1883 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
1884 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
1892 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
1893 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
1894 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
1895 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
1896 files will give a good starting point).
1900 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
1901 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
1902 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
1903 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
1904 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
1905 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
1906 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
1907 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
1910 <!-- start actions listing -->
1912 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
1916 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
1917 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
1918 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
1920 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
1923 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1925 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
1926 <title>add-header</title>
1930 <term>Typical use:</term>
1932 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
1937 <term>Effect:</term>
1940 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
1947 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
1949 <para>Multi-value.</para>
1954 <term>Parameter:</term>
1957 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
1958 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
1968 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
1969 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
1970 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
1977 <term>Example usage:</term>
1980 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
1988 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1989 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
1990 <title>block</title>
1994 <term>Typical use:</term>
1996 <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
2001 <term>Effect:</term>
2004 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
2005 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
2006 as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
2007 and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
2014 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2016 <para>Boolean.</para>
2021 <term>Parameter:</term>
2031 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2032 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2033 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2034 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2035 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2036 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2037 right now, you can take a look at the
2038 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2042 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2043 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2044 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2045 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2046 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2047 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2050 It is important to understand this process, in order
2051 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2052 ads and other unwanted content.
2055 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2056 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2057 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2058 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2059 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2065 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2068 <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2069 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2071 {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
2082 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2083 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
2084 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
2088 <term>Typical use:</term>
2091 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
2097 <term>Effect:</term>
2100 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
2107 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2109 <para>Boolean.</para>
2114 <term>Parameter:</term>
2126 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
2127 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
2128 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
2129 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2132 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2133 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2134 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
2135 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
2141 <term>Example usage:</term>
2144 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
2152 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2153 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
2154 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
2158 <term>Typical use:</term>
2161 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
2167 <term>Effect:</term>
2170 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
2177 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2179 <para>Boolean.</para>
2184 <term>Parameter:</term>
2196 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
2197 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
2198 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
2199 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2202 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2203 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2204 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
2210 <term>Example usage:</term>
2213 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
2222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2223 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
2224 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
2228 <term>Typical use:</term>
2230 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
2235 <term>Effect:</term>
2238 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
2245 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2247 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2252 <term>Parameter:</term>
2255 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
2264 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
2265 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
2266 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
2267 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
2268 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
2269 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
2272 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
2273 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
2280 <term>Example usage:</term>
2283 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
2290 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2291 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
2292 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
2296 <term>Typical use:</term>
2298 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
2303 <term>Effect:</term>
2306 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
2313 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2315 <para>Boolean.</para>
2320 <term>Parameter:</term>
2332 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
2333 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
2334 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
2335 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
2336 is a chance you might need this action.
2342 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2345 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
2346 problem-host.example.com</screen>
2354 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2355 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
2356 <title>fast-redirects</title>
2360 <term>Typical use:</term>
2362 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
2367 <term>Effect:</term>
2370 Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
2377 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2379 <para>Boolean.</para>
2384 <term>Parameter:</term>
2396 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
2397 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
2398 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
2399 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
2400 <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
2403 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
2404 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
2405 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
2406 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
2407 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
2411 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
2412 It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
2413 many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
2414 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
2421 <term>Example usage:</term>
2424 <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
2433 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2434 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
2435 <title>filter</title>
2439 <term>Typical use:</term>
2441 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
2446 <term>Effect:</term>
2449 Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action
2450 applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
2451 based substitutions.
2458 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2460 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2465 <term>Parameter:</term>
2468 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
2469 (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
2470 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
2471 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>). Filtering
2472 can be completely disabled without the use of parameters.
2481 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
2482 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
2486 This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <quote>rolling your own</quote>
2487 filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
2490 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
2491 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
2492 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
2493 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
2494 noticeable on slower connections.
2497 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
2498 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
2499 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
2500 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
2501 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
2504 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
2505 Encrypted SSL data (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either since
2506 this would violate the integrity of the secure transaction.
2509 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
2510 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
2511 would normally be sent compressed, use the
2512 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
2513 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
2516 Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
2517 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2518 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
2519 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
2520 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
2524 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
2525 improved filters is particularly welcome!
2531 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file):</term>
2534 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
2535 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
2538 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
2539 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
2542 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
2543 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners based on their size for this page (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)</screen>
2546 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
2547 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners based on the link they are contained in (experimental)</screen>
2550 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
2551 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
2554 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
2555 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</screen>
2558 <anchor id="filter-popups">
2559 <screen>+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</screen>
2562 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
2563 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
2566 <anchor id="filter-fun">
2567 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
2570 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
2571 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
2574 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
2575 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
2578 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
2579 <screen>+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</screen>
2582 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
2583 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
2586 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
2587 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</screen>
2590 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
2591 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (<emphasis>Radically destructive!</emphasis> Only for extra nasty sites) </screen>
2599 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2600 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
2601 <title>handle-as-image</title>
2605 <term>Typical use:</term>
2607 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
2612 <term>Effect:</term>
2615 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
2616 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
2617 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
2618 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
2619 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
2620 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
2627 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2629 <para>Boolean.</para>
2634 <term>Parameter:</term>
2646 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
2647 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
2651 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
2652 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
2653 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
2656 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
2657 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
2658 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
2659 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
2665 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
2668 <screen># Generic image extensions:
2671 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
2673 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
2674 # blocked as images:
2676 {+block +handle-as-image}
2677 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
2679 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
2689 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2690 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
2691 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
2695 <term>Typical use:</term>
2697 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
2702 <term>Effect:</term>
2705 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
2706 and prevents adding a new one.
2713 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2715 <para>Boolean.</para>
2720 <term>Parameter:</term>
2732 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
2735 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
2736 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
2737 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
2738 users sharing the same proxy.
2744 <term>Example usage:</term>
2747 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
2755 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2756 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
2757 <title>hide-from-header</title>
2761 <term>Typical use:</term>
2763 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
2768 <term>Effect:</term>
2771 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
2779 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2781 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2786 <term>Parameter:</term>
2789 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
2798 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
2799 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2803 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
2804 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
2805 is actually used by a real person.
2808 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
2809 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
2815 <term>Example usage:</term>
2818 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
2819 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
2827 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2828 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
2829 <title>hide-referrer</title>
2830 <anchor id="hide-referer">
2833 <term>Typical use:</term>
2835 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
2840 <term>Effect:</term>
2843 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
2844 or replaces it with a forged one.
2851 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2853 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2858 <term>Parameter:</term>
2862 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
2865 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
2868 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
2878 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
2879 not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
2880 content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
2881 by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
2884 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
2885 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
2886 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
2887 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
2888 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
2894 <term>Example usage:</term>
2897 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
2898 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
2906 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2907 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
2908 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
2912 <term>Typical use:</term>
2914 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
2919 <term>Effect:</term>
2922 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
2923 in client requests with the specified value.
2930 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2932 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2937 <term>Parameter:</term>
2940 Any user-defined string.
2950 This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
2951 to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
2952 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
2953 url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
2958 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
2959 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
2960 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
2961 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
2962 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
2963 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
2964 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
2965 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
2966 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
2967 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
2968 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
2971 This action is scheduled for improvement.
2977 <term>Example usage:</term>
2980 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
2988 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2989 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
2990 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
2994 <term>Typical use:</term>
2996 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</para>
3001 <term>Effect:</term>
3004 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
3005 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
3012 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3014 <para>Boolean.</para>
3019 <term>Parameter:</term>
3031 This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
3032 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
3033 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
3034 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
3036 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>popups</replaceable>}</literal>
3040 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
3041 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
3042 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
3043 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
3044 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
3045 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
3048 Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
3049 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
3050 would require artificial intelligence in <application>Privoxy</application>.
3051 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
3052 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
3053 one), you might want to use
3055 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
3061 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
3069 <term>Example usage:</term>
3071 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
3078 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3079 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
3080 <title>limit-connect</title>
3084 <term>Typical use:</term>
3086 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
3091 <term>Effect:</term>
3094 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
3101 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3103 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3108 <term>Parameter:</term>
3111 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
3112 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
3121 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
3122 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
3123 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
3124 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
3125 for some or all destinations.
3128 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
3129 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
3130 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
3131 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
3132 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
3133 abused as TCP relays very easily.
3136 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
3137 change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
3143 <term>Example usages:</term>
3145 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
3146 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
3147 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
3149 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
3150 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
3151 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
3152 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
3159 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3160 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
3161 <title>prevent-compression</title>
3165 <term>Typical use:</term>
3168 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
3169 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
3175 <term>Effect:</term>
3178 Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
3185 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3187 <para>Boolean.</para>
3192 <term>Parameter:</term>
3204 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
3205 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
3206 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
3207 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
3208 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
3209 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
3210 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
3211 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
3214 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
3215 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
3219 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
3220 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
3221 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
3227 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3230 <screen># Set default:
3232 {+prevent-compression}
3235 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
3237 {-prevent-compression}
3239 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
3248 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3249 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
3250 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
3254 <term>Typical use:</term>
3257 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
3263 <term>Effect:</term>
3266 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
3267 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
3274 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3276 <para>Boolean.</para>
3281 <term>Parameter:</term>
3293 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
3296 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3302 <term>Example usage:</term>
3305 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
3314 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3315 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
3316 <title>send-wafer</title>
3320 <term>Typical use:</term>
3323 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
3329 <term>Effect:</term>
3332 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
3339 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3341 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3346 <term>Parameter:</term>
3349 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
3350 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
3359 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
3360 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
3363 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3368 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3371 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
3372 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
3380 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3381 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
3382 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
3386 <term>Typical use:</term>
3389 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
3390 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
3396 <term>Effect:</term>
3399 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
3400 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
3401 forget them in between sessions.
3408 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3410 <para>Boolean.</para>
3415 <term>Parameter:</term>
3427 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
3428 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
3429 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
3432 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
3433 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
3434 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
3435 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
3436 sites, and is the recommended setting.
3439 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
3440 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
3441 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
3442 will be plainly killed.
3445 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
3446 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
3449 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
3450 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
3451 These would have to be removed manually.
3454 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
3455 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
3456 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
3457 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
3463 <term>Example usage:</term>
3466 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
3474 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3475 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
3476 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
3480 <term>Typical use:</term>
3482 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
3487 <term>Effect:</term>
3490 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3491 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
3492 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
3493 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
3494 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
3495 sent as a replacement.
3502 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3504 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3509 <term>Parameter:</term>
3514 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
3515 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
3520 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
3521 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
3522 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
3523 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
3528 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
3529 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
3530 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
3533 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
3534 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
3535 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
3536 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
3537 it over and over again.
3548 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
3549 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
3550 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
3553 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
3554 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
3555 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
3561 <term>Example usage:</term>
3567 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
3570 Redirect to the BSD devil:
3573 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
3576 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
3579 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
3587 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3589 <title>Summary</title>
3591 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
3592 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
3593 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
3594 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
3595 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
3596 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
3602 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3603 <sect2 id="aliases">
3604 <title>Aliases</title>
3606 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
3607 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
3608 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
3609 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
3611 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
3612 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
3613 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
3614 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
3615 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
3619 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
3620 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
3621 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
3622 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
3626 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
3627 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
3628 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
3629 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
3630 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
3631 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
3632 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
3635 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
3636 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
3637 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
3638 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
3639 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
3641 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
3645 Now let's define some aliases...
3650 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
3652 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
3653 # must be at the top of the actions file!
3657 # These aliases just save typing later:
3658 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3660 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
3661 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
3662 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3663 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
3665 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3666 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3668 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
3669 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
3671 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
3673 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
3674 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
3678 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
3679 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
3680 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
3685 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
3686 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
3689 .office.microsoft.com
3690 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
3694 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
3698 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
3701 # These shops require pop-ups:
3703 {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
3705 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
3709 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
3710 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
3711 in order to function properly.
3715 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3716 <sect2 id="act-examples">
3717 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
3719 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
3720 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
3721 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
3722 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
3723 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
3724 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
3725 file and see how all these pieces come together:
3728 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
3731 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
3735 <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
3739 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
3740 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
3741 change or worry about:
3746 ##########################################################################
3747 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
3748 ##########################################################################
3751 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
3755 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
3756 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
3757 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
3762 ##########################################################################
3764 ##########################################################################
3767 # These aliases just save typing later:
3768 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3770 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
3771 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
3772 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3773 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
3775 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3776 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3778 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
3779 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
3783 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
3784 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
3785 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
3786 enable the ones we want.
3790 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
3791 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
3792 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
3793 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
3794 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
3795 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
3796 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
3801 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
3802 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
3803 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
3804 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
3805 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
3806 multiple lines with line continuation.
3811 ##########################################################################
3812 # "Defaults" section:
3813 ##########################################################################
3815 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
3816 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
3817 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
3818 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
3819 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
3820 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
3821 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
3822 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
3823 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
3824 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
3825 +<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> \
3826 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
3827 -<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
3828 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
3829 +<link linkend="FILTER-NIMDA">filter{nimda}</link> \
3830 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
3831 -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
3832 -<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
3833 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
3834 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
3835 -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
3836 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
3837 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
3838 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
3839 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
3840 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
3841 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
3842 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
3843 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
3844 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
3845 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
3846 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
3847 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
3849 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
3853 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
3854 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
3855 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
3856 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
3857 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
3858 want to block in later sections.
3859 We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
3860 and use our defined aliases for that.
3864 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
3865 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
3866 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
3867 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
3868 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
3869 of actions explicitly:
3874 ##########################################################################
3875 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
3876 ##########################################################################
3878 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
3881 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
3882 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
3886 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
3887 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
3888 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
3897 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
3899 .scan.co.uk</screen>
3903 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
3904 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
3905 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
3906 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
3908 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
3909 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
3910 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
3911 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
3912 chosen in the defaults section:
3917 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
3919 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
3922 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
3926 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
3927 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
3928 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
3933 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
3937 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
3938 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
3939 .nytimes.com</screen>
3943 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
3944 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
3945 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
3946 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
3947 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
3948 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
3949 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
3950 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
3951 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
3957 ##########################################################################
3959 ##########################################################################
3961 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
3962 # blocked further down this file:
3964 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
3965 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
3969 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
3970 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
3971 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
3972 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
3973 <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
3974 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
3975 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
3976 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
3977 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3978 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
3979 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
3980 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
3985 # Known ad generators:
3990 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
3991 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
3992 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
3999 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
4000 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
4001 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
4002 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
4003 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
4004 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
4005 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
4006 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
4007 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
4010 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
4011 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
4012 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
4013 to keep the example short:
4018 ##########################################################################
4019 # Block these fine banners:
4020 ##########################################################################
4021 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
4029 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
4030 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
4032 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
4034 .hitbox.com</screen>
4038 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
4039 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
4040 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
4041 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
4044 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
4045 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
4046 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
4047 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
4048 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
4049 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
4053 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
4054 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
4055 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
4056 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
4057 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
4058 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
4059 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
4060 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
4061 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
4062 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
4067 ##########################################################################
4068 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
4069 ##########################################################################
4073 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
4074 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
4075 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
4076 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
4077 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
4078 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
4086 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
4087 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
4091 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
4092 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
4093 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
4094 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
4095 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
4100 # Don't filter code!
4102 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
4104 .sourceforge.net</screen>
4108 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
4109 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
4114 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
4117 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
4118 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
4119 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
4120 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
4121 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
4122 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
4123 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
4124 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
4125 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
4126 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
4127 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
4128 to install updated versions from time to time.
4132 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
4133 <filename>user.action</filename>:
4137 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
4141 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
4145 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
4146 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
4147 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
4152 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
4155 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
4156 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
4157 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4158 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
4159 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below)</screen>
4164 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
4165 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
4166 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
4167 <literal>mercy-for-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
4168 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and
4169 processing of cookies to make them temporary.
4174 { mercy-for-cookies }
4179 .redhat.com</screen>
4183 Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
4184 know which, so you disable them all:
4189 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> }
4190 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
4194 While browsing the web with <application>Privoxy</application> you
4195 noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to
4196 report them through our fine and easy <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>
4197 system, so you have added them here:
4202 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
4203 www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
4204 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
4208 Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
4209 extensions (most do),
4210 <literal>+<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link></literal>
4211 need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will
4212 already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of
4213 <filename>default.action</filename> by now.
4217 Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
4218 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
4219 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
4220 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
4221 -- whoa! -- it worked:
4227 .forbes.com</screen>
4231 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
4232 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
4233 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
4234 update-safe config, once and for all:
4239 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
4240 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
4244 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
4245 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
4246 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
4247 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
4248 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
4252 Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are
4253 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
4254 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
4255 sites that you feel provide value to you:
4267 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
4268 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4269 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>
4275 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4279 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4281 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4283 <sect1 id="filter-file">
4284 <title>The Filter File</title>
4287 All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
4288 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
4289 must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
4290 called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
4291 selected through the <literal>
4292 <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
4297 Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
4298 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
4299 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
4300 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
4301 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
4302 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
4306 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain
4307 text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
4308 MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if
4309 you want to <quote>roll your own</quote> filters, you should be
4310 familiar with HTML syntax.
4314 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
4315 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
4316 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
4317 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
4318 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
4319 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
4320 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
4321 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
4322 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
4323 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
4324 user interface</ulink>.
4328 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
4329 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
4330 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
4331 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
4335 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
4340 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
4344 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
4345 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
4346 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
4347 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
4348 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
4349 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.3.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
4350 for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
4351 option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
4352 to ungreedy matching.
4356 If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
4357 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
4358 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
4360 <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
4361 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
4362 url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
4363 expressions</ulink> in general.
4364 The below examples might also help to get you started.
4367 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4369 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
4371 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
4372 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
4373 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
4378 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
4382 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
4383 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
4384 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
4385 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
4389 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4393 Our complete filter now looks like this:
4396 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
4397 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4401 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
4402 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
4403 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
4409 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
4411 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
4413 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
4417 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
4418 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
4419 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
4420 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
4424 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
4425 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
4426 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
4427 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
4428 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
4432 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
4433 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
4434 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
4435 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
4436 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
4437 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
4438 in the page (and appear in that order).
4442 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
4443 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
4444 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
4445 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
4446 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
4450 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
4451 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
4452 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
4453 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
4454 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
4455 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
4456 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
4457 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
4458 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
4459 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
4460 substitution is global.
4464 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
4465 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
4466 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
4467 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
4468 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
4472 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
4473 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
4474 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
4475 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
4476 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
4477 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
4478 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
4479 Business!"</literal>.
4483 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
4484 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
4485 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
4486 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
4487 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
4488 information anymore.
4492 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
4493 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
4498 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
4500 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
4504 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
4505 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
4506 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
4507 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
4508 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
4509 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
4510 a backreference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
4511 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
4512 a backreference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
4516 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
4517 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
4518 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
4519 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
4520 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
4521 you move your mouse over links.
4526 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
4528 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
4533 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
4534 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
4535 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
4536 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
4537 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
4538 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
4539 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
4540 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
4541 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
4542 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
4547 The last example is from the fun department:
4552 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
4554 # Spice the daily news:
4556 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
4560 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
4561 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
4562 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
4563 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
4564 still replacing the word everywhere else.
4569 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
4571 s* industry[ -]leading \
4573 | customer[ -]focused \
4574 | market[ -]driven \
4575 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
4576 | high[ -]performance \
4577 | solutions[ -]based \
4581 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
4586 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
4587 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
4596 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4600 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4602 <sect1 id="templates">
4603 <title>Templates</title>
4605 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
4606 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
4607 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
4608 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4610 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
4611 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
4612 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
4617 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
4618 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
4620 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
4624 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
4625 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
4626 edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
4627 (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
4628 just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
4629 ignored when the templates are filled in.
4633 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
4634 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
4635 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
4636 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
4637 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
4641 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
4642 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
4643 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
4644 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
4645 in in an alpha or beta development stage:
4650 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
4652 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
4654 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
4658 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
4659 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
4660 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
4664 <screen><!-- --></screen>
4668 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
4669 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
4674 All templates refer to a style located at
4675 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
4676 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
4677 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
4678 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
4683 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4687 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4689 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
4692 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
4694 <!-- end boilerplate -->
4698 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4701 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4702 <sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
4704 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
4706 <!-- end copyright -->
4708 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4709 <sect2><title>License</title>
4710 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
4712 <!-- end copyright -->
4714 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4717 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4719 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
4720 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
4722 <!-- end history -->
4725 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
4726 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
4728 <!-- end authors -->
4733 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4736 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4737 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
4738 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
4740 <!-- end seealso -->
4745 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4746 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
4749 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4751 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
4753 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
4754 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
4755 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
4756 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
4757 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
4761 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
4762 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
4763 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
4764 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
4768 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
4769 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
4770 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
4771 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
4772 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
4773 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
4774 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
4775 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
4779 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
4780 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
4781 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
4782 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
4783 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
4784 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
4785 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
4786 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
4790 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
4791 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
4792 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
4793 and then some examples:
4798 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
4799 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
4801 </simplelist></para>
4805 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
4808 </simplelist></para>
4812 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
4815 </simplelist></para>
4819 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
4822 </simplelist></para>
4826 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
4827 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
4828 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
4829 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
4830 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
4831 meta-character meaning of any single character).
4833 </simplelist></para>
4837 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
4838 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
4839 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
4840 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
4842 </simplelist></para>
4846 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
4847 or multiple sub-expressions.
4849 </simplelist></para>
4853 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
4854 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
4855 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
4856 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
4857 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
4858 example</quote>, and nothing else.
4860 </simplelist></para>
4863 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
4864 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
4865 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
4866 be more illuminating:
4870 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
4871 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
4872 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
4873 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
4874 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
4875 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
4876 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
4877 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
4878 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
4879 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
4880 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
4881 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
4882 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
4883 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
4888 A now something a little more complex:
4892 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
4893 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
4894 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
4895 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
4896 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
4897 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
4898 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
4903 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
4904 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
4905 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
4906 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
4907 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
4908 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
4909 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
4910 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
4911 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
4912 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
4913 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
4914 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
4915 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
4916 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
4917 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
4918 changing our regular expression to:
4919 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
4924 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
4925 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
4926 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
4927 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
4928 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
4929 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
4930 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
4931 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
4932 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
4933 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
4934 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
4935 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
4936 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
4937 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
4938 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
4939 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
4940 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
4941 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
4942 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
4943 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
4944 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
4945 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
4946 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
4947 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
4948 in the expression anywhere).
4952 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
4953 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
4954 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
4955 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
4956 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
4961 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
4962 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
4966 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
4967 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
4972 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4975 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4977 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
4980 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
4981 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
4982 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
4983 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
4984 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
4985 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
4986 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
4992 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
4993 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
4994 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
4995 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
5008 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
5012 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
5013 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
5014 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
5020 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
5021 editing of actions files:
5025 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
5032 Show the source code version numbers:
5036 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
5043 Show the browser's request headers:
5047 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
5054 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
5058 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5065 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
5066 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
5070 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
5074 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
5078 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
5083 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
5092 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
5096 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
5097 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
5099 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
5100 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
5101 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
5102 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
5103 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
5104 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
5107 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
5108 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
5109 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
5110 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
5111 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
5112 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
5121 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>
5128 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>
5135 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)
5142 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>
5148 <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>
5153 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
5160 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
5161 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
5162 have more information about bookmarklets.
5171 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5173 <title>Chain of Events</title>
5175 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
5176 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
5183 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
5184 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
5185 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
5191 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
5192 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
5197 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
5199 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
5200 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
5201 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
5202 is then checked and if it does not match, an
5203 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
5204 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
5205 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
5206 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
5211 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
5212 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
5217 If the URL pattern matches the <link
5218 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
5219 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
5224 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
5225 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
5226 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
5227 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
5233 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
5239 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
5240 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
5241 filtered as determined by the
5242 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
5243 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
5244 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
5250 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
5251 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
5252 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
5257 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5259 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5260 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
5261 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
5262 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
5263 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
5264 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
5265 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
5266 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
5267 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
5270 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5272 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5273 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
5274 to the client browser as it becomes available.
5279 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
5280 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
5281 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
5282 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
5283 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
5284 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
5294 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5295 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
5296 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
5299 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
5300 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
5301 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
5302 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
5303 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
5304 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
5305 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
5306 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
5307 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
5312 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
5313 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
5314 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
5315 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
5316 logs is a good idea too.
5320 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
5321 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5322 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
5323 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
5327 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
5328 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
5329 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
5330 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
5331 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
5332 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
5333 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
5334 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
5335 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
5336 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
5337 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
5338 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
5339 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
5344 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
5345 and look at it one section at a time:
5350 Matches for http://google.com:
5352 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5356 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5357 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5358 +deanimate-gifs{last}
5359 -downgrade-http-version
5363 -filter{shockwave-flash}
5364 -filter{crude-parental}
5365 +filter{html-annoyances}
5366 +filter{js-annoyances}
5367 +filter{content-cookies}
5369 +filter{refresh-tags}
5371 +filter{banners-by-size}
5372 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5373 +hide-from-header{block}
5374 +hide-referer{forge}
5379 +prevent-compression
5382 +session-cookies-only
5383 +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
5386 { -session-cookies-only }
5392 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5393 (no matches in this file)
5398 This tells us how we have defined our
5399 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
5400 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
5401 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
5402 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
5403 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
5404 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
5405 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
5406 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
5407 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
5408 -- <quote>/</quote>.
5412 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
5413 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
5414 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
5415 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
5417 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
5418 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
5419 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
5421 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
5422 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
5423 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
5424 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
5425 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
5426 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
5427 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
5432 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
5436 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
5437 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
5438 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
5449 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5450 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5451 +deanimate-gifs{last}
5452 -downgrade-http-version
5456 -filter{shockwave-flash}
5457 -filter{crude-parental}
5458 +filter{html-annoyances}
5459 +filter{js-annoyances}
5460 +filter{content-cookies}
5462 +filter{refresh-tags}
5464 +filter{banners-by-size}
5465 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5466 +hide-from-header{block}
5467 +hide-referer{forge}
5472 +prevent-compression
5475 -session-cookies-only
5476 +set-image-blocker{pattern}
5481 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
5482 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
5486 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
5492 { +block +handle-as-image }
5495 { +block +handle-as-image }
5498 { +block +handle-as-image }
5504 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
5505 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
5506 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
5507 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
5508 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
5509 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
5514 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
5515 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
5516 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
5517 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
5518 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
5519 is done here -- as both a <link
5520 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
5521 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
5523 linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
5524 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
5529 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
5530 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
5536 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
5538 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5542 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5543 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5545 -downgrade-http-version
5547 +filter{html-annoyances}
5548 +filter{js-annoyances}
5549 +filter{kill-popups}
5552 +filter{banners-by-size}
5555 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5556 +hide-from-header{block}
5557 +hide-referer{forge}
5561 +prevent-compression
5564 +session-cookies-only
5565 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
5568 { +block +handle-as-image }
5574 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
5575 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
5576 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
5577 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
5578 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
5590 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
5591 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
5595 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
5602 { +block +handle-as-image }
5608 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
5609 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
5610 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
5611 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
5612 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. These
5613 tend to be harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of
5614 aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
5622 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5630 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
5631 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
5632 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
5645 This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
5646 appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
5651 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
5652 <quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote> rule, which assumes
5653 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well most of the time
5654 since these tend to be standardized).
5658 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
5659 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
5660 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
5661 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
5670 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
5671 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
5672 Public License as published by the Free Software
5673 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
5674 your option) any later version.
5676 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
5677 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
5678 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
5679 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
5680 License for more details.
5682 The GNU General Public License should be included with
5683 this file. If not, you can view it at
5684 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
5685 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
5686 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
5688 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
5689 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
5690 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
5692 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
5693 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
5696 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
5697 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
5699 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
5700 Update to Mac OSX startup script name
5702 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
5703 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
5705 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
5706 Nits re: actions file download
5708 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
5709 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
5711 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
5712 Added 2 Gentoo sections
5714 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
5715 - Added version info to title
5716 - Added info on new filters
5717 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
5718 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
5720 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
5721 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
5723 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
5725 Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
5727 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
5728 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
5730 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
5731 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
5733 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
5734 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
5736 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
5737 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
5738 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
5739 so that these are in sync with each other.
5741 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
5742 Ooops missed something from David.
5744 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
5745 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
5746 That's a wrap, I think.
5748 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
5749 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
5751 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
5752 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
5754 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
5755 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
5756 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
5758 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
5759 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
5761 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
5762 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
5763 <literal><link> style.
5764 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
5765 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
5766 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
5767 renders them red (bad in TOC).
5769 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
5770 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
5772 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
5775 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
5776 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
5777 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
5779 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
5780 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
5781 - Small changes to Regex appendix
5782 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
5784 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
5785 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
5787 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
5788 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
5790 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
5791 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
5793 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
5794 Extended and further commented the example actions files
5796 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
5797 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
5800 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
5803 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
5804 Restored alphabetical order of actions
5806 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
5807 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
5809 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
5810 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
5812 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
5813 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
5814 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
5816 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
5817 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
5818 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
5819 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
5821 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
5822 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
5824 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
5827 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
5828 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
5829 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
5831 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
5832 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
5834 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
5835 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
5836 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
5838 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
5839 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
5841 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
5842 more structure in starting section
5844 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
5845 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
5846 will probably break links elsewhere :(
5848 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
5849 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
5850 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
5852 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
5853 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
5854 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
5856 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
5857 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
5859 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
5860 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
5861 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
5863 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
5864 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
5865 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
5867 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
5868 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
5870 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
5871 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
5873 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
5874 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
5876 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
5877 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
5879 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
5880 Updated OSX installation section
5881 Added a few English tweaks here an there
5883 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
5884 Re-write actions section.
5886 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
5887 Fix ugly typo (mine).
5889 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
5890 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
5892 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
5893 Added RPM install detail
5895 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
5898 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
5899 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
5901 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
5902 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
5904 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
5905 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
5907 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
5910 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
5911 Proofreading, part one
5913 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
5914 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
5915 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
5917 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
5918 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
5920 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
5921 Add small section on submitting actions.
5923 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
5926 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
5927 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
5929 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
5930 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
5932 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
5935 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
5936 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
5937 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
5938 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
5939 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
5941 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
5942 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
5944 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
5945 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
5947 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
5948 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
5949 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
5950 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
5951 eventually be set by Makefile.
5952 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
5954 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
5955 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
5957 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
5958 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
5960 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
5961 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
5963 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
5964 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
5965 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
5966 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
5968 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
5971 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
5972 Added more to Anatomy section.
5974 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
5975 Touch up intro for new name.
5977 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
5978 we have a new homepage!
5980 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
5981 A few minor catch ups with name change.
5983 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
5984 configure needs to be generated.
5986 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
5987 we are too lazy to make a block-built
5988 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
5990 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
5991 name change related issue.
5993 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
5994 name change. changed filenames.
5996 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
5999 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
6000 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
6001 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
6002 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
6003 comments and remarks to history untouched.
6005 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
6008 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
6009 New section in Appendix.
6011 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
6012 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
6014 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
6015 correct feedback channels
6017 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
6018 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
6020 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
6023 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
6024 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
6026 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
6027 Added imageblock{pattern}.
6029 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
6032 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
6033 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
6035 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
6036 provide correct feedback channels
6038 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
6039 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
6041 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
6042 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
6044 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
6045 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
6047 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
6048 Add new - - user option.
6050 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
6051 Added section on command line options.
6053 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
6054 Changed default port to 8118
6056 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
6057 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
6059 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
6060 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
6061 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
6064 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
6067 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
6068 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
6070 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
6071 Update OS/2 build section
6073 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
6074 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
6075 will work - no other changes are needed.
6077 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
6078 Added a very short section on Templates
6080 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
6081 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
6083 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
6084 Touch ups for *.action files.
6086 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
6089 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
6090 Updates for recent changes.
6092 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
6093 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
6095 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
6096 Correct 2 minor errors
6098 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
6099 *** empty log message ***
6101 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
6102 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
6104 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
6105 wrong url in documentation
6107 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
6108 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
6110 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
6113 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
6116 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
6119 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
6120 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
6122 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
6123 Some additions, and re-arranging.
6125 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
6128 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
6129 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
6131 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
6134 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
6135 source files for junkbuster documentation
6137 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
6138 first proposal of a structure.
6140 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
6141 docs should have an author.
6143 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
6144 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob