By: Privoxy Developers
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9 Exp $
The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
-Privoxy. Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
-protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling
-access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet Junk.
-Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit
-individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone
-systems and multi-user networks.
+Privoxy.
+
+Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
+privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and
+removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
+very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
+tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
+networks.
+
+Privoxy is based on the code of the Internet Junkbuster (tm). Junkbuster was
+originally written by Junkbusters Corporation, and was released as free
+open-source software under the GNU GPL. Stefan Waldherr made many improvements,
+and started the SourceForge project to continue development.
+
+Privoxy continues the Junkbuster tradition, but adds many refinements,
+enhancements and new features.
You can find the latest version of the user manual at http://www.privoxy.org/
-user-manual/.
+user-manual/. Please see the Contact section on how to contact the developers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
+
1. Introduction
1.1. New Features
-2. Installation
-
- 2.1. Source
- 2.2. Red Hat
- 2.3. SuSE
- 2.4. OS/2
- 2.5. Windows
- 2.6. Other
+3. Installation
-3. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+ 3.1. Source
+
+ 3.1.1. Red Hat
+ 3.1.2. SuSE
+ 3.1.3. OS/2
+ 3.1.4. Windows
+ 3.1.5. Other
+
+4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
- 3.1. Command Line Options
+ 4.1. Command Line Options
-4. Privoxy Configuration
+5. Privoxy Configuration
- 4.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
- 4.2. Configuration Files Overview
- 4.3. The Main Configuration File
+ 5.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+ 5.2. Configuration Files Overview
+ 5.3. The Main Configuration File
- 4.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
- 4.3.2. Other Configuration Options
- 4.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
- 4.3.4. Forwarding
- 4.3.5. Windows GUI Options
+ 5.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
+ 5.3.2. Other Configuration Options
+ 5.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
+ 5.3.4. Forwarding
+ 5.3.5. Windows GUI Options
- 4.4. The Actions File
+ 5.4. The Actions File
- 4.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
- 4.4.2. Actions
- 4.4.3. Aliases
+ 5.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
+ 5.4.2. Actions
+ 5.4.3. Aliases
- 4.5. The Filter File
- 4.6. Templates
+ 5.5. The Filter File
+ 5.6. Templates
-5. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-6. Copyright and History
+6. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+7. Copyright and History
- 6.1. License
- 6.2. History
+ 7.1. Copyright
+ 7.2. History
-7. See Also
-8. Appendix
+8. See Also
+9. Appendix
- 8.1. Regular Expressions
- 8.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
+ 9.1. Regular Expressions
+ 9.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
- 8.2.1. Bookmarklets
+ 9.2.1. Bookmarklets
- 8.3. Anatomy of an Action
+ 9.3. Anatomy of an Action
-1. Introduction
-
-Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
-privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and
-removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
-very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
-tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
-networks.
-
-Privoxy is based on the code of the Internet Junkbuster. Junkbuster was
-originally written by JunkBusters Corporation, and was released as free
-open-source software under the GNU GPL. Stefan Waldherr made many improvements,
-and started the SourceForge project to continue development.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Privoxy continues the Junkbuster tradition, but adds many refinements and
-enhancements.
+1. Introduction
-This documentation is included with the current BETA version of Privoxy and is
-mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the time being
-is still the comments in the source files and in the individual configuration
-files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing completion, and includes
-many significant changes and enhancements over earlier versions. The target
-release date for stable v3.0 is "soon" ;-)
+This documentation is included with the current beta version of Privoxy,
+v.2.9.13, and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference
+for the time being is still the comments in the source files and in the
+individual configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
+completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over earlier
+versions. The target release date for stable v3.0 is "soon" ;-).
-Since this is a BETA version, not all new features are well tested. This
+Since this is a beta version, not all new features are well tested. This
documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with CVS
sources). And there may be bugs, though hopefully not many!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2. Installation
+3. Installation
-Privoxy is available as raw source code, or pre-compiled binaries. See the
-Privoxy Home Page for binaries and current release info. Privoxy is also
-available via CVS. This is the recommended approach at this time. But please be
-aware that CVS is constantly changing, and it may break in mysterious ways.
+Privoxy is available as raw source code (tarball or via CVS), or pre-compiled
+binaries for various platforms. See the Privoxy Project Page for the most up to
+date release information. Privoxy is also available via CVS. This is the
+recommended approach at this time. But please be aware that CVS is constantly
+changing, and it may break in mysterious ways.
+
+At present, Privoxy is known to run on Win32, Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, Linux
+(RedHat, Suse, Debian), FreeBSD, and many flavors of Unix. There are source and
+binary releases for these available for download at http://sourceforge.net/
+project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.1. Source
+3.1. Source
+
+There are several ways to install Privoxy.
-For gzipped tar archives, unpack the source:
+To build Privoxy from source, autoconf and GNU make (gmake) are required.
+Source is available as gzipped tar archives. For this, first unpack the source:
tar xzvf privoxy-2.9.13-beta-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
cd privoxy-2.9.13-beta
For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need the CVS package installed
-first. To download CVS source:
+first. Note CVS source is development quality, and may not be stable, or well
+tested. To download CVS source:
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the source
tree.
-Then, in either case, to build from tarball/CVS source:
+Then, in either case, to build from unpacked tarball or CVS source:
+ autoheader
+ autoconf
./configure (--help to see options)
make (the make from gnu, gmake for *BSD)
su
make install (to really install)
+Redhat and SuSE src and binary RPMs can be built with "make redhat-dist" or "
+make suse-dist" from unpacked sources. You will need to run "autoconf;
+autoheader; ./configure" beforehand. *BSD will require gmake (from http://
+www.gnu.org).
+
For Redhat and SuSE Linux RPM packages, see below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.2. Red Hat
+3.1.1. Red Hat
-To build Redhat RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
+To build Redhat RPM packages from source, install source as above. Then:
autoheader
autoconf
This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example:
- /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+ /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.13-1.i686.rpm
- /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+ /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.13-1.src.rpm
To install, of course:
- rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+ rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.13-1.i686.rpm
This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files
-in /var/log/privoxy/.
+in /var/log/privoxy/. Run "chkconfig privoxy on" to have Privoxy start
+automatically during init.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.3. SuSE
+3.1.2. SuSE
To build SuSE RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example:
- /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+ /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.13-1.i686.rpm
- /usr/src/packages/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+ /usr/src/packages/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.13-1.src.rpm
To install, of course:
- rpm -Uvv /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+ rpm -Uvv /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.13-1.i686.rpm
This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.4. OS/2
+3.1.3. OS/2
Privoxy is packaged in a WarpIN self- installing archive. The self-installing
program will be named depending on the release version, something like:
-privoxyos2_setup_1.2.3.exe. In order to install it, simply run this executable
+privoxyos2_setup_2.9.13.exe. In order to install it, simply run this executable
or double-click on its icon and follow the WarpIN installation panels. A shadow
of the Privoxy executable will be placed in your startup folder so it will
start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.5. Windows
+3.1.4. Windows
Click-click. (I need help on this. Not a clue here. Also for configuration
section below. HB.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.6. Other
+3.1.5. Other
Some quick notes on other Operating Systems.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you will want to configure your
browser(s) to use Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is localhost
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.1. Command Line Options
+4.1. Command Line Options
Privoxy may be invoked with the following command-line options:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4. Privoxy Configuration
+5. Privoxy Configuration
All Privoxy configuration is stored in text files. These files can be edited
with a text editor. Many important aspects of Privoxy can also be controlled
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+5.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
Privoxy can be reached by the special URL http://p.p/ (or alternately http://
config.privoxy.org/), which is an internal page. You will see the following
section:
-Please choose from the following options:
+ Please choose from the following options:
* Show information about the current configuration
* Show the source code version numbers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.2. Configuration Files Overview
+5.2. Configuration Files Overview
For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in /etc/privoxy/
by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and AmigaOS these are all in the same
The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though possibly
aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are only three default
-configuration files (this will change in time):
+configuration files (this may change in time):
* The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
AmigaOS and config.txt on Windows.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3. The Main Configuration File
+5.3. The Main Configuration File
Again, the main configuration file is named config on Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2,
and config.txt on Windows. Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
+5.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
Privoxy can use a number of other files to tell it what ads to block, what
cookies to accept, and perform other functions. This section of the
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.2. Other Configuration Options
+5.3.2. Other Configuration Options
This part of the configuration file contains options that control how Privoxy
operates.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
+5.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
Access controls are included at the request of some ISPs and systems
administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. Please note the
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.4. Forwarding
+5.3.4. Forwarding
This feature allows chaining of HTTP requests via multiple proxies. It can be
used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when accessing specific
If you intend to chain Privoxy and squid locally, then chain as browser ->
squid -> privoxy is the recommended way.
-Your squid configuration could then look like this:
+Your squid configuration could then look like this (assuming that the IP
+address of the box is 192.168.0.1 ):
# Define Privoxy as parent cache
- cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 0 no-query
+ cache_peer 192.168.0.1 parent 8118 0 no-query
+
+ # don't listen to the whole world
+ http_port 192.168.0.1:3128
+
+ # define the local lan
+ acl mylocallan src 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.5/255.255.255.255
+
+ # grant access for http to local lan
+ http_access allow mylocallan
# Define ACL for protocol FTP
acl FTP proto FTP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.5. Windows GUI Options
+5.3.5. Windows GUI Options
Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4. The Actions File
+5.4. The Actions File
The "default.action" file (formerly actionsfile or ijb.action) is used to
define what actions Privoxy takes, and thus determines how ad images, cookies
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
+5.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the <domain> and
<path> part are optional. If you only specify a domain part, the "/" can be
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4.2. Actions
+5.4.2. Actions
Actions are enabled if preceded with a "+", and disabled if preceded with a
"-". Actions are invoked by enclosing the action name in curly braces (e.g.
want invisible ads, they should be defined as images and blocked. And also,
"image-blocker" should be set to "blank". Note you cannot treat HTML pages
as images in most cases. For instance, frames require an HTML page to
- display. Forcing an "image" in this situation just will not work.
+ display. So a frame that is an ad, cannot be treated as an image. Forcing
+ an "image" in this situation just will not work.
+image
misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways a site
designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header content he may
depend on. There is no way to have hard and fast rules for all sites. See the
-Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting actions.
+Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting actions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4.3. Aliases
+5.4.3. Aliases
Custom "actions", known to Privoxy as "aliases", can be defined by combining
other "actions". These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in "actions".
Now let's define a few aliases:
- # Useful customer aliases we can use later. These must come first!
+ # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first!
{{alias}}
+no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read
-no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.5. The Filter File
+5.5. The Filter File
Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This
modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content, including
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.6. Templates
+5.6. Templates
When Privoxy displays one of its internal pages, such as a 404 Not Found error
page, it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these are
located in /etc/privoxy/templates by default. These may be customized, if
-desired.
+desired. cgi-style.css is used to control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
The default "Blocked" banner page with the bright red top banner, is called
just "blocked". This may be customized or replaced with something else if
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+6. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
note:
- * Use the Sourceforge support forum to get help.
+ * Use the Sourceforge Support Forum to get help:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
+
- * Submit bugs only thru our Sourceforge bug forum.
+ * Submit bugs only through our Sourceforge Bug Forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
+
Make sure that the bug has not already been submitted. Please try to verify
that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug first. If you are
platform, browser, any pertinent log data, any other relevant details
(please be specific) and, if possible, some way to reproduce the bug.
- * Submit feature requests only thru our Sourceforge feature request forum.
+ * Submit feature requests only through our Sourceforge feature request forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118&func=browse.
+
+
+ * Submit missed ads and banners, and incorrectly blocked images, popups, etc:
+
+ http://p.p/, and select "actions file feedback system"
+
+
+ This page can also be reached from many of the internal CGI pages.
+
+ * For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118.
+
+
+ Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related
+ discussions can also join the appropriate mailing list. Archives are
+ available too.
-
-
-For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists.
-
-Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related
-discussions can join the appropriate mailing list here. Archives are available
-here too.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6. Copyright and History
+7. Copyright and History
-6.1. License
+7.1. Copyright
Privoxy is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6.2. History
+7.2. History
Privoxy is evolved, and derived from, the Internet Junkbuster, with many
improvments and enhancements over the original.
-Junkbuster was originally written by Anonymous Coders and Junkbuster's
+Junkbuster was originally written by Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters
Corporation, and was released as free open-source software under the GNU GPL.
Stefan Waldherr made many improvements, and started the SourceForge project
Privoxy to rekindle development. There are now several active developers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7. See Also
+8. See Also
Other references and sites of interest to Privoxy users:
- http://www.privoxy.org/, The Privoxy Home page.
+http://www.privoxy.org/, The Privoxy Home page.
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa, the Project Page for Privoxy on
Sourceforge.
- http://p.p/, access Privoxy from your browser. Alternately, http://
+http://p.p/, access Privoxy from your browser. Alternately, http://
config.privoxy.org may work in some situations where the first does not.
- http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
+http://p.p/, and select "actions file feedback system" to submit "misses" to
+the developers.
- http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
+http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
- http://privacy.net/analyze/
+http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
- http://www.squid-cache.org/
+http://privacy.net/analyze/
+
+http://www.squid-cache.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8. Appendix
+9. Appendix
-8.1. Regular Expressions
+9.1. Regular Expressions
Privoxy can use "regular expressions" in various config files. Assuming support
for "pcre" (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
+9.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
Since Privoxy proxies each requested web page, it is easy for Privoxy to trap
certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to Privoxy, and see how
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.2.1. Bookmarklets
+9.2.1. Bookmarklets
-Here are some bookmarklets to allow you to easily access a "mini" version of
-this page. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work equally
-well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support JavaScript. They
-are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by clicking the links
-below (although that will work for testing).
+Below are some "bookmarklets" to allow you to easily access a "mini" version of
+some of Privoxy's special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer,
+but should work equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which
+support JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not
+by clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
To save them, right-click the link and choose "Add to Favorites" (IE) or "Add
Bookmark" (Netscape). You will get a warning that the bookmark "may not be
* View Privoxy Status
+ * Actions file feedback system
+
Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.3. Anatomy of an Action
+9.3. Anatomy of an Action
The way Privoxy applies "actions" and "filters" to any given URL can be
complex, and not always so easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes
of HTML pages. So you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into
the prompt area -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs
like ads, you will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's
-"View Page Source" option for this.
+"View Page Source" option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the URL.
Let's look at an example, google.com, one section at a time:
it does nothing. Every action is disabled. This is not particularly informative
for our purposes here. OK, next section:
- Matches for http://google.com:
+ Matches for http://google.com:
{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects
+filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}
And now we pull it altogether in the bottom section and summarize how Privoxy
is appying all its "actions" to "google.com":
- Final results:
+ Final results:
-add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects
+filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}
Now another example, "ad.doubleclick.net":
- { +block +image }
+ { +block +image }
.ad.doubleclick.net
{ +block +image }
One last example. Let's try "http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/". This one is
giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
- Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+ Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects
+filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}
explictly does not block (-block) pages with "adsl". There are various ways to
handle such exceptions. Example:
- { -block }
+ { -block }
/adsl
Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when making
-such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload.
+such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload.
But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like we did
-with:
+with:
- { -block }
+ { -block }
/adsl
cause would be one of the "{+filter}" actions. Try adding the URL for the site
to one of aliases that turn off "+filter":
- {shop}
+ {shop}
.quietpc.com
.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
.jungle.com
"{shop}" is an "alias" that expands to "{ -filter -no-cookies -no-cookies-keep
}". Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
- {-filter}
+ {-filter}
.forbes.com
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff