<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
+<!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
<!entity p-version "2.9.15">
<!entity p-status "beta">
+<!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
<!entity % p-config "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
<!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
-<!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP -->
+<!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
]>
<!--
File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes Exp $
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes Exp $
Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
See LICENSE.
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<![%draft;[
<sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
<title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
<!--
- FIXME: This is unfinished. Do not publish yet!
+ NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
+ want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
-->
<para>
Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
- user. But, ad blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
+ user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
</para>
<para>
- This section will provide a quick overview of ad blocking so
+ This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
information provided below, though this is highly recommeneded.
</para>
<para>
First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
- more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block a few
+ more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
<quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
- configuration to solve these unintended consequences.
+ configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
+ not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
+ the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
+ default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
+ habits and preferences.
</para>
<para>
- Secondly, a
quick note on <application>Privoxy's </application>
+ Secondly, a
brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
<quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
</para>
<para>
When you connect to a website, the full path of the URL will either match one
- of actions as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
- or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
- action accordingly. If not, then nothing special happens. Futhermore, web
- pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
- display as it parses the original page's HTML content. An ad image for
- instance, is just a URL embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may
- be on the same server, or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex
- web pages will have many such embedded URLs.
+ of the <quote>actions</quote> as defined in
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration, or not. If so, then
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the action accordingly. If
+ not, then nothing special happens. Futhermore, web pages may contain
+ embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will display as it parses the
+ original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just a URL
+ embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
+ or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
+ such embedded URLs.
</para>
<para>
The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <link
linkend="block">block</link>, <link
linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link>, and <link
- linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>.
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>:
</para>
<para>
action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
communication with the remote server. If this is the only action that
- matches for
a particular URL, then <application>Privoxy</application> will
+ matches for
this particular URL, then <application>Privoxy</application> will
display its own BLOCKED page to let you now what has happened.
</para>
</listitem>
<simplelist>
<member>
<emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any URL of the
- user's choosing.
+ user's choosing (advanced usage).
</member>
</simplelist>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+<para>
+ The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
+ the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
+ is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
+ appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
+ <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
+ local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
+ meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
+ other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
+ blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ A quick and simple step by step example:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
+ <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
+ pop-up menu.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Set your browser to
+ <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
+ on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
+ </para>
+
+ <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>Screenshot of Files in Use</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ You should have an Actions section labeled <emphasis>+block</emphasis>.
+ If not, click the <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote> button just
+ under the word <quote>Actions</quote>. This will bring up a list of all
+ actions. Find <emphasis>block</emphasis> near the top, and click in the
+ <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then
+ <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> just below the list.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now, in the <emphasis>+block</emphasis> actions section, click the
+ <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
+ browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link
+ Location</guimenuitem></quote>. Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at
+ the beginning of the URL. Then, click
+ <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
+ (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
+ wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
+ site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
+ the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
+ section</link>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
+ to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
+</para>
+
</sect2>
-]]>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="templates">
<title>Templates</title>
<para>
- When <application>Privoxy</application> displays one of its internal
- pages, such as a <ulink url="http://bogus_404_page.com">404 Not Found error page</ulink>
- (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for link to work as
- intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these
- are located in <filename>/etc/privoxy/templates</filename> by default. These
- may be customized, if desired. <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> is used to
- control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
+ All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
+ <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
+ error page</ulink>, the <ulink
+ url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page</ulink>
+ and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
+ user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
+ (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
+ intended)
</para>
+
<para>
- The default
- <ulink
- url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Blocked
- </ulink> (<application>Privoxy</application> needs to be running for page to
- display) banner page with the bright red top banner, is called just
- <quote><filename>blocked</filename></quote>. This may be customized or
- replaced with something else if desired (not recommended for the casual
- user).
+ These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
+ directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On unixish platforms,
+ this is typically
+ <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
+ or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
+ edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
+ (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
+ just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
+ ignored when the templates are filled in.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
+ find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
+ in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
+ always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
+ code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
+ blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
+ for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
+ our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
+ in in an alpha or beta development stage:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
+
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
+
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
+ <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
+ will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen><!-- --></screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
+ mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
+ templates ;-)
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ All templates refer to a style located at
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
+ This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
+ and the source for it can be found and edited in the
+ <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
</para>
</sect1>
&history;
<!-- end history -->
</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
+<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
+ &p-authors;
+<!-- end authors -->
+</sect2>
+
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<sect2 id="regex">
<title>Regular Expressions</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> can use <quote>regular expressions</quote>
- in various config files. Assuming support for <quote>pcre</quote> (Perl
- Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such
- configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be
- used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against
- URLs.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
+ expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
+ files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
+ through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
+ <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
</para>
<para>
If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
- introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-)
+ introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
+ url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
</para>
<para>
- <quote>Regular expressions</quote> is a way of matching one character
- expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the
- <quote>expressions</quote> is a literal string of readable characters
- (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal
- characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called
- meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have special meanings and
- are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible
- Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language
- with backward compatibility.
+ Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
+ run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
+ match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
+ strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
+ characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
+ special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
+ Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
+ <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
</para>
<para>
</member>
</simplelist></para>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>s/string1/string2/g</emphasis> - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
- <quote>string1</quote> is replaced by <quote>string2</quote> in this
- example. There must of course be a match on <quote>string1</quote> first.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
-
<para>
These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
<application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
in the expression anywhere).
</para>
-<para>
- <emphasis><literal>s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i</literal></emphasis> - This is
- a substitution. <quote>MicroSuck</quote> will replace any occurrence of
- <quote>microsoft</quote>. The <quote>i</quote> at the end of the expression
- means ignore case. The <quote>(?!.com)</quote> means
- the match should fail if <quote>microsoft</quote> is followed by
- <quote>.com</quote>. In other words, this acts like a <quote>NOT</quote>
- modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-).
-</para>
-
<para>
We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
<ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
</para>
+<para>
+ For information on regular expression based substititions and their applications
+ in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
+ in this manual.
+</para>
</sect2>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
</para>
</blockquote>
<para>
- Alternately, this may be reached at <ulink
- url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>, but this
- variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
+ There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
+ doesn't provide a fallback to a real page, in case the request is not
+ sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions','Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback</ulink>
+ <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>
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-
-
<para>
- Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+ Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
<ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
have more information about bookmarklets.
</para>
<para>
The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
- <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>
- and <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>filters</quote></link>
+ <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
<emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
- <quote>regular expressions</quote> whose consequences are not always
- so obvious.
+ <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
+ always so obvious.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
Matches for http://google.com:
---- File standard ---
-(no matches in this file)
-
---- File default ---
-
-{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
- -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+
+{-add-header
+ -block
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects
+ -filter{popups}
+ -filter{fun}
+ -filter{shockwave-flash}
+ -filter{crude-parental}
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+ +filter{js-annoyances}
+ +filter{content-cookies}
+ +filter{webbugs}
+ +filter{refresh-tags}
+ +filter{nimda}
+ +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -handle-as-image
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ +prevent-compression
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
/
{ -session-cookies-only }
{ -fast-redirects }
.google.com
---- File user ---
+In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
(no matches in this file)
</screen>
</para>
<screen>
Final results:
- -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
- -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
+
+ -add-header
+ -block
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ -fast-redirects
+ -filter{popups}
+ -filter{fun}
+ -filter{shockwave-flash}
+ -filter{crude-parental}
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+ +filter{js-annoyances}
+ +filter{content-cookies}
+ +filter{webbugs}
+ +filter{refresh-tags}
+ +filter{nimda}
+ +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -handle-as-image
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ +prevent-compression
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern}
</screen>
</para>
Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
- { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
- +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +deanimate-gifs
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+ +filter{js-annoyances}
+ +filter{kill-popups}
+ +filter{webbugs}
+ +filter{nimda}
+ +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +filter{hal}
+ +filter{fun}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -handle-as-image
+ +kill-popups
+ +prevent-compression
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
/
{ +block +handle-as-image }
Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
$Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
+ Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
+ - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
+ - Small changes to Regex appendix
+ - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
+
+ Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
+ Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
+
Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff