-Privoxy 3.1.1 User Manual
+Privoxy 3.0.3 User Manual
-Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Privoxy Developers
+[ Copyright © 2001 - 2004 by Privoxy Developers ]
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.2 2002/09/05 05:45:30 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.txt,v 1.60.2.7 2004/01/30 23:46:57 oes Exp $
-The User Manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
+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
+privacy, modifying 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
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
-
+
1.1. Features
-
+
2. Installation
-
+
2.1. Binary Packages
-
+
2.1.1. Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs
2.1.2. Debian
2.1.3. Windows
2.1.6. Mac OSX
2.1.7. AmigaOS
2.1.8. Gentoo
-
+
2.2. Building from Source
2.3. Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date
-
+
3. Note to Upgraders
4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
+
4.1. Quickstart to Ad Blocking
-
+
5. Starting Privoxy
-
+
5.1. Red Hat and Conectiva
5.2. Debian
5.3. SuSE
5.8. AmigaOS
5.9. Gentoo
5.10. Command Line Options
-
+
6. Privoxy Configuration
-
+
6.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
6.2. Configuration Files Overview
-
+
7. The Main Configuration File
-
+
7.1. Configuration and Log File Locations
-
+
7.1.1. confdir
7.1.2. logdir
7.1.3. actionsfile
7.1.5. logfile
7.1.6. jarfile
7.1.7. trustfile
-
+
7.2. Local Set-up Documentation
-
+
7.2.1. user-manual
7.2.2. trust-info-url
7.2.3. admin-address
7.2.4. proxy-info-url
-
+
7.3. Debugging
-
+
7.3.1. debug
7.3.2. single-threaded
-
+
7.4. Access Control and Security
-
+
7.4.1. listen-address
7.4.2. toggle
7.4.3. enable-remote-toggle
7.4.4. enable-edit-actions
7.4.5. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
7.4.6. buffer-limit
-
+
7.5. Forwarding
-
+
7.5.1. forward
7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
-
+
7.6. Windows GUI Options
-
+
8. Actions Files
-
+
8.1. Finding the Right Mix
8.2. How to Edit
8.3. How Actions are Applied to URLs
8.4. Patterns
-
+
8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
8.4.2. The Path Pattern
-
+
8.5. Actions
-
+
8.5.1. add-header
8.5.2. block
8.5.3. crunch-incoming-cookies
8.5.19. session-cookies-only
8.5.20. set-image-blocker
8.5.21. Summary
-
+
8.6. Aliases
8.7. Actions Files Tutorial
-
+
8.7.1. default.action
8.7.2. user.action
-
+
9. The Filter File
-
+
9.1. Filter File Tutorial
-
+ 9.2. The Pre-defined Filters
+
10. Templates
11. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-
+
11.1. Get Support
11.2. Report Bugs
11.3. Request New Features
11.4. Report Ads or Other Actions-Related Problems
11.5. Other
-
+
12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-
+
12.1. License
12.2. History
12.3. Authors
-
+
13. See Also
14. Appendix
-
+
14.1. Regular Expressions
14.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
-
+
14.2.1. Bookmarklets
-
+
14.3. Chain of Events
14.4. Anatomy of an Action
-
-1. Introduction
-This documentation is included with the current alpha version of Privoxy,
-v.3.1.1, 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" ;-).
+1. Introduction
-Since this is a alpha 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!
+This documentation is included with the current stable version of Privoxy,
+v.3.0.3.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1. Features
In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional features of ad and banner
-blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features, some of them
-currently under development:
+blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features:
* Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at http://
config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). Browser-based tracing of rule
and filter effects. Remote toggling.
-
+
* Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
"web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows, etc.)
-
+
* Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated actions
files won't overwrite individual user settings.
-
+
* HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
-
+
* Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
and generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
previous versions.
-
+
* Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
-
+
* GIF de-animation.
-
+
* Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
-
+
* Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
-
+
* User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
"blocked" page).
-
+
* Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
-
+
* Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
-
+
* Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
configuration more powerful and versatile over-all.
-
+
* Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
holes fixed.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Installation
2.1.1. Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs
-RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-3.1.1-1.rpm, and will use /etc/
+RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-3.0.3-1.rpm, and will use /etc/
privoxy for the location of configuration files.
Note that on Red Hat, Privoxy will not be automatically started on system boot.
that SuSE will automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM: rpm
---rebuild privoxy-3.1.1-1.src.rpm. This will use your locally installed
+--rebuild privoxy-3.0.3-1.src.rpm. This will use your locally installed
libraries and RPM version.
Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed on your system, you need
2.1.2. Debian
-DEBs can be installed with dpkg -i privoxy_3.1.1-1.deb, and will use /etc/
-privoxy for the location of configuration files.
+DEBs can be installed with apt-get install privoxy, and will use /etc/privoxy
+for the location of configuration files.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, make sure that no previous installations of Junkbuster and / or Privoxy
are left on your system. Check that no Junkbuster or Privoxy objects are in
-your startup folder.
+your startup folder.
Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will guide
you through the installation process. A shadow of the Privoxy executable will
To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on StartPrivoxy.command in the /Library/
Privoxy folder. Or, type this command in the Terminal:
- /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
-
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+
+
You will be prompted for the administrator password.
latest version.
Configuration files are in /etc/privoxy, the documentation is in /usr/share/doc
-/privoxy-3.1.1 and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
+/privoxy-3.0.3 and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When building from a source tarball (either release version or nightly CVS
tarball), first unpack the source:
- tar xzvf privoxy-3.1.1-beta-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
- cd privoxy-3.1.1-beta
+ tar xzvf privoxy-3.0.3-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
+ cd privoxy-3.0.3
+
For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need CVS installed. Note that
sources from CVS are 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
- cd current
+ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
+ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
+ cd current
+
This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the source
tree.
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 -n install # (to see where all the files will go)
- make install # (to really install)
-
-+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-| Warning |
-|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|The "make install" target is temporary quite broken! It is recommended to use|
-|a binary package, or do a source build, and manually install the components. |
-|Sorry. |
-+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+ autoheader
+ autoconf
+ ./configure # (--help to see options)
+ make # (the make from gnu, gmake for *BSD)
+ su
+ make -n install # (to see where all the files will go)
+ make install # (to really install)
+
If you have gnu make, you can have the first four steps automatically done for
you by just typing:
- make
+ make
+
in the freshly downloaded or unpacked source directory.
* The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
service (NAS).
-
+
* Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any important
configuration files!
-
+
* Privoxy is controllable with a web browser at the special URL: http://
config.privoxy.org/ (Shortcut: http://p.p/). Many aspects of configuration
can be done here, including temporarily disabling Privoxy.
-
+
* The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy configuration are the actions
files. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new actions
concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules should
go into user.action.
-
+
* Some installers may not automatically start Privoxy after installation.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
* If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
files. See the Note to Upgraders Section.
-
+
* Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
information.
-
+
* Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy service to more than
- just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the
+ just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the
security-relevant options. These are off by default.
-
+
* Start Privoxy, if the installation program has not done this already (may
vary according to platform). See the section Starting Privoxy.
-
- * Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS proxy by setting the
- proxy configuration for address of 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. (Junkbuster and
- earlier versions of Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting
+
+ * Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting
+ the proxy configuration for address of 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. (Junkbuster
+ and earlier versions of Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting
Privoxy below for more details on this.
-
+
* Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad
- images.
-
+ images. If using Privoxy to manage cookies, you should remove any currently
+ stored cookies too.
+
* A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for most.
There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little to no
initial configuration is required in most cases.
-
+
See the Configuration section for more configuration options, and how to
customize your installation.
-
+
* If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune Privoxy's behaviour, take
a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might find the richly
commented examples helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files
through the web-based user interface. The Appendix "Anatomy of an Action"
has hints how to debug actions that "misbehave".
-
+
+ * For easy access to Privoxy's most important controls, drag the provided
+ Bookmarklets into your browser's personal toolbar.
+
* Please see the section Contacting the Developers on how to report bugs or
problems with websites or to get help.
-
+
* Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1. Quickstart to Ad Blocking
context, are the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform some task
relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell Privoxy to take some
"action". Each action has a unique name and function. While there are many
-potential actions in Privoxy's arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking.
+potential actions in Privoxy's arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking.
Actions, and action configuration files, are explained in depth below.
Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration, followed by one or more URLs
itself, it simply stops any communication with the remote server and sends
Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has
happened.
-
+
* handle-as-image - tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image. Privoxy's
default configuration already does this for all common image types (e.g.
GIF), but there are many situations where this is not so easy to determine.
page (which would only result in a "broken image" icon). There are some
limitations to this though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an
image substitution for an entire HTML page in most situations.
-
+
* set-image-blocker - tells Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image
that has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
- block action somewhere in the configuration, and, it must also match an
+ block action somewhere in the configuration, and, it must also match an
handle-as-image action.
-
+
The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
-
- pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad replacement is obvious.
- This is the default.
-
+
+ pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad replacement is obvious.
+ This is the default.
+
blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed. This is the so-called
- "invisible" configuration option.
-
- http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere of the user's choosing
- (advanced usage).
-
+ "invisible" configuration option.
+
+ http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere of the user's choosing
+ (advanced usage).
+
The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
-the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status (shortcut:
+the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status (shortcut:
http://p.p/show-status). This is an internal page, and does not require
Internet access. Select the appropriate "actions" file, and click "Edit". It is
best to put personal or local preferences in user.action since this is not
* Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select "Copy Link Location"
from the pop-up menu.
-
+
* Set your browser to http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
+
* Find user.action in the top section, and click on "Edit":
-
+
Figure 1. Actions Files in Use
-
+
[files-in-u]
-
+
* You should have a section with only block listed under "Actions:". If not,
click a "Insert new section below" button, and in the new section that just
appeared, click the Edit button right under the word "Actions:". This will
bring up a list of all actions. Find block near the top, and click in the
"Enabled" column, then "Submit" just below the list.
-
+
* Now, in the block actions section, click the "Add" button, and paste the
URL the browser got from "Copy Link Location". Remove the http:// at the
beginning of the URL. Then, click "Submit" (or "OK" if in a pop-up window).
-
+
* Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload (or flush all
browser caches). The image should be gone now.
-
+
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 "patterns", and the entire actions
default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
file.
- # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per default. It
will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration file.
- # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We use a script. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main
configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting your PC.
- # rcprivoxy start
+ # rcprivoxy start
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example Unix startup command:
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
StartPrivoxy.command icon in the /Library/Privoxy folder. Or, type this command
in the Terminal:
- /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
-
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+
+
You will be prompted for the administrator password.
5.8. AmigaOS
-Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your startnet script (AmiTCP), in s:
-user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your startup script (Genesis),
+Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your startnet script (AmiTCP), in
+s:user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your startup script (Genesis),
or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx). Privoxy will automatically quit when
you quit your TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack
may display that Privoxy is still running).
A script is again used. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main
configuration file.
- /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-
+ /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+
+
Note that Privoxy is not automatically started at boot time by default. You can
change this with the rc-update command.
- rc-update add privoxy default
-
+ rc-update add privoxy default
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privoxy may be invoked with the following command-line options:
* --version
-
+
Print version info and exit. Unix only.
-
+
* --help
-
+
Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
-
+
* --no-daemon
-
+
Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group leader, and
don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
-
+
* --pidfile FILE
-
+
On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the FILE on exit. Failure
to create or delete the FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE option is given, no
PID file will be used. Unix only.
-
+
* --user USER[.GROUP]
-
+
After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of USER, and if
included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the privileges are not sufficient to do
so. Unix only.
-
+
+ * --chroot
+
+ Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option, chroot to that
+ user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the Privoxy process
+ that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
+ the impact of possible vulnerabilities in Privoxy to the files contained in
+ that hierarchy. Unix only.
+
* configfile
-
+
If no configfile is included on the command line, Privoxy will look for a
file named "config" in the current directory (except on Win32 where it will
look for "config.txt" instead). Specify full path to avoid confusion. If no
config file is found, Privoxy will fail to start.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Privoxy Configuration
Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special URL http://
config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/), which is a built-in page and works
-without Internet access. You will see the following section:
+without Internet access. You will see the following section:
+
+ Privoxy Menu
+ ? View & change the current configuration
+ ? View the source code version numbers
+ ? View the request headers.
+ ? Look up which actions apply to a URL and why
+ ? Toggle Privoxy on or off
+ ? Documentation
- Privoxy Menu
- ? View & change the current configuration
- ? View the source code version numbers
- ? View the request headers.
- ? Look up which actions apply to a URL and why
- ? Toggle Privoxy on or off
- ? Documentation
-
This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
actions files, which is where the ad, banner, cookie, and URL blocking magic is
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
-directory as the Privoxy executable. The name and number of configuration files
-has changed from previous versions, and is subject to change as development
-progresses.
+directory as the Privoxy executable.
The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though some
settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the principle
* The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
AmigaOS and config.txt on Windows. This is a required file.
-
+
* default.action (the main actions file) is used to define which "actions"
relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many exceptions
(both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
Privoxy to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on as many
websites as possible.
-
+
Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These are processed in the
order they are defined. Local customizations and locally preferred
exceptions to the default policies as defined in default.action (which you
will most probably want to define sooner or later) are probably best
applied in user.action, where you can preserve them across upgrades.
standard.action is for Privoxy's internal use.
-
+
There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from http://
config.privoxy.org/show-status (Shortcut: http://p.p/show-status) for the
various actions files.
-
+
* default.filter (the filter file) can be used to re-write the raw page
content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript,
and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only
pre-defined here; whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
-
+ Only one filter file may be defined.
+
All files use the "#" character to denote a comment (the rest of the line will
be ignored) and understand line continuation through placing a backslash ("\")
as the very last character in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it
effect. When changing the listening address of Privoxy, these "wake up"
requests must obviously be sent to the old listening address.
-While under development, the configuration content is subject to change. The
-below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this. Also, what
-constitutes a "default" setting, may change, so please check all your
-configuration files on important issues.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. The Main Configuration File
7.1.1. confdir
Specifies:
-
+
The directory where the other configuration files are located
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Path name
-
+
Default value:
-
+
/etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Mandatory
-
+
Notes:
-
+
No trailing "/", please
-
+
When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of "confdir". For now, the
configuration directory structure is flat, except for confdir/templates,
where the HTML templates for CGI output reside (e.g. Privoxy's 404 error
page).
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1.2. logdir
Specifies:
-
+
The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and jarfile
are located)
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Path name
-
+
Default value:
-
+
/var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Mandatory
-
+
Notes:
-
+
No trailing "/", please
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1.3. actionsfile
Specifies:
-
+
The actions file(s) to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to confdir, without the .action suffix
-
+
Default values:
-
+
standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended
-
- default # Main actions file
-
- user # User customizations
-
+
+ default # Main actions file
+
+ user # User customizations
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Multiple actionsfile lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
-
+
The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the "main" actions
file maintained by the developers, and user.action, where you can make your
personal additions.
-
+
Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done
for ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc. There is
no point in using Privoxy without at least one actions file.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1.4. filterfile
Specifies:
-
+
The filter file to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to confdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all +filter{name} actions in
the actions files are turned neutral.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The filter file contains content modification rules that use regular
expressions. These rules permit powerful changes on the content of Web
pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite JavaScript annoyances,
re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some fun replacing
"Microsoft" with "MicroSuck" wherever it appears on a Web page.
-
+
The +filter{name} actions rely on the relevant filter (name) to be defined
in the filter file!
-
+
A pre-defined filter file called default.filter that contains a bunch of
handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution. See the
section on the filter action for a list.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1.5. logfile
Specifies:
-
+
The log file to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to logdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (STDERR).
-
+
Notes:
-
- The windows version will additionally log to the console.
-
+
The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
of detail and number of messages are set with the debug option (see below).
The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with Privoxy (e.g.,
it's not blocking an ad you think it should block) but in most cases you
probably will never look at it.
-
+
Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
(see "man cron"). For Red Hat, a logrotate script has been included.
-
+
On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like "/var/log/privoxy.* +1024k
644 nobody.nogroup" in /etc/logfiles, with the effect that cron.daily will
automatically archive, gzip, and empty the log, when it exceeds 1M size.
-
+
Any log files must be writable by whatever user Privoxy is being run as
(default on UNIX, user id is "privoxy").
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1.6. jarfile
Specifies:
-
+
The file to store intercepted cookies in
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to logdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1.7. trustfile
Specifies:
-
+
The trust file to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to confdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
- The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
-
+
+ The entire trust mechanism is turned off.
+
Notes:
-
+
The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and
should be used with care. It is NOT recommended for the casual user.
-
+
If you specify a trust file, Privoxy will only allow access to sites that
- are named in the trustfile. You can also mark sites as trusted referrers
- (with +), with the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted,
- if a link from a trusted referrer was used. The link target will then be
- added to the "trustfile". Possible applications include limiting Internet
- access for children.
-
- If you use + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over
+ are specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed in one of two ways:
+
+ Prepending a ~ character limits access to this site only (and any sub-paths
+ within this site), e.g. ~www.example.com.
+
+ Or, you can designate sites as trusted referrers, by prepending the name
+ with a + character. The effect is that access to untrusted sites will be
+ granted -- but only if a link from this trusted referrer was used. The link
+ target will then be added to the "trustfile" so that future, direct
+ accesses will be granted. Sites added via this mechanism do not become
+ trusted referrers themselves (i.e. they are added with a ~ designation).
+
+ If you use the + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over
time.
-
+
+ It is recommended that Privoxy be compiled with the --disable-force,
+ --disable-toggle and --disable-editor options, if this feature is to be
+ used.
+
+ Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.2. Local Set-up Documentation
7.2.1. user-manual
Specifies:
-
+
Location of the Privoxy User Manual.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
A fully qualified URI
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
http://www.privoxy.org/version/user-manual/ will be used, where version is
the Privoxy version.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI
pages. The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary
distributions, so you probably want to set this to a locally installed
copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on a local webserver
for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
-
+
Examples:
-
+
Unix, in local filesystem:
-
- user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-3.1.1/user-manual/
-
+
+ user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-3.0.3/user-manual/
+
+
+ Windows, in local filesystem, must use forward slash notation:
+
+ user-manual file:/c:/some-dir/privoxy-3.0.3/user-manual/
+
+
+ Windows, UNC notation (with forward slashes):
+
+ user-manual file://///some-server/some-path/privoxy-3.0.3/user-manual/
+
+
Any platform, on local webserver (called "local-webserver"):
-
- user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/
-
+
+ user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/
+
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Warning |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
7.2.2. trust-info-url
Specifies:
-
+
A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an
untrusted page is denied.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
URL
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Two example URL are provided
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism
has been activated. (See trustfile above.)
-
+
If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here. Use
multiple times for multiple URLs.
-
+
The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first
place!
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.2.3. admin-address
Specifies:
-
+
An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Email address
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole "Local
Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not be shown.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.2.4. proxy-info-url
Specifies:
-
+
A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, configuration or
policies.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
URL
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user
interface.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole "Local
Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not be shown.
-
+
This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.3. Debugging
7.3.1. debug
Specifies:
-
+
Key values that determine what information gets logged to the logfile.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Integer values
-
+
Default value:
-
+
12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Nothing gets logged.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The available debug levels are:
-
- debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
- debug 2 # show each connection status
- debug 4 # show I/O status
- debug 8 # show header parsing
- debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
- debug 32 # debug force feature
- debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
- debug 128 # debug fast redirects
- debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
- debug 512 # Common Log Format
- debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
- debug 2048 # CGI user interface
- debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
- debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
-
+
+ debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
+ debug 2 # show each connection status
+ debug 4 # show I/O status
+ debug 8 # show header parsing
+ debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
+ debug 32 # debug force feature
+ debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
+ debug 128 # debug fast redirects
+ debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
+ debug 512 # Common Log Format
+ debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
+ debug 2048 # CGI user interface
+ debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
+ debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
+
+
To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use multiple
debug lines.
-
+
A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request as
it happens. 1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended so that you will notice
when things go wrong. The other levels are probably only of interest if you
are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce a hell of an output
(especially 16).
-
+
The reporting of fatal errors (i.e. ones which crash Privoxy) is always on
and cannot be disabled.
-
+
If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set "debug 512" ONLY
and not enable anything else.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.3.2. single-threaded
Specifies:
-
+
Whether to run only one server thread
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
None
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability
to serve multiple requests simultaneously.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never need to
use it. It will drastically reduce performance.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4. Access Control and Security
7.4.1. listen-address
Specifies:
-
+
The IP address and TCP port on which Privoxy will listen for client
requests.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
[IP-Address]:Port
-
+
Default value:
-
+
127.0.0.1:8118
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended
for home users who run Privoxy on the same machine as their browser.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
-
+
If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well,
you will need to override the default.
-
+
If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will bind to all interfaces
(addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the Internet. In
that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's, see below), and/or a
firewall.
-
- If you open Privoxy to untrusted users, you will also want to turn off the
+
+ If you open Privoxy to untrusted users, you will also want to turn off the
enable-edit-actions and enable-remote-toggle options!
-
+
Example:
-
+
Suppose you are running Privoxy on a machine which has the address
192.168.0.1 on your local private network (192.168.0.0) and has another
outside connection with a different address. You want it to serve requests
from inside only:
-
- listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
-
+
+ listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4.2. toggle
Specifies:
-
+
Initial state of "toggle" status
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
1 or 0
-
+
Default value:
-
+
1
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Act as if toggled on
-
+
Notes:
-
+
If set to 0, Privoxy will start in "toggled off" mode, i.e. behave like a
normal, content-neutral proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are
disabled. See enable-remote-toggle below. This is not really useful
anymore, since toggling is much easier via the web interface than via
editing the conf file.
-
+
The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray if
this option is present.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4.3. enable-remote-toggle
Specifies:
-
+
Whether or not the web-based toggle feature may be used
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
0 or 1
-
+
Default value:
-
+
1
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
When toggled off, Privoxy acts like a normal, content-neutral proxy, i.e.
it acts as if none of the actions applied to any URL.
-
+
For the time being, access to the toggle feature can not be controlled
separately by "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can
access Privoxy (see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can toggle it for all
users. So this option is not recommended for multi-user environments with
untrusted users.
-
+
Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this feature,
otherwise this option has no effect.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4.4. enable-edit-actions
Specifies:
-
+
Whether or not the web-based actions file editor may be used
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
0 or 1
-
+
Default value:
-
+
1
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
For the time being, access to the editor can not be controlled separately
by "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can access Privoxy
(see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can modify its configuration for all
users. So this option is not recommended for multi-user environments with
untrusted users.
-
+
Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this feature,
otherwise this option has no effect.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4.5. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
Specifies:
-
+
Who can access what.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
src_addr[/src_masklen] [dst_addr[/dst_masklen]]
-
+
Where src_addr and dst_addr are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or
valid DNS names, and src_masklen and dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR
notation, i.e. integer values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in
bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole destination part are
optional.
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. For a
typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that Privoxy only
listens on the localhost (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by
means of the listen-address option.
-
+
Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a
substitute for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic
security weaknesses.
-
+
Multiple ACL lines are OK. If any ACLs are specified, then the Privoxy
talks only to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line and
don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the last match
wins, with the default being deny-access.
-
+
If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) for a particular
destination URL, the dst_addr that is examined is the address of the
forwarder and NOT the address of the ultimate target. This is necessary
because it may be impossible for the local Privoxy to determine the IP
address of the ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
-
+
You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address
lookups take time. All DNS names must resolve! You can not use domain
patterns like "*.org" or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to
multiple IP addresses, only the first one is used.
-
+
Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other
sites.
-
+
Examples:
-
+
Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and listen-address are
set: "localhost" is OK. The absence of a dst_addr implies that all
destination addresses are OK:
-
- permit-access localhost
-
+
+ permit-access localhost
+
+
Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
nothing but www.example.com:
-
- permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
-
+
+ permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
+
+
Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access
www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
-
- permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
- deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
-
+
+ permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
+ deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4.6. buffer-limit
Specifies:
-
+
Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Size in Kbytes
-
+
Default value:
-
+
4096
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and +deanimate-gif actions, it is
necessary that Privoxy buffers the entire document body. This can be
potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending data
indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
Hence this option.
-
+
When a document buffer size reaches the buffer-limit, it is flushed to the
client unfiltered and no further attempt to filter the rest of the document
is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads running, which might
require up to buffer-limit Kbytes each, unless you have enabled
"single-threaded" above.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.5. Forwarding
7.5.1. forward
Specifies:
-
+
To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
target_pattern http_parent[:port]
-
+
where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which requests
(i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / to denote "all URLs".
http_parent[:port] is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy
through which the requests should be forwarded, optionally followed by its
listening port (default: 8080). Use a single dot (.) to denote "no
forwarding".
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to another HTTP
proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
-
+
Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match
wins.
-
+
Examples:
-
+
Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443
(which it doesn't handle):
-
- forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
- forward :443 .
-
+
+ forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
+ forward :443 .
+
+
Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests to
that ISP's sites:
-
- forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
- forward .example-isp.net .
-
+
+ forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
+ forward .example-isp.net .
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
Specifies:
-
+
Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific
requests should be routed.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
target_pattern socks_proxy[:port] http_parent[:port]
-
+
where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which requests
(i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / to denote "all URLs".
http_parent and socks_proxy are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or
valid DNS names (http_parent may be "." to denote "no HTTP forwarding"),
and the optional port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1
to 64535
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Don't use SOCKS proxies.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match
wins.
-
+
The difference between forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a is that in the
SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the
SOCKS server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
-
+
If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to another HTTP
proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
a SOCKS proxy.
-
+
Examples:
-
+
From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all "internal"
domains, but everything outbound goes through their ISP's proxy by way of
example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to the Internet.
-
- forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
- forward .example.com .
-
+
+ forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
+ forward .example.com .
+
+
A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent
looks like this:
-
- forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
-
+
+ forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
host-a:
- forward / .
- forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
+ forward / .
+ forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
+
host-b:
- forward / .
- forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
+ forward / .
+ forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
+
Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either host-a or host-b
and be able to browse the internal content of both isp-a and isp-b.
Assuming that Privoxy and squid run on the same box, your squid configuration
could then look like this:
- # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
- cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
-
- # Define ACL for protocol FTP
- acl ftp proto FTP
-
- # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
- always_direct allow ftp
-
- # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
- never_direct allow all
+ # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
+ cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
+
+ # Define ACL for protocol FTP
+ acl ftp proto FTP
+
+ # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
+ always_direct allow ftp
+
+ # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
+ never_direct allow all
+
You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to squid's address
and port. Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult http_port in
You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables
through a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on antivir.example.com, port 8010:
- forward / .
- forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010
+ forward / .
+ forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The actions files are used to define what actions Privoxy takes for which URLs,
and thus determine how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP
content and transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts
-thereof). There are three such files included with Privoxy (as of version
-2.9.15), with differing purposes:
+thereof). There are three such files included with Privoxy with differing
+purposes:
* default.action - is the primary action file that sets the initial values
for all actions. It is intended to provide a base level of functionality
for Privoxy's array of features. So it is a set of broad rules that should
work reasonably well for users everywhere. This is the file that the
developers are keeping updated, and making available to users.
-
+
* user.action - is intended to be for local site preferences and exceptions.
As an example, if your ISP or your bank has specific requirements, and need
special handling, this kind of thing should go here. This file will not be
upgraded.
-
+
* standard.action - is used by the web based editor, to set various
pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section in
default.action. These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no
influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the editor.
It is not recommend to edit this file.
-
+
+ The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
+ standard.action are:
+
+ Table 1. Default Configurations
+
+ +------------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Feature | Cautious | Medium |Adventuresome|
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Ad-blocking by URL |yes |yes |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Ad-filtering by size |yes |yes |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |GIF de-animation |no |yes |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Referer forging |no |yes |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Cookie handling |none |session-only|kill |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Pop-up killing |unsolicited|unsolicited |all |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Fast redirects |no |no |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |HTML taming |yes |yes |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |JavaScript taming |yes |yes |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Web-bug killing |yes |yes |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Fun text replacements|no |no |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Image tag reordering |no |no |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Ad-filtering by link |no |no |yes |
+ |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
+ |Demoronizer |no |no |yes |
+ +------------------------------------------------------------+
+
The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
-file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these can
-all be viewed and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
+file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g. default.action is
+typically process before user.action). The content of these can all be viewed
+and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use "aliases"
in an actions file, you have to place the (optional) alias section at the top
right mix of actions is not always easy and certainly a matter of personal
taste. In general, it can be said that the more "aggressive" your default
settings (in the top section of the actions file) are, the more exceptions for
-"trusted" sites you will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill
-popup windows per default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for
-sites that you regularly use and that require popups for actually useful
-content, like maybe your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
+"trusted" sites you will have to make later. If, for example, you want to
+crunch all cookies per default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule
+for sites that you regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful
+puposes, like maybe your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
browser-based editor, which can be reached from http://config.privoxy.org/
show-status. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
-like "Cautious", "Medium" or "Advanced".
+like "Cautious", "Medium" or "Adventuresome". Warning: the "Adventuresome"
+setting is not only more aggressive, but includes settings that are fun and
+subversive, and which some may find of dubious merit!
If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit
the the actions files. Look at default.action which is richly commented.
8.4. Patterns
-Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the <domain> and
-<path> are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs).
+As mentioned, Privoxy uses "patterns" to determine what actions might apply to
+which sites and pages your browser attempts to access. These "patterns" use
+wild card type pattern matching to achieve a high degree of flexibility. This
+allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match against many similar
+patterns.
+
+Generally, a Privoxy pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the
+<domain> and <path> are optional. (This is why the special / pattern matches
+all URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. http://)
+should not be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
www.example.com/
-
+
is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com,
regardless of which document on that server is requested.
-
+
www.example.com
-
+
means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may be
omitted.
-
+
www.example.com/index.html
-
+
matches only the single document /index.html on www.example.com.
-
+
/index.html
-
+
matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, i.e. on any web
server.
-
+
index.html
-
+
matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and there
is no top-level domain called .html.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. For example:
.example.com
-
+
matches any domain that ENDS in .example.com
-
+
www.
-
+
matches any domain that STARTS with www.
-
+
.example.
-
+
matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. (Correctly speaking: It matches
any FQDN that contains example as a domain.)
-
+
Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: "*" stands for zero
or more arbitrary characters, "?" stands for any single character, you can
mixed:
ad*.example.com
-
+
matches "adserver.example.com", "ads.example.com", etc but not
"sfads.example.com"
-
+
*ad*.example.com
-
+
matches all of the above, and then some.
-
+
.?pix.com
-
+
matches www.ipix.com, pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc.
-
+
www[1-9a-ez].example.c*
-
+
matches www1.example.com, www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy,
wwwz.example.com etc., but not wwww.example.com.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.4.2. The Path Pattern
turned off if preceded with a "-". So a +action means "do that action", e.g.
+block means "please block URLs that match the following patterns", and -block
means "don't block URLs that match the following patterns, even if +block
-previously applied."
+previously applied."
Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces
and separated by whitespace, like in {+some-action -some-other-action
There are three classes of actions:
* Boolean, i.e the action can only be "enabled" or "disabled". Syntax:
-
- +name # enable action name
- -name # disable action name
-
+
+ +name # enable action name
+ -name # disable action name
+
+
Example: +block
-
+
* Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of
action. Syntax:
-
- +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param,
- # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
- -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
-
+
+ +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param,
+ # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
+ -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
+
+
Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized
action, the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are
simply ignored.
-
+
Example: +hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }
-
+
* Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions, but they behave
differently: If the action applies multiple times to the same URL, but with
different parameters, all the parameters from all matches are remembered.
This is used for actions that can be executed for the same request
repeatedly, like adding multiple headers, or filtering through multiple
filters. Syntax:
-
- +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters
- -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters
- # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
+
+ +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters
+ -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters
+ # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
-name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list
-
+
+
Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and +filter{html-annoyances}
-
+
If nothing is specified in any actions file, no "actions" are taken. So in this
case Privoxy would just be a normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You
must specifically enable the privacy and blocking features you need (although
8.5.1. add-header
Typical use:
-
+
Confuse log analysis, custom applications
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Multi-value.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not
checked. It is recommended that you use the "X-" prefix for custom headers.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
"HTTP headers" are, you definitely don't need to worry about this one.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
-
+
+ +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.2. block
Typical use:
-
+
Block ads or other obnoxious content
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
requests are not forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with
- a substitute page or image, as determined by the handle-as-image and
+ a substitute page or image, as determined by the handle-as-image and
set-image-blocker actions.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Privoxy sends a special "BLOCKED" page for requests to blocked pages. This
page contains links to find out why the request was blocked, and a
click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and
text-only if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using Privoxy
right now, you can take a look at the "BLOCKED" page.
-
+
A very important exception occurs if both block and handle-as-image, apply
- to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
+ to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
set-image-blocker (see below) also applies, the type of image will be
determined by its parameter, if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is
sent.
-
+
It is important to understand this process, in order to understand how
Privoxy deals with ads and other unwanted content.
-
+
The filter action can perform a very similar task, by "blocking" banner
images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse
the two.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- {+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
- .nasty-stuff.example.com
-
- {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
- .ad.doubleclick.net
- .ads.r.us
-
+
+ {+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
+ .nasty-stuff.example.com
+
+ {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.3. crunch-incoming-cookies
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any "Set-Cookie:" HTTP headers from server replies.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For outgoing cookies,
use crunch-outgoing-cookies. Use both to disable cookies completely.
-
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
session-cookies-only action, since it would prevent the session cookies
- from being set.
-
+ from being set. See also filter-content-cookies.
+
Example usage:
-
- +crunch-incoming-cookies
-
+
+ +crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.4. crunch-outgoing-cookies
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any "Cookie:" HTTP headers from client requests.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For incoming cookies,
use crunch-incoming-cookies. Use both to disable cookies completely.
-
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
session-cookies-only action, since it would prevent the session cookies
from being read.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +crunch-outgoing-cookies
-
+
+ +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.5. deanimate-gifs
Typical use:
-
+
Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
"last" or "first"
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
the option "first" is given, the first frame of the animation is used as
the replacement. If "last" is given, the last frame of the animation is
used instead, which probably makes more sense for most banner animations,
but also has the risk of not showing the entire last frame (if it is only a
delta to an earlier frame).
-
+
You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
a GIF.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
-
+
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.6. downgrade-http-version
Typical use:
-
+
Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy didn't support important
HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the unlikely case that you
experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server out there. Not all
(optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there is a chance you
might need this action.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- {+downgrade-http-version}
- problem-host.example.com
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ {+downgrade-http-version}
+ problem-host.example.com
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.7. fast-redirects
Typical use:
-
+
Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting
from this scheme typically look like: http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?
target=http://some.where.else.
-
+
Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go to.
Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your browser
ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds the
advertisers.
-
+
This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly many
exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in default.action.
Some sites just don't work without it.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- {+fast-redirects}
-
+
+ {+fast-redirects}
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.8. filter
Typical use:
-
+
Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
do fun text replacements, etc.
-
+
Effect:
-
- Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action
- applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
- based substitutions.
-
+
+ All files of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
+ this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
+ expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text
+ documents are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
+ text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file (typically
- default.filter, set by the filterfile option in the config file). Filtering
- can be completely disabled without the use of parameters.
-
+ default.filter, set by the filterfile option in the config file). When used
+ in its negative form, and without parameters, filtering is completely
+ disabled.
+
Notes:
-
+
For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below
for a list.
-
- This is potentially a very powerful feature! But "rolling your own" filters
- requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
-
+
Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to slow
down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has passed
the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way since the
page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more noticeable
on slower connections.
-
+
+ This is very powerful feature, but "rolling your own" filters requires a
+ knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
+
The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the buffer-limit
option in the main config file. The default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this
limit is exceeded, the buffered data, and all pending data, is passed
- through unfiltered. Inappropriate MIME types are not filtered.
-
+ through unfiltered.
+
+ Inadequate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
+ (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data (from
+ HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate the
+ integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might be
+ necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering by
+ defining appropriate -filter sections.
+
At this time, Privoxy cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed documents. If you
want filtering to work on all documents, even those that would normally be
sent compressed, use the prevent-compression action in conjunction with
filter.
-
+
Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the block action, i.e. it
can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism works quite
differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners based on their size
(see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat standardized.
-
+
Feedback with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
welcome!
-
-Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file):
-
- +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
-
+
+ The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
+ predefined filter. There are more verbose explanations of what these
+ filters do in the filter file chapter.
+
+Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file). See the
+ Predefined Filters section for more explanation on each:
+
+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
- +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners based on their size for this page (very efficient!)
-
- +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners based on the link they are contained in (experimental)
-
+
+
+ +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)
+
+
+ +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse
+
+
+ +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
+
+
+ +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
+
+
+ +filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows
+
+
+ +filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML
+
+
+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective
-
- +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content
-
- +filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML
-
+
+
+ +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size
+
+
+ +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers
+
+
+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
-
- +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
-
- +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable
-
- +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
-
- +filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.
-
+
+
+ +filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap
+
+
+ +filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves
+
+
+ +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable
+
+
+ +filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets
+
+
+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
-
- +filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"
-
- +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)
-
+
+
+ +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable
+
+
+ +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
+
+
+ +filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)
+
+
+ +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.9. handle-as-image
Typical use:
-
+
Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they
get blocked)
-
+
Effect:
-
+
This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as
images. If the block action also applies, the presence or absence of this
mark decides whether an HTML "blocked" page, or a replacement image (as
determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the client as a
substitute for the blocked content.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. It
marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and
should be left intact.
-
+
Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in
conjunction with block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
-
+
Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For
instance, (in-line) ad frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they
won't display properly. Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not
replace the ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
-
+
Example usage (sections):
-
- # Generic image extensions:
- #
- {+handle-as-image}
- /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-
- # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
- # blocked as images:
- #
- {+block +handle-as-image}
- some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
-
- # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
- ad.doubleclick.net
-
+
+ # Generic image extensions:
+ #
+ {+handle-as-image}
+ /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
+
+ # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+ # blocked as images:
+ #
+ {+block +handle-as-image}
+ some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
+
+ # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
+ ad.doubleclick.net
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.10. hide-forwarded-for-headers
Typical use:
-
+
Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any existing "X-Forwarded-for:" HTTP header from client requests,
and prevents adding a new one.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
It is fairly safe to leave this on.
-
+
This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate
forged "X-Forwarded-for:" headers using random IP addresses from a
specified network, to make successive requests from the same client look
like requests from a pool of different users sharing the same proxy.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
-
+
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.11. hide-from-header
Typical use:
-
+
Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any existing "From:" HTTP header, or replaces it with the specified
string.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Keyword: "block", or any user defined value.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The keyword "block" will completely remove the header (not to be confused
with the block action).
-
+
Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
is actually used by a real person.
-
+
This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send "From:"
headers anymore.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-from-header{block}
-
+
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+
+
or
-
- +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
-
+
+ +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.12. hide-referrer
Typical use:
-
+
Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes the "Referer:" (sic) HTTP header from the client request, or
replaces it with a forged one.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
+ "block" to delete the header completely.
-
+
+ "forge" to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are
talking to.
-
+
+ Any other string to set a user defined referrer.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
"forge" is the preferred option here, since some servers will not send
images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from
being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded by their
banners).
-
+
hide-referer is an alternate spelling of hide-referrer and the two can be
can be freely substituted with each other. ("referrer" is the correct
English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it requires it
to be spelled as "referer".)
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-referrer{forge}
-
+
+ +hide-referrer{forge}
+
+
or
-
- +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
-
+
+ +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.13. hide-user-agent
Typical use:
-
+
Conceal your type of browser and client operating system
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Replaces the value of the "User-Agent:" HTTP header in client requests with
the specified value.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any user-defined string.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Warning |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|in order to customize their content for different browsers |
|(which, by the way, is NOT a smart way to do that!). |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-
+
Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
browsers will access the same Privoxy is not recommended. In single-user,
single-browser setups, you might use it to delete your OS version
reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not let Mozilla
enter, yet forging to a Netscape 6.1 user-agent works just fine. (Must be
just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
-
+
This action is scheduled for improvement.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
-
+
+ +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.14. kill-popups
Typical use:
-
- Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows
-
+
+ Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)
+
Effect:
-
+
While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens pop-up
windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
- This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired filter action,
- but there are important differences: For kill-popups, the document need not
- be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while downloading. But
- kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as filter{popups} does.
-
+
+ This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
+ action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups, the document
+ need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
+ downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as filter
+ {all-popups} does and is not as smart as filter{unsolicited-popups} is.
+
Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you can
use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make sense
to combine it with any filter action, since as soon as one filter applies,
the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the
advantage of the kill-popups action over its filter equivalent.
-
- Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
- pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted
- pop-ups would require artificial intelligence in Privoxy. If the only kind
- of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those really nasty
- windows that appear when you close an other one), you might want to use
- filter{js-annoyances} instead.
-
+
+ Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks
+ rely on pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the filter
+ {unsolicited-popups} does a fairly good job of catching only the unwanted
+ ones.
+
+ If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
+ really nasty windows that appear when you close an other one), you might
+ want to use filter{js-annoyances} instead.
+
Example usage:
-
- +kill-popups
-
+
+ +kill-popups
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.15. limit-connect
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes,
with the minimum defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
-
+
Notes:
-
+
By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, Privoxy only allows
HTTP CONNECT requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired for some or all
destinations.
-
+
The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
("https://" URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
connections to the client and to the remote server. This can be a big
security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be abused as TCP relays
very easily.
-
+
If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
-
+
Example usages:
-
- +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
- +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
- +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
- +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)
-
+
+ +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
+ +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.16. prevent-compression
Typical use:
-
+
Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be passed
through filters
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which is
- generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter,
+ generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter,
deanimate-gifs and kill-popups actions to work, Privoxy needs access to the
uncompressed data. Unfortunately, Privoxy can't yet(!) uncompress, filter,
and re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all
websites, including those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need
to use this action.
-
+
This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any
of the above-mentioned actions, you will typically want to use
prevent-compression in conjunction with them.
-
+
Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for
uncompressed documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you
use prevent-compression per default, you'll have to add exceptions for
those sites. See the example for how to do that.
-
+
Example usage (sections):
-
- # Set default:
- #
- {+prevent-compression}
- / # Match all sites
-
- # Make exceptions for ill sites:
- #
- {-prevent-compression}
- www.debianhelp.org
- www.pclinuxonline.com
-
+
+ # Set default:
+ #
+ {+prevent-compression}
+ / # Match all sites
+
+ # Make exceptions for ill sites:
+ #
+ {-prevent-compression}
+ www.debianhelp.org
+ www.pclinuxonline.com
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.17. send-vanilla-wafer
Typical use:
-
+
Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any
copyright on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track
you.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be
used to track you.
-
+
This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +send-vanilla-wafer
-
+
+ +send-vanilla-wafer
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.18. send-wafer
Typical use:
-
+
Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless
data.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Multi-value.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
A string of the form "name=value".
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same
request, resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
-
+
This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
- my-internal-testing-server.void
-
+
+ {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
+ my-internal-testing-server.void
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.19. session-cookies-only
Typical use:
-
+
Allow only temporary "session" cookies (for the current browser session
only).
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes the "expires" field from "Set-Cookie:" server headers. Most
browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between
sessions.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This is less strict than crunch-incoming-cookies / crunch-outgoing-cookies
and allows you to browse websites that insist or rely on setting cookies,
without compromising your privacy too badly.
-
+
Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed
by session-cookies-only and will forget about them between sessions. This
makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require
cookies so that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned
on for all sites, and is the recommended setting.
-
- It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only together with
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only together with
crunch-incoming-cookies or crunch-outgoing-cookies. If you do, cookies will
be plainly killed.
-
+
Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an
"expires" field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out
to be sure.
-
+
+ This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
+ previously by the browser before starting Privoxy. These would have to be
+ removed manually.
+
+ Privoxy also uses the content-cookies filter to block some types of
+ cookies. Content cookies are not effected by session-cookies-only.
+
Example usage:
-
- +session-cookies-only
-
+
+ +session-cookies-only
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.20. set-image-blocker
Typical use:
-
+
Choose the replacement for blocked images
-
+
Effect:
-
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both block and
+
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both block and
handle-as-image also apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an
image, then the parameter of this action decides what will be sent as a
replacement.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
+ "pattern" to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is
visually decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners
were busted.
-
+
+ "blank" to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners
disappear completely, but makes it hard to detect where Privoxy has
blocked images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if
Privoxy has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
-
+
+ "target-url" to send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect to any
image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via "file:///" URL).
-
+
A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in
URLs, which send the built-in images, as target-url. This has the same
visual effect as specifying "blank" or "pattern" in the first place,
but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of
requesting it over and over again.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The URLs for the built-in images are "http://config.privoxy.org/
send-banner?type=type", where type is either "blank" or "pattern".
-
+
There is a third (advanced) type, called "auto". It is NOT to be used in
set-image-blocker, but meant for use from filters. Auto will select the
type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an
image.
-
+
Example usage:
-
+
Built-in pattern:
-
- +set-image-blocker{pattern}
-
+
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern}
+
+
Redirect to the BSD devil:
-
- +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}
-
+
+ +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}
+
+
Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
-
+
+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}
-
+
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.21. Summary
Now let's define some aliases...
- # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
- #
- # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
- # must be at the top of the actions file!
- #
- {{alias}}
-
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
-
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
-
- # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
- #
- c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
- c1 = -crunch-all-cookies
+ # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
+ #
+ # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
+ # must be at the top of the actions file!
+ #
+ {{alias}}
+
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
+
+ # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
+ #
+ c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
+ c1 = -crunch-all-cookies
+
...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
up for the "/" pattern):
- # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
- # user data and require minimal interference to work:
- #
- {fragile}
- .office.microsoft.com
- .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- .nytimes.com
-
- # Shopping sites:
- # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
- #
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .scan.co.uk
-
- # These shops require pop-ups:
- #
- {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk
+ # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
+ # user data and require minimal interference to work:
+ #
+ {fragile}
+ .office.microsoft.com
+ .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+ .nytimes.com
+
+ # Shopping sites:
+ # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
+ #
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+
+ # These shops require pop-ups:
+ #
+ {shop -kill-popups -filter{all-popups}}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk
+
Aliases like "shop" and "fragile" are often used for "problem" sites that
require some actions to be disabled in order to function properly.
Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
-# Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
+# Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
+
Then, since this is the default.action file, the first section is a special
section for internal use that you needn't change or worry about:
-##########################################################################
-# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
-##########################################################################
-
-{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0
+##########################################################################
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+##########################################################################
+
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0
+
After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example section
from the above chapter on aliases, that also explains why and how aliases are
used:
-##########################################################################
-# Aliases
-##########################################################################
-{{alias}}
-
-# These aliases just save typing later:
-# (Note that some already use other aliases!)
-#
-+crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
--crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
-block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
-mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
-
-# These aliases define combinations of actions
-# that are useful for certain types of sites:
-#
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
-shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases
+##########################################################################
+{{alias}}
+
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
+
Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied by URL
patterns to which they apply. Remember all actions are disabled when matching
enables the action, a "-" disables!). Also note how this long line has been
made more readable by splitting it into multiple lines with line continuation.
-##########################################################################
-# "Defaults" section:
-##########################################################################
- { \
- -add-header \
- -block \
- -crunch-incoming-cookies \
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
- +deanimate-gifs \
- -downgrade-http-version \
- +fast-redirects \
- +filter{html-annoyances} \
- +filter{js-annoyances} \
- -filter{content-cookies} \
- +filter{popups} \
- +filter{webbugs} \
- -filter{refresh-tags} \
- -filter{fun} \
- +filter{nimda} \
- +filter{banners-by-size} \
- -filter{banners-by-link} \
- -filter{img-reorder} \
- -filter{shockwave-flash} \
- -filter{crude-parental} \
- -filter{js-events} \
- -handle-as-image \
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
- +hide-from-header{block} \
- +hide-referrer{forge} \
- -hide-user-agent \
- -kill-popups \
- -limit-connect \
- +prevent-compression \
- -send-vanilla-wafer \
- -send-wafer \
- +session-cookies-only \
- +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
- }
- / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
+##########################################################################
+# "Defaults" section:
+##########################################################################
+ { \
+ -add-header \
+ -block \
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies \
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
+ +deanimate-gifs \
+ -downgrade-http-version \
+ +fast-redirects \
+ +filter{js-annoyances} \
+ -filter{js-events} \
+ +filter{html-annoyances} \
+ -filter{content-cookies} \
+ +filter{refresh-tags} \
+ +filter{unsolicited-popups} \
+ -filter{all-popups} \
+ +filter{img-reorder} \
+ +filter{banners-by-size} \
+ -filter{banners-by-link} \
+ +filter{webbugs} \
+ -filter{tiny-textforms} \
+ +filter{jumping-windows} \
+ -filter{frameset-borders} \
+ -filter{demoronizer} \
+ -filter{shockwave-flash} \
+ -filter{quicktime-kioskmode} \
+ -filter{fun} \
+ -filter{crude-parental} \
+ +filter{ie-exploits} \
+ -handle-as-image \
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
+ +hide-from-header{block} \
+ +hide-referrer{forge} \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -kill-popups \
+ -limit-connect \
+ +prevent-compression \
+ -send-vanilla-wafer \
+ -send-wafer \
+ +session-cookies-only \
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
+ }
+ / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
+
The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding the
user agent, are part of a "general policy" that applies universally and won't
get any exceptions defined later. Other choices, like not blocking (which is
understandably the default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify
-explicitly what we want to block in later sections. We will also want to make
-exceptions from our general pop-up-killing, and use our defined aliases for
-that.
+explicitly what we want to block in later sections.
The first of our specialized sections is concerned with "fragile" sites, i.e.
sites that require minimum interference, because they are either very complex
unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use our
pre-defined fragile alias instead of stating the list of actions explicitly:
-##########################################################################
-# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
-##########################################################################
-
-# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
-#
-{ fragile }
-.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+##########################################################################
+# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
+##########################################################################
+
+# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
+#
+{ fragile }
+.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+
Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically require cookies to log
in, and pop-up windows for shopping carts or item details. Again, we'll use a
pre-defined alias:
-# Shopping sites:
-#
-{ shop }
-.quietpc.com
-.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
-.jungle.com
-.scan.co.uk
-
-Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work. Since we
-made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions now. Mozilla
-users, who can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers,
-can safely choose -filter{popups} (and -kill-popups) above and hence don't need
-this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled action doesn't hurt, so
-we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was chosen in the defaults
-section:
-
-# These sites require pop-ups too :(
-#
-{ -kill-popups -filter{popups} }
-.dabs.com
-.overclockers.co.uk
-.deutsche-bank-24.de
+# Shopping sites:
+#
+{ shop }
+.quietpc.com
+.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+.jungle.com
+.scan.co.uk
+
The fast-redirects action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some
sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
-{ -fast-redirects }
-login.yahoo.com
-edit.*.yahoo.com
-.google.com
-.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
-.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
-.nytimes.com
+{ -fast-redirects }
+login.yahoo.com
+edit.*.yahoo.com
+.google.com
+.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
+.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
+.nytimes.com
+
It is important that Privoxy knows which URLs belong to images, so that if they
are to be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
image with the handle-as-image action, and marking all URLs that end in a known
image file extension is a good start:
-##########################################################################
-# Images:
-##########################################################################
-
-# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
-# blocked further down this file:
-#
-{ +handle-as-image }
-/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$
+##########################################################################
+# Images:
+##########################################################################
+
+# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
+# blocked further down this file:
+#
+{ +handle-as-image }
+/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$
+
And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to generate the
banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the request is for an image.
section with its +set-image-blocker{pattern} action before, it still applies
and needn't be repeated:
-# Known ad generators:
-#
-{ block-as-image }
-ar.atwola.com
-.ad.doubleclick.net
-.ad.*.doubleclick.net
-.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-bs*.gsanet.com
-bs*.einets.com
-.qkimg.net
+# Known ad generators:
+#
+{ block-as-image }
+ar.atwola.com
+.ad.doubleclick.net
+.ad.*.doubleclick.net
+.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+bs*.gsanet.com
+bs*.einets.com
+.qkimg.net
+
One of the most important jobs of Privoxy is to block banners. A huge bunch of
them are already "blocked" by the filter{banners-by-size} action, which we
individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here to keep the
example short:
-##########################################################################
-# Block these fine banners:
-##########################################################################
-{ +block }
-
-# Generic patterns:
-#
-ad*.
-.*ads.
-banner?.
-count*.
-/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
-/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
-
-# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
-#
-.hitbox.com
+##########################################################################
+# Block these fine banners:
+##########################################################################
+{ +block }
+
+# Generic patterns:
+#
+ad*.
+.*ads.
+banner?.
+count*.
+/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
+/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
+
+# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
+#
+.hitbox.com
+
You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner servers
ads.company.com, or call the directory in which the banners are stored simply
now, it'll match .*loads., where -block applies, so (unless it matches again
further down) it ends up with no block action applying.
-##########################################################################
-# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
-##########################################################################
-
-# By domain:
-#
-{ -block }
-adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
-adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
-ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
-.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
-.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
-
-# By path:
-#
-/.*loads/
-
-# Site-specific:
-#
-www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
-www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
+##########################################################################
+# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
+##########################################################################
+
+# By domain:
+#
+{ -block }
+adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
+adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
+.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
+.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
+
+# By path:
+#
+/.*loads/
+
+# Site-specific:
+#
+www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
+www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
+
Filtering source code can have nasty side effects, so make an exception for our
friends at sourceforge.net, and all paths with "cvs" in them. Note that -filter
disables all filters in one fell swoop!
-# Don't filter code!
-#
-{ -filter }
-/.*cvs
-.sourceforge.net
+# Don't filter code!
+#
+{ -filter }
+/.*cvs
+.sourceforge.net
+
The actual default.action is of course more comprehensive, but we hope this
example made clear how it works.
So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
user.action:
-# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com>
+# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com>
+
As aliases are local to the actions file that they are defined in, you can't
use the ones from default.action, unless you repeat them here:
-# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
-#
-{{alias}}
--crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
-mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
-shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below)
+# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
+# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+#
+{{alias}}
+#
+# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
+# be self explanatory.
+#
++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
+
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
+
+# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
+#
+allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
+
Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and you don't
want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like to allow persistent
-cookies for these sites. The mercy-for-cookies alias defined above does exactly
-that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and processing of
-cookies to make them temporary.
+cookies for these sites. The allow-all-cookies alias defined above does exactly
+that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
+processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
+
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+sourceforge.net
+sunsolve.sun.com
+.slashdot.org
+.yahoo.com
+.msdn.microsoft.com
+.redhat.com
+
+
+Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable
+them all:
+
+{ -filter }
+.your-home-banking-site.com
+
+
+Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
+
+# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
+# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
+#
+.tldp.org
+/(.*/)?selfhtml/
-{ mercy-for-cookies }
-sunsolve.sun.com
-slashdot.org
-.yahoo.com
-.msdn.microsoft.com
-.redhat.com
+# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
+# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
+#
+stupid-server.example.com/
-Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't know
-which, so you disable them all:
-{ -filter -kill-popups }
-.your-home-banking-site.com
+Example of a simple block action. Say you've seen an ad on your favourite page
+on example.com that you want to get rid of. You have right-clicked the image,
+selected "copy image location" and pasted the URL below while removing the
+leading http://, into a { +block } section. Note that { +handle-as-image } need
+not be specified, since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
+general rules as set in default.action anyway:
-While browsing the web with Privoxy you noticed some ads that sneaked through,
-but you were too lazy to report them through our fine and easy feedback system,
-so you have added them here:
+{ +block }
+www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
+another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
-{ +block }
-www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
-another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
-Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
-extensions (most do), +handle-as-image need not be specified, since all URLs
-ending in these extensions will already have been tagged as images in the
-relevant section of default.action by now.
+The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner farms,
+often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which makes it
+impossible for Privoxy to guess the file type just by looking at the URL. You
+can use the +block-as-image alias defined above for these cases. Note that
+objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an image are
+typically rendered as a "broken image" icon by the browser. Use cautiously.
-Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, but you
+{ +block-as-image }
+.doubleclick.net
+/Realmedia/ads/
+ar.atwola.com/
+
+
+Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, but you
were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you were again too
lazy to give feedback, so you just used the fragile alias on the site, and --
-whoa! -- it worked:
+whoa! -- it worked. The fragile aliases disables those actions that are most
+likely to break a site. Also, good for testing purposes to see if it is Privoxy
+that is causing the problem or not.
+
+{ fragile }
+.forbes.com
-{ fragile }
-.forbes.com
You like the "fun" text replacements in default.filter, but it is disabled in
the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just don't have a
sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
update-safe config, once and for all:
-{ +filter{fun} }
-/ # For ALL sites!
+{ +filter{fun} }
+/ # For ALL sites!
+
Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions to the
filters in default.action for things that really shouldn't be filtered, like
code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since user.action has the last word, these
exceptions won't be valid for the "fun" filtering specified here.
-Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are funded, and
+You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are funded, and
find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements to survive. So you
might want to specifically allow banners for those sites that you feel provide
value to you:
-{ allow-ads }
-.sourceforge.net
-.slashdot.org
-.osdn.net
+{ allow-ads }
+.sourceforge.net
+.slashdot.org
+.osdn.net
+
+
+Note that allow-ads has been aliased to -block, -filter{banners-by-size}, and -
+filter{banners-by-link} above.
+
+user.action is generally the best place to define exceptions and additions to
+the default policies of default.action. Some actions are safe to have their
+default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
+"blank" image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for ALL sites. "/" of
+course matches all URL paths and patterns:
+
+{ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
+/ # ALL sites
-Note that allow-ads has been aliased to -block -filter{banners-by-size} above.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
certain width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs), or
just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
-Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain text, HTML,
-JavaScript, CSS etc. (all text/* MIME types). Substitutions are made at the
-source level, so if you want to "roll your own" filters, you should be familiar
-with HTML syntax.
+Filtering works on any text-based document type, including HTML, JavaScript,
+CSS etc. (all text/* MIME types, except text/plain). Substitutions are made at
+the source level, so if you want to "roll your own" filters, you should be
+familiar with HTML syntax.
Just like the actions files, the filter file is organized in sections, which
are called filters here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts
with the keyword FILTER:, followed by the filter's name, and a short (one line)
description of what it does. Below that line come the jobs, i.e. lines that
define the actual text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
-should describe what the filter eliminates. The comment is used in the
+should describe what the filter eliminates. The comment is used in the
web-based user interface.
Once a filter called name has been defined in the filter file, it can be
A filter header line for a filter called "foo" could look like this:
-FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+
Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that define what
text replacements the filter executes. They are specified in a syntax that
subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard option
letter U is supported, which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
-If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at the
+If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at the
Appendix on regular expressions, and see the Perl manual for the s///
operator's syntax and Perl-style regular expressions in general. The below
examples might also help to get you started.
the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace "foo" with "bar",
there is only one (trivial) job needed:
-s/foo/bar/
+s/foo/bar/
+
But wait! Didn't the comment say that all occurrences of "foo" should be
replaced? Our current job will only take care of the first "foo" on each page.
For global substitution, we'll need to add the g option:
-s/foo/bar/g
+s/foo/bar/g
+
Our complete filter now looks like this:
-FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-s/foo/bar/g
+FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g
+
Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see a
filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
-FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
-# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
-#
-s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+
+# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
+#
+s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg
+
Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses |
as the delimiter instead of /, because the pattern contains a forward slash,
in parentheses, will be remembered and be available through the variables $1,
$2, ... in the substitute. The U option switches to ungreedy matching, which
means that the first .* in the pattern will only "eat up" all text in between "
-<script" and the first occurrence of "document.referrer", and that the second .
-* will only span the text up to the first "</script>" tag. Furthermore, the s
+<script" and the first occurrence of "document.referrer", and that the second
+.* will only span the text up to the first "</script>" tag. Furthermore, the s
option says that the match may span multiple lines in the page, and the g
option again means that the substitution is global.
We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but this
time only point out the constructs of special interest:
-# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
-#
-s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
+#
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig
+
\s stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline, carriage return, form
feed), so that \s* means: "zero or more whitespace". The ? in .*? makes this
displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when you move your mouse
over links.
-# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
-#
-s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU
+
Including the OnUnload event binding in the HTML DOM was a CRIME. When I close
a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta. This job replaces the
The last example is from the fun department:
-FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
-
-# Spice the daily news:
-#
-s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
+
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig
+
Note the (?!\.com) part (a so-called negative lookahead) in the job's pattern,
which means: Don't match, if the string ".com" appears directly following
"microsoft" in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being
trashed, while still replacing the word everywhere else.
-# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
-#
-s* industry[ -]leading \
-| cutting[ -]edge \
-| customer[ -]focused \
-| market[ -]driven \
-| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
-| high[ -]performance \
-| solutions[ -]based \
-| unmatched \
-| unparalleled \
-| unrivalled \
-*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
-*igx
+# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
+#
+s* industry[ -]leading \
+| cutting[ -]edge \
+| customer[ -]focused \
+| market[ -]driven \
+| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
+| high[ -]performance \
+| solutions[ -]based \
+| unmatched \
+| unparalleled \
+| unrivalled \
+*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
+*igx
+
The x option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for e.g. the
liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+9.2. The Pre-defined Filters
+
+The distribution default.filter file contains a selection of pre-defined
+filters for your convenience:
+
+js-annoyances
+
+ The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying
+ JavaScript abuse. To that end, it
+
+ + replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
+ with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the
+ hide-referrer action on the content level.
+
+ + removes the bindings to the DOM's unload event which we feel has no
+ right to exist and is responsible for most "exit consoles", i.e. nasty
+ windows that pop up when you close another one.
+
+ + removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired
+ properties, such as being full-screen, non-resizable, without location,
+ status or menu bar etc.
+
+js-events
+
+ This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event
+ bindings, which means that scripts can not react to user actions such as
+ mouse movements or clicks, window resizing etc, anymore.
+
+ We strongly discourage using this filter as a default since it breaks many
+ legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should
+ you really need to go there).
+
+html-annoyances
+
+ This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
+
+ The BLINK and MARQUEE tags are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser
+ windows will be created as resizable (as of course they should be!), and
+ will have location, scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
+
+content-cookies
+
+ Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialogue, where they can be intercepted by
+ the crunch-incoming-cookies and crunch-outgoing-cookies actions. But web
+ sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript to sneak
+ cookies to the browser on the content level.
+
+ This filter disables HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets cookies.
+ Use it wherever you would also use the cookie crunch actions.
+
+refresh tags
+
+ Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
+ that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
+ for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
+ annoying.
+
+unsolicited-popups
+
+ This filter attempts to prevent only "unsolicited" pop-up windows from
+ opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user has explicitly chosen
+ to open. It was added in version 3.0.1, as an improvement over earlier such
+ filters.
+
+ Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
+ function to a dummy function during the loading and rendering phase of each
+ HTML page access, and restoring the function afterwards.
+
+all-popups
+
+ Attempt to prevent all pop-up windows from opening. Note this should be
+ used with more discretion than the above, since it is more likely to break
+ some sites that require pop-ups for normal usage. Use with caution.
+
+img-reorder
+
+ This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
+ banners-by-size and banners-by-link (see below) filters more effective and
+ should be enabled together with them.
+
+banners-by-size
+
+ This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are.
+ Fortunately for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain
+ standardized sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad
+ stripping purposes.
+
+ Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not
+ ads, but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
+
+banners-by-link
+
+ This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if their
+ URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
+ not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
+
+webbugs
+
+ Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that are
+ used to track users across websites, and collect information on them. As an
+ HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
+ browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
+ through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain,
+ without the use ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party
+ site. HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email
+ addresses.
+
+ This filter removes the HTML code that loads such "webbugs".
+
+tiny-textforms
+
+ A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas
+ (those multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in
+ them. It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such
+ boxes are a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
+
+ It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
+
+jumping-windows
+
+ Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This
+ filter neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might
+ not display or behave as intended when using this filter.
+
+frameset-borders
+
+ Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view
+ their web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution
+ etc, because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame
+ sizes, yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they
+ be too small to show their whole content.
+
+ This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to
+ sites which need it.
+
+demoronizer
+
+ Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions
+ (read: violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This causes
+ those HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant
+ platforms.
+
+ This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents. It
+ is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of all
+ documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
+ worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if wierd garbage characters
+ sometimes appear on some pages.
+
+shockwave-flash
+
+ A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips
+ code out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
+
+quicktime-kioskmode
+
+ Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
+ prevents saving, is disabled.
+
+fun
+
+ Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
+ Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
+
+crude-parental
+
+ A demonstration-only filter that shows how Privoxy can be used to delete
+ web content on a keyword basis.
+
+ie-exploits
+
+ A collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
+ code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
+
+ Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug,
+ and would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
+
+site-specifics
+
+ Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't
+ apply anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
+
+ This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be
+ applied to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
+ default.action file does. Users shouldn't need to change anything regarding
+ this filter.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
10. Templates
All Privoxy built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the "404 - No Such Domain"
purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all our user
interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy in in an alpha or beta development stage:
-<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
-
- ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
-
-<!-- if-unstable-end@ -->
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
+
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
+
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ -->
+
If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
@if-unstable-start and if-unstable-end@ will disappear, leaving nothing but an
empty comment:
-<!-- -->
+<!-- -->
+
There's also an if-then-else construct and an #include mechanism, but you'll
sure find out if you are inclined to edit the templates ;-)
11.1. Get Support
-For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
+For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the users mailing
configs to see if the problem is configuration related.
If not using the latest version, chances are that the bug has been found and
-fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
+fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
upgrade to the latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your
bug, but this is not required for reporting.
12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+Copyright © 2001 - 2004 by Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
12.2. History
-In the beginning, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+In the beginning, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters Corporation. It saved many users a lot of pain in the early days of
web advertising and user tracking.
inside out, upside down, and then reassembled it, adding many new features
along the way.
-The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable release, 3.0, was released
+The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released
August, 2002.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.3. Authors
-Current Project Developers:
+Current Developement Team:
- Jon Foster
+ Hal Burgiss (docs)
Andreas Oesterhelt
- Stefan Waldherr
+ David Schmidt (OS/2, Mac OSX ports)
- Thomas Steudten
- Rodney Stromlund
-Current Project Contributors:
+Current and Former Project Contributors:
+
+ Johny Agotnes
Rodrigo Barbosa (RPM specfiles)
Moritz Barsnick
- Hal Burgiss (docs)
+ Brian Dessent
+ Mattes Dolak
+ Jon Foster
Karsten Hopp (Red Hat)
Alexander Lazic
+ Daniel Leite
Gábor Lipták
- Guy
+ Adam Lock (Win32)
+ Guy Laroche
Haroon Rafique
Roland Rosenfeld (Debian)
Georg Sauthoff (Gentoo)
- David Schmidt (OS/2, Mac OSX ports)
+ Thomas Steudten
Joerg Strohmayer (Amiga)
+ Rodney Stromlund
+ Sviatoslav Sviridov
Sarantis Paskalis
+ Stefan Waldherr
Based in part on code originally developed by:
Andrew J. Caines
Clifford Caoile
Michael T. Davis
+ Brian Dessent
Peter E
Aaron Hamid
Magnus Holmgren
- Daniel Leite
+ Don Libes
Paul Lieverse
David Mediavilla
+ Oliver Stoeneberg
Roberto Ragusa
Maynard Riley
Bart Schelstraete
http://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
-http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
-SourceForge.
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+SourceForge.
-http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
-running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
+http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
+running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
http://www.privoxy.org/actions/, to submit "misses" to the developers.
-http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ijbswa/contrib/, cool and fun
-ideas from Privoxy users.
+http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ijbswa/contrib/, cool and fun
+ideas from Privoxy users.
-http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
-used to track web users.
+http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
+used to track web users.
http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html, the original Internet Junkbuster.
-http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/, Stefan Waldherr's version of Junkbuster,
-from which Privoxy was derived.
+http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/, Stefan Waldherr's version of Junkbuster,
+from which Privoxy was derived.
-http://privacy.net/analyze/, a useful site to check what information about you
-is leaked while you browse the web.
+http://privacy.net/analyze/, a useful site to check what information about you
+is leaked while you browse the web.
-http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
-together with Privoxy.
+http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
+together with Privoxy.
http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer manual.
. - Matches any single character, e.g. "a", "A", "4", ":", or "@".
? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE times. Either/
-or.
+or.
+ - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE times.
\ - The "escape" character denotes that the following character should be taken
literally. This is used where one of the special characters (e.g. ".") needs to
-be taken literally and not as a special meta-character. Example: "example
-\.com", makes sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded
-to its meta-character meaning of any single character).
+be taken literally and not as a special meta-character. Example: "example
+\.com", makes sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded
+to its meta-character meaning of any single character).
-[] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed
-characters are encountered. For instance, "[0-9]" matches any numeric digit
-(zero through nine). As an example, we can combine this with "+" to match any
-digit one of more times: "[0-9]+".
+[] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed
+characters are encountered. For instance, "[0-9]" matches any numeric digit
+(zero through nine). As an example, we can combine this with "+" to match any
+digit one of more times: "[0-9]+".
-() - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple
-sub-expressions.
+() - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple
+sub-expressions.
-| - The "bar" character works like an "or" conditional statement. A match is
-successful if the sub-expression on either side of "|" matches. As an example:
-"/(this|that) example/" uses grouping and the bar character and would match
-either "this example" or "that example", and nothing else.
+| - The "bar" character works like an "or" conditional statement. A match is
+successful if the sub-expression on either side of "|" matches. As an example:
+"/(this|that) example/" uses grouping and the bar character and would match
+either "this example" or "that example", and nothing else.
These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
Privoxy, and is a long way from a definitive list. This is enough to get us
started with a few simple examples which may be more illuminating:
-/.*/banners/.* - A simple example that uses the common combination of "." and "
-*" to denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at
+/.*/banners/.* - A simple example that uses the common combination of "." and
+"*" to denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at
all. So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression
pattern (".*") another literal forward slash, the string "banners", another
forward slash, and lastly another ".*". We are building a directory path here.
certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to Privoxy, and see how
it is configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these rules and
other configuration options, and even turn Privoxy's filtering off, all with a
-web browser.
+web browser.
The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access to Privoxy.
Of course, Privoxy must be running to access these. If not, you will get a
friendly error message. Internet access is not necessary either.
* Privoxy main page:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/
-
+
There is a shortcut: http://p.p/ (But it doesn't provide a fall-back to a
real page, in case the request is not sent through Privoxy)
-
+
* Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
editing of actions files:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
+
* Show the source code version numbers:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-version
-
+
* Show the browser's request headers:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
-
+
* Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
-
+
* Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, "Privoxy" continues to run, but
only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle
-
+
Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable
-
-These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
+
+These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
click.
* Privoxy - Enable
-
+
* Privoxy - Disable
-
+
* Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
-
+
* Privoxy- View Status
-
+
* Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback
-
+
* Privoxy - Why?
-
-Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+
+Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send the
request to Privoxy, which will in turn, relay the request to the remote web
server after passing the following tests:
-
+
* Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI pages (e.g http://p.p/)
and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
-
+
* Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL matches any "+block" patterns. If
so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be
contacted. "+handle-as-image" is then checked and if it does not match, an
HTML "BLOCKED" page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match, an image is
returned. The type of image depends on the setting of "+set-image-blocker"
(blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
-
+
* Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the trust file, then
that is done.
-
+
* If the URL pattern matches the "+fast-redirects" action, it is then
processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
-
+
* Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. "+hide-user-agent", etc.),
headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and their
parameters.
-
+
* Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
page and related data).
-
+
* First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
- filtered as determined by the "+crunch-incoming-cookies",
+ filtered as determined by the "+crunch-incoming-cookies",
"+session-cookies-only", and "+downgrade-http-version" actions.
-
+
* If the "+kill-popups" action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript
document, the popup-code in the response is filtered on-the-fly as it is
received.
-
+
* If a "+filter" or "+deanimate-gifs" action applies (and the document type
fits the action), the rest of the page is read into memory (up to a
configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from default.filter) are
are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by Privoxy
back to your browser.
-
+
If neither "+filter" or "+deanimate-gifs" matches, then Privoxy passes the
raw data through to the client browser as it becomes available.
-
+
* As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it reads
and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page source,
e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14.4. Anatomy of an Action
Let's try an example, google.com, and look at it one section at a time:
- Matches for http://google.com:
-
- In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-
-{-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 }
- .google.com
-
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
-
-In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-(no matches in this file)
+ Matches for http://google.com:
+
+ In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+
+{-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 }
+ .google.com
+
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
+
+In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+(no matches in this file)
+
This tells us how we have defined our "actions", and which ones match for our
example, "google.com". The first listing is any matches for the standard.action
Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits.
And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
-Privoxy is applying all its "actions" to "google.com":
-
- Final results:
-
- -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}
+Privoxy is applying all its "actions" to "google.com":
+
+ Final results:
+
+ -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}
+
Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to "fast-redirects"
and "session-cookies-only".
Now another example, "ad.doubleclick.net":
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- .ad.doubleclick.net
-
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- ad*.
-
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- .doubleclick.net
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ ad*.
+
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ .doubleclick.net
+
We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is matched
three different times. Each as an "+block +handle-as-image", which is the
image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively would
also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys though ;-)
Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious URL to be invisible, it should be
-defined as "ad.doubleclick.net" is done here -- as both a "+block" and an
+defined as "ad.doubleclick.net" is done here -- as both a "+block" and an
"+handle-as-image". The custom alias "+imageblock" just simplifies the process
and make it more readable.
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/:
-
- In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-
- {-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 }
- /ads
+ Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+
+ In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+
+ {-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 }
+ /ads
+
Ooops, the "/adsl/" is matching "/ads"! But we did not want this at all! Now we
see why we get the blank page. We could now add a new action below this that
explicitly does not block ("{-block}") paths with "adsl". There are various
ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
- { -block }
- /adsl
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+
Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when making
such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload.
But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like we did
with:
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- /ads
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem was.
If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default rules in
troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
"+filter":
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
- .forbes.com
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+
"{shop}" is an "alias" that expands to "{ -filter -session-cookies-only }". Or
-you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
+you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
+
+ {-filter}
+ .forbes.com
- {-filter}
- .forbes.com
This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
appropriately put in user.action, for local site exceptions.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff