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40 >Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</TH
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76 NAME="CONFIGURATION">3. Configuration</H1
82 NAME="NEWCONFIG">3.1. Can I use my old config files?</H3
84 > The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
88 > and earlier versions
92 >. The old files, like <TT
96 will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will
97 need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
98 pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
99 will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow
108 NAME="AEN258">3.2. What is an <SPAN
114 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html"
119 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
126 > might take while processing a certain
127 request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
128 that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.</P
130 > Actions can be defined on a <A
131 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
135 for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
136 grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
137 There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
138 if you are blocking cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept
139 cookies from a given site, you would need to define an exception for this
140 site in one of your actions files, preferably in <TT
150 NAME="ACTIONSS">3.3. The <SPAN
153 > concept confuses me. Please list
159 > For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
161 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html"
166 HREF="../user-manual/index.html"
171 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
173 >list of all actions</A
176 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES"
180 > to get you started.</P
187 NAME="AEN277">3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
190 > Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
191 with a text editor. The probably easiest way is to access
195 >'s user interface with your web browser
197 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/"
199 >http://config.privoxy.org/</A
209 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
212 change the current configuration</A
221 NAME="AEN285">3.5. There are several different <SPAN
230 > v2.9.15, three actions files
231 are being included, to be used for
232 different purposes: These are
240 which is actively maintained by the <SPAN
247 >, where users are encouraged
248 to make their private customizations, and <TT
252 which is for internal <SPAN
257 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html"
259 >the actions chapter</A
262 HREF="../user-manual/index.html"
266 detailed explanation.</P
268 > Earlier versions included three different versions of the
272 > file. The new scheme allows for
273 greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
274 selection of pre-defined <SPAN
276 >"aggressiveness"</SPAN
284 NAME="YAHOO">3.6. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?</H3
286 > The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
287 It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser will forget your
288 login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
289 in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
293 > file. An example for yahoo might
305 ># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
308 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
310 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
312 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
314 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
316 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
318 >session-cookies-only</A
320 .login.yahoo.com</PRE
332 NAME="CONFIGFILES">3.7. What's the difference between the
347 > is not entirely trivial. To help you get
348 started, we provide you with three different default action <SPAN
352 the web based actions file editor at <A
353 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
355 >http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</A
357 The following table shows you, which of the most important features are enabled in each
366 >Table 1. Default Configurations</B
401 >Ad-blocking by URL</TD
423 >Ad-filtering by size</TD
445 >GIF de-animation</TD
577 >JavaScript taming</TD
621 >Fun text replacements</TD
643 > Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
647 > sites are included, but in
648 general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more
649 exceptions you will have to make later. See the <A
650 HREF="../user-manual/index.html"
654 deatiled discussion.</P
661 NAME="BROWSECONFIG">3.8. Why can I change the configuration
662 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</H3
664 > It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
665 browsers, although the whole <TT
669 belongs to the user <SPAN
672 >, with only 644 permissions.
675 > When you use the browser-based editor, <SPAN
679 itself is writing to the config files. Because
683 > is running as the user <SPAN
687 it can update the config files.
693 > for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
694 a LAN), you will probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle
695 features off by setting <SPAN
700 HREF="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS"
702 >enable-edit-actions</A
711 HREF="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE"
713 >enable-remote-toggle</A
718 HREF="../user-manual/config.html"
720 >main configuration file</A
724 > Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
728 >) can connect to <SPAN
732 so this is not (normally) a security problem.
740 NAME="AEN413">3.9. What is the <TT
746 HREF="../user-manual/filter-file.html"
759 > are defined, which can be used to modify or
760 remove, web page content on the fly. This applies to <SPAN
767 in the page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
768 to accomplish this. There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common
769 annoyances. The filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
771 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"
779 > If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
783 > with a text editor and define
784 your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
785 requires some expertise. </P
787 > Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
788 but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
793 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
795 >web-based actions file editor</A
803 NAME="AEN428">3.10. How can I set up <SPAN
806 > to act as a proxy for my
812 > only responds to requests
816 > (localhost). To have it act as a server for
817 a network, this needs to be changed in the <A
818 HREF="../user-manual/config.html"
820 >main configuration file</A
825 HREF="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS"
830 option, which may be commented out with a <SPAN
834 it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
835 and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
839 > on port 8118, this line
840 schould look like:</P
850 > listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</PRE
856 > Save the file, and restart <SPAN
860 all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.</P
865 > on a LAN with untrusted users,
866 we recommend that you double-check the <A
867 HREF="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL"
869 >access control and security</A
878 NAME="AEN446">3.11. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</H3
880 > The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <A
881 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
885 >set-image-blocker</TT
888 >. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
892 >), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
893 Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
894 whose URLs match both a <TT
897 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
911 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"
917 > If you want to see nothing, then change the <A
918 HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
922 >set-image-blocker</TT
928 >. This can be done by editing the
932 > file, or trough the <A
933 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
935 >web-based actions file editor</A
943 NAME="AEN463">3.12. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</H3
946 HREF="general.html#WHATSANAD"
947 >telling which image is an ad and which
949 >, is mostly guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration
950 is rather smart, it can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually
951 decent, but it shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very
952 helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
953 erraneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
967 NAME="AEN468">3.13. I see some images being replaced by a text
968 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</H3
970 > This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
971 page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
972 or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
973 they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
974 which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
975 only HTML when it has requested an HTML document. </P
977 > The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
978 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
979 large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.</P
981 > If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
982 the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
986 > link offered in the substitute page will show
987 you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
988 the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
989 and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.</P
996 NAME="SRVANY">3.14. Can <SPAN
1002 > Yes, it can run as a system service using <B
1006 The only catch is that this will effectively disable the
1010 > icon (and its menu!) in the taskbar. You can have
1011 one or the other, but not both at this time :( </P
1013 > There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See the discussion
1015 HREF="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118"
1017 >http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118</A
1019 for details, and a sample configuration. </P
1026 NAME="OTHERPROXY">3.15. How can I make <SPAN
1035 > This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
1039 > with those of a caching proxy.
1041 HREF="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING"
1043 >forwarding chapter</A
1046 HREF="../user-manual/index.html"
1050 describes how to do this.</P
1057 NAME="TRANSPARENT">3.16. Can <SPAN
1062 >"transparent"</SPAN
1068 > currently does not have this ability,
1069 though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
1070 special handling of the request headers beyond what
1074 > is now capable of.</P
1079 > behind another proxy that has
1080 this ability should work though.
1082 HREF="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING"
1084 >forwarding chapter</A
1087 HREF="../user-manual/index.html"
1091 a transparent proxy to be used for chaining we recommend Transproxy
1093 HREF="http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/"
1095 >http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</A
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