1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
4 <title>Privoxy Man page</title>
5 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../p_web.css">
10 <!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
15 <b>privoxy</b> [<b>--chroot</b> ] [<b>--config-test</b> ] [<b>--help</b> ] [<b>--no-daemon</b> ]
16 [<b>--pidfile</b> <i>pidfile</i> ] [<b>--pre-chroot-nslookup</b> <i>hostname</i> ] [<b>--user</b>
17 <i>user[.group]</i> ] [<b>--version</b> ] [<i>configfile</i> ]
24 <b>Privoxy</b> may be invoked with the following command line options:
27 Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option,
28 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel
29 pretend to the <b>Privoxy</b> process that the directory tree starts
30 there. If set up carefully, this can limit the impact of
31 possible vulnerabilities in <b>Privoxy</b> to the files contained in
35 Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to the
36 listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the
37 configuration files have been successfully loaded.
39 If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
40 is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration files have been
41 successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can
42 currently only be detected at run time).
44 This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with
45 "--no-daemon" is recommended if a configured log file shouldn't
48 <b>--help</b> Print brief usage info and exit.
51 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process
52 group leader, don't detach from controlling tty, and do all
55 <b>--pidfile</b> <i>pidfile</i>
56 On startup, write the process ID to <i>pidfile</i>. Delete the <i>pidfile</i>
57 on exit. Failure to create or delete the <i>pidfile</i> is non-fatal.
58 If no <b>--pidfile</b> option is given, no PID file will be used.
60 <b>--pre-chroot-nslookup</b> <i>hostname</i>
61 Initialize the resolver library using <i>hostname</i> before
62 chroot'ing. On some systems this reduces the number of files
63 that must be copied into the chroot tree.
65 <b>--user</b> <i>user[.group]</i>
66 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
67 <i>user</i> and the GID of <i>group</i>, or, if the optional <i>group</i> was not
68 given, the default group of <i>user</i>. Exit if the privileges are not
70 individual needs and tastes. It has application for both stand-alone
71 systems and multi-user networks.
73 Privoxy is Free Software and licensed under the GNU GPLv2.
75 Privoxy is an associated project of Software in the Public Interest
78 Helping hands and donations are welcome:
80 • https://www.privoxy.org/faq/general.html#PARTICIPATE
82 • https://www.privoxy.org/faq/general.html#DONATE
86 <h2>INSTALLATION AND USAGE</h2>
88 Browsers can either be individually configured to use <b>Privoxy</b> as a HTTP
89 proxy (recommended), or <b>Privoxy</b> can be combined with a packet filter to
90 build an intercepting proxy (see <i>config</i>). The default setting is for
91 localhost, on port 8118 (configurable in the main config file). To
92 set the HTTP proxy in Firefox, go through: <b>Tools</b>; <b>Options</b>; <b>General</b>;
93 <b>Connection</b> <b>Settings</b>; <b>Manual</b> <b>Proxy</b> <b>Configuration</b>.
95 For Internet Explorer, go through: <b>Tools</b>; <b>Internet</b> <b>Properties</b>;
96 <b>Connections</b>; <b>LAN</b> <b>Settings</b>.
98 The Secure (SSL) Proxy should also be set to the same values, otherwise
99 https: URLs will not be proxied. Note: <b>Privoxy</b> can only proxy HTTP and
100 HTTPS traffic. Do not try it with FTP or other protocols. HTTPS
101 presents some limitations, and not all features will work with HTTPS
104 For other browsers, check the documentation.
108 <h2>CONFIGURATION</h2>
110 <b>Privoxy</b> can be configured with the various configuration files. The
111 default configuration files are: <i>config</i>, <i>default.filter</i>, <i>default.action</i>
112 and <i>default.action</i>. <i>user.action</i> should be used for locally defined
113 exceptions to the default rules in <i>match-all.action</i> and <i>default.action</i>,
114 and <i>user.filter</i> for locally defined filters. These are well commented.
115 On Unix and Unix-like systems, these are located in <i>/etc/privoxy/</i> by
118 <b>Privoxy</b> uses the concept of <b>actions</b> in order to manipulate the data
119 stream between the browser and remote sites. There are various actions
120 available with specific functions for such things as blocking web
121 sites, managing cookies, etc. These actions can be invoked individually
122 or combined, and used against individual URLs, or groups of URLs that
123 can be defined using wildcards and regular expressions. The result is
124 that the user has greatly enhanced control and freedom.
126 The actions list (ad blocks, etc) can also be configured with your web
127 browser at http://config.privoxy.org/ (assuming the configuration
128 <i>/etc/privoxy/user.filter</i>
129 <i>/etc/privoxy/trust</i>
130 <i>/etc/privoxy/templates/*</i>
131 <i>/var/log/privoxy/logfile</i>
133 Various other files should be included, but may vary depending on
134 platform and build configuration. Additional documentation should be
135 included in the local documentation directory.
141 <b>Privoxy</b> terminates on the <b>SIGINT</b> and <b>SIGTERM</b> signals. Log rotation
142 scripts may cause a re-opening of the logfile by sending a <b>SIGHUP</b> to
143 <b>Privoxy</b>. Note that unlike other daemons, <b>Privoxy</b> does not need to be
144 made aware of config file changes by <b>SIGHUP</b> -- it will detect them
145 automatically. Signals other than the ones listed above aren't
146 explicitly handled and result in the default action defined by the
153 Please see the <i>User</i> <i>Manual</i> on how to contact the developers, for
154 feature requests, reporting problems, and other questions.
160 Other references and sites of interest to <b>Privoxy</b> users:
162 https://www.privoxy.org/, the <b>Privoxy</b> Home page.
164 https://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the <b>Privoxy</b> FAQ.
166 https://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the <b>Privoxy</b> developer
169 https://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for <b>Privoxy</b>
172 http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. <b>Privoxy</b> must
173 be running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
175 https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit
176 ``misses'' and other configuration related suggestions to the
181 <h2>DEVELOPMENT TEAM</h2>
183 Fabian Keil, lead developer
190 <b>Privoxy</b> is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
191 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
192 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the <i>license</i> for details.
196 Privoxy 3.0.26 29 August 2016 <b>PRIVOXY(1)</b>