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+ accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
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+
+ <div class="SECT1">
+ <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="ACTIONS-FILE" id="ACTIONS-FILE">8. Actions
+ Files</a></h1>
+
+ <p>The actions files are used to define what <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">actions</i></span> <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
+ 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 a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
+ Each action does something a little different. These actions give us a
+ veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert our control, preferences
+ and independence. Actions can be combined so that their effects are
+ aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.</p>
+
+ <p>There are three action files included with <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> with differing purposes:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> - is used to define
+ which <span class="QUOTE">"actions"</span> relating to
+ banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
+ handling etc should be applied by default. It should be the first
+ actions file loaded</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> - defines many exceptions
+ (both positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's
+ configured in <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>. It is a set
+ of rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users. This
+ file is only supposed to be edited by the developers. It should be
+ the second actions file loaded.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> - 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.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Set to
+ Cautious</span> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Set to Medium</span>
+ <span class="GUIBUTTON">Set to Advanced</span></p>
+
+ <p>These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">and have no influence on your browsing
+ unless you select them explicitly in the editor</i></span>. A default
+ installation should be pre-set to <tt class="LITERAL">Cautious</tt>.
+ New users should try this for a while before adjusting the settings
+ to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive the settings, then the
+ more likelihood there is of problems such as sites not working as
+ they should.</p>
+
+ <p>The <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> button allows you to turn
+ each action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <span class=
+ "GUIBUTTON">Cautious</span> button changes the actions list to
+ low/safe settings which will activate ad blocking and a minimal set
+ of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s features, and
+ subsequently there will be less of a chance for accidental problems.
+ The <span class="GUIBUTTON">Medium</span> button sets the list to a
+ medium level of other features and a low level set of privacy
+ features. The <span class="GUIBUTTON">Advanced</span> button sets the
+ list to a high level of ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See
+ the chart below. The latter three buttons over-ride any changes via
+ with the <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> button. More fine-tuning
+ can be done in the lower sections of this internal page.</p>
+
+ <p>While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in
+ all actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first
+ one to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier
+ rules.</p>
+
+ <p>The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined
+ in <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> are:</p>
+
+ <div class="TABLE">
+ <a name="AEN2750" id="AEN2750"></a>
+
+ <p><b>Table 1. Default Configurations</b></p>
+
+ <table border="1" frame="border" rules="all" class="CALSTABLE">
+ <col width="1*" title="C1">
+ <col width="1*" title="C2">
+ <col width="1*" title="C3">
+ <col width="1*" title="C4">
+
+ <thead>
+ <tr>
+ <th>Feature</th>
+
+ <th>Cautious</th>
+
+ <th>Medium</th>
+
+ <th>Advanced</th>
+ </tr>
+ </thead>
+
+ <tbody>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</td>
+
+ <td>medium</td>
+
+ <td>high</td>
+
+ <td>high</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Ad-filtering by size</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Ad-filtering by link</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Pop-up killing</td>
+
+ <td>blocks only</td>
+
+ <td>blocks only</td>
+
+ <td>blocks only</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Privacy Features</td>
+
+ <td>low</td>
+
+ <td>medium</td>
+
+ <td>medium/high</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Cookie handling</td>
+
+ <td>none</td>
+
+ <td>session-only</td>
+
+ <td>kill</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Referer forging</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>GIF de-animation</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Fast redirects</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>HTML taming</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>JavaScript taming</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Web-bug killing</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td>Image tag reordering</td>
+
+ <td>no</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+
+ <td>yes</td>
+ </tr>
+ </tbody>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main
+ configuration file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
+ <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> is typically processed before
+ <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>). The content of these can all be
+ viewed and edited from <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
+ target="_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</a>. The over-riding
+ principle when applying actions, is that the last action that matches a
+ given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first (defined in
+ <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>), followed by any exceptions
+ (typically also in <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>), which are
+ then followed lastly by any local preferences (typically in <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">user</i></span><tt class=
+ "FILENAME">.action</tt>). Generally, <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">user.action</tt> has the last word.</p>
+
+ <p>An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
+ <span class="QUOTE">"aliases"</span> in an actions file, you have to
+ place the (optional) <a href="actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias
+ section</a> at the top of that file. Then comes the default set of rules
+ which will apply universally to all sites and pages (be <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">very careful</i></span> with using such a
+ universal set in <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> or any other
+ actions file after <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>, because it
+ will override the result from consulting any previous file). And then
+ below that, exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
+ <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> as an appendix to <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">default.action</tt>, with the advantage that it is a separate
+ file, which makes preserving your personal settings across <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> upgrades easier.</p>
+
+ <p>Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads,
+ banners, or just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not
+ see. Cookies can be accepted or rejected, or accepted only during the
+ current browser session (i.e. not written to disk), content can be
+ modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking fooled, and much more.
+ See below for a <a href="actions-file.html#ACTIONS">complete list of
+ actions</a>.</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="RIGHT-MIX" id="RIGHT-MIX">8.1. Finding the
+ Right Mix</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Note that some <a href="actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</a>, like
+ cookie suppression or script disabling, may render some sites unusable
+ that rely on these techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix
+ of actions is not always easy and certainly a matter of personal taste.
+ And, things can always change, requiring refinements in the
+ configuration. In general, it can be said that the more <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"aggressive"</span> your default settings (in the top section
+ of the actions file) are, the more exceptions for <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"trusted"</span> 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 purposes, like maybe your
+ bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.</p>
+
+ <p>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 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are
+ constantly changing. Sooner or later you will want to change the rules
+ (and read this chapter again :).</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="HOW-TO-EDIT" id="HOW-TO-EDIT">8.2. How to
+ Edit</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by using
+ our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <a href=
+ "http://config.privoxy.org/show-status" target=
+ "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</a>. Note: the config file
+ option <a href=
+ "config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</a> must be
+ enabled for this to work. 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 <span class="QUOTE">"Cautious"</span>,
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Medium"</span> or <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Advanced"</span>. Warning: the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Advanced"</span> setting is more aggressive, and will be more
+ likely to cause problems for some sites. Experienced users only!</p>
+
+ <p>If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also
+ directly edit the the actions files with your favorite text editor.
+ Look at <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> which is richly
+ commented with many good examples.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="ACTIONS-APPLY" id="ACTIONS-APPLY">8.3. How
+ Actions are Applied to Requests</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
+ like the <span class="QUOTE">"<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</a>"</span> sections which will be
+ discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They
+ have a heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability)
+ which consist of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and
+ enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there is a list of URL and tag
+ patterns, each on a separate line.</p>
+
+ <p>To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the
+ request is compared to all URL patterns in each <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"action file"</span>. Every time it matches, the list of
+ applicable actions for the request is incrementally updated, using the
+ heading of the section in which the pattern is located. The same is
+ done again for tags and tag patterns later on.</p>
+
+ <p>If multiple applying sections set the same action differently, the
+ last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might
+ match a regular section with a heading line of <tt class="LITERAL">{
+ +<a href="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a>
+ }</tt>, then later another one with just <tt class="LITERAL">{
+ +<a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a> }</tt>, resulting in
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span> actions to
+ apply. And there may well be cases where you will want to combine
+ actions together. Such a section then might look like:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
<tr>
- <td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom">
- <a href="config.html" accesskey="P">Prev</a>
- </td>
- <td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom">
- </td>
- <td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom">
- <a href="filter-file.html" accesskey="N">Next</a>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+ { +<tt class="LITERAL">handle-as-image</tt> +<tt class=
+"LITERAL">block{Banner ads.}</tt> }
+ # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
+ banners.example.com
+ media.example.com/.*banners
+ .example.com/images/ads/
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
- <hr width="100%" class="c1">
+
+ <p>You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by
+ visiting <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info" target=
+ "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix,
+ <a href="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
+ Action</a> section.</p>
</div>
- <div class="SECT1">
- <h1 class="SECT1">
- <a name="ACTIONS-FILE">8. Actions Files</a>
- </h1>
- <p>
- The actions files are used to define what <span class="emphasis"><i
- class="EMPHASIS">actions</i></span> <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> takes for which URLs, and thus
- determines 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 a number of such actions, with a wide range
- of functionality. Each action does something a little different.
- These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to
- exert our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be
- combined so that their effects are aggregated when applied against a
- given set of URLs.
- </p>
- <p>
- There are three action files included with <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> with differing purposes:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="AF-PATTERNS" id="AF-PATTERNS">8.4.
+ Patterns</a></h2>
+
+ <p>As mentioned, <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> uses
+ <span class="QUOTE">"patterns"</span> to determine what <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">actions</i></span> might apply to which
+ sites and pages your browser attempts to access. These <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"patterns"</span> use wild card type <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">pattern</i></span> matching to achieve a
+ high degree of flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded
+ and potentially match against many similar patterns.</p>
+
+ <p>Generally, an URL pattern has the form <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><host><port>/<path></tt>, where the
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><host></tt>, the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><port></tt> and the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><path></tt> are optional. (This is why the special
+ <tt class="LITERAL">/</tt> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the
+ protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">http://</tt>) should <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">not</i></span> be included in the pattern. This is assumed
+ already!</p>
+
+ <p>The pattern matching syntax is different for the host and path parts
+ of the URL. The host part uses a simple globbing type matching
+ technique, while the path part uses more flexible <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
+ "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expressions"</span></a> (POSIX
+ 1003.2).</p>
+
+ <p>The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a
+ colon (<tt class="LITERAL">:</tt>). If the host part contains a
+ numerical IPv6 address, it has to be put into angle brackets
+ (<tt class="LITERAL"><</tt>, <tt class="LITERAL">></tt>).</p>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>is a host-only pattern and will match any request to
+ <tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>, regardless of which
+ document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in this domain
+ would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a simple
+ <tt class="LITERAL">example.com</tt> is different and would NOT
+ match.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>means exactly the same. For host-only patterns, the trailing
+ <tt class="LITERAL">/</tt> may be omitted.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/index.html</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches all the documents on <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">www.example.com</tt> whose name starts with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">/index.html</tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/index.html$</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches only the single document <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">/index.html</tt> on <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">/index.html$</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches the document <tt class="LITERAL">/index.html</tt>,
+ regardless of the domain, i.e. on <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">any</i></span> web server
+ anywhere.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">/</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
+ domain or the path to match anything.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">:8000/</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">10.0.0.1/</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Matches any URL with the host address <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">10.0.0.1</tt>. (Note that the real URL uses plain
+ brackets, not angle brackets.)</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL"><2001:db8::1>/</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Matches any URL with the host address <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">2001:db8::1</tt>. (Note that the real URL uses plain
+ brackets, not angle brackets.)</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">index.html</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain
+ name and there is no top-level domain called <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">.html</tt>. So its a mistake.</p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="HOST-PATTERN" id="HOST-PATTERN">8.4.1. The
+ Host Pattern</a></h3>
+
+ <p>The matching of the host part offers some flexible options: if the
+ host pattern starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that
+ end. The host pattern is often referred to as domain pattern as it is
+ usually used to match domain names and not IP addresses. For
+ example:</p>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">.example.com</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches any domain with first-level domain <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">com</tt> and second-level domain <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">example</tt>. For example <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">example.com</tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">foo.bar.baz.example.com</tt>. Note that it wouldn't
+ match if the second-level domain was <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">another-example</tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">www.</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches any domain that <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">STARTS</i></span> with <tt class="LITERAL">www.</tt>
+ (It also matches the domain <tt class="LITERAL">www</tt> but
+ most of the time that doesn't matter.)</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">.example.</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches any domain that <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">CONTAINS</i></span> <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">.example.</tt>. And, by the way, also included would
+ be any files or documents that exist within that domain since
+ no path limitations are specified. (Correctly speaking: It
+ matches any FQDN that contains <tt class="LITERAL">example</tt>
+ as a domain.) This might be <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">news.example.de</tt>, or <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</tt> for instance. All
+ these cases are matched.</p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain
+ names themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type
+ wild-cards: <span class="QUOTE">"*"</span> represents zero or more
+ arbitrary characters (this is equivalent to the <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
+ "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expression"</span></a> based
+ syntax of <span class="QUOTE">".*"</span>), <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"?"</span> represents any single character (this is
+ equivalent to the regular expression syntax of a simple <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"."</span>), and you can define <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"character classes"</span> in square brackets which is
+ similar to the same regular expression technique. All of this can be
+ freely mixed:</p>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">ad*.example.com</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches <span class="QUOTE">"adserver.example.com"</span>,
+ <span class="QUOTE">"ads.example.com"</span>, etc but not
+ <span class="QUOTE">"sfads.example.com"</span></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">*ad*.example.com</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches all of the above, and then some.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">.?pix.com</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches <tt class="LITERAL">www.ipix.com</tt>, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">pictures.epix.com</tt>, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</tt> etc.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>matches <tt class="LITERAL">www1.example.com</tt>,
+ <tt class="LITERAL">www4.example.cc</tt>, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">wwwd.example.cy</tt>, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">wwwz.example.com</tt> etc., but <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not</i></span> <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">wwww.example.com</tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular
+ expression based syntax.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="PATH-PATTERN" id="PATH-PATTERN">8.4.2. The
+ Path Pattern</a></h3>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> uses <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"modern"</span> POSIX 1003.2 <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
+ "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expressions"</span></a> for
+ matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more
+ flexible.</p>
+
+ <p>There is an <a href="appendix.html#REGEX">Appendix</a> with a
+ brief quick-start into regular expressions, you also might want to
+ have a look at your operating system's documentation on regular
+ expressions (try <tt class="LITERAL">man re_format</tt>).</p>
+
+ <p>Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"/"</span>, i.e. it matches as if it would start
+ with a <span class="QUOTE">"^"</span> (regular expression speak for
+ the beginning of a line).</p>
+
+ <p>Please also note that matching in the path is <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">CASE INSENSITIVE</i></span> by
+ default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the
+ pattern by using the <span class="QUOTE">"(?-i)"</span> switch:
+ <tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</tt> will match
+ only documents whose path starts with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">PaTtErN</tt> in <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">exactly</i></span> this capitalization.</p>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">.example.com/.*</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Is equivalent to just <span class=
+ "QUOTE">".example.com"</span>, since any documents within that
+ domain are matched with or without the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">".*"</span> regular expression. This is redundant</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">.example.com/.*/index.html$</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Will match any page in the domain of <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"example.com"</span> that is named <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"index.html"</span>, and that is part of some path. For
+ example, it matches <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"www.example.com/testing/index.html"</span> but NOT
+ <span class="QUOTE">"www.example.com/index.html"</span> because
+ the regular expression called for at least two <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"/'s"</span>, thus the path requirement. It also would
+ match <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"www.example.com/testing/index_html"</span>, because of
+ the special meta-character <span class="QUOTE">"."</span>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class="LITERAL">.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This regular expression is conditional so it will match any
+ page named <span class="QUOTE">"index.html"</span> regardless
+ of path which in this case can have one or more <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"/'s"</span>. And this one must contain exactly
+ <span class="QUOTE">".html"</span> (but does not have to end
+ with that!).</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class=
+ "LITERAL">.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This regular expression will match any path of <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"example.com"</span> that contains any of the words
+ <span class="QUOTE">"ads"</span>, <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"banner"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"banners"</span>
+ (because of the <span class="QUOTE">"?"</span>) or <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"junk"</span>. The path does not have to end in these
+ words, just contain them.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt class=
+ "LITERAL">.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</tt></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This is very much the same as above, except now it must end
+ in either <span class="QUOTE">".jpg"</span>, <span class=
+ "QUOTE">".jpeg"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">".gif"</span> or
+ <span class="QUOTE">".png"</span>. So this one is limited to
+ common image formats.</p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>There are many, many good examples to be found in <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">default.action</tt>, and more tutorials below in <a href=
+ "appendix.html#REGEX">Appendix on regular expressions</a>.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="TAG-PATTERN" id="TAG-PATTERN">8.4.3. The
+ Request Tag Pattern</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Request tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based
+ on the request's tags. Tags can be created based on HTTP headers with
+ either the <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</a> or
+ the <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</a>
+ action.</p>
+
+ <p>Request tag patterns have to start with <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"TAG:"</span>, so <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
+ can tell them apart from other patterns. Everything after the colon
+ including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
+ path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
+ automatically (<span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> doesn't
+ silently add a <span class="QUOTE">"^"</span>, you have to do it
+ yourself if you need it).</p>
+
+ <p>To match all requests that are tagged with <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"foo"</span> your pattern line should be <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"TAG:^foo$"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"TAG:foo"</span>
+ would work as well, but it would also match requests whose tags
+ contain <span class="QUOTE">"foo"</span> somewhere. <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"TAG: foo"</span> wouldn't work as it requires white
+ space.</p>
+
+ <p>Sections can contain URL and request tag patterns at the same
+ time, but request tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and
+ thus always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL
+ patterns.</p>
+
+ <p>Once a new request tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's
+ matched by one of the request tag patterns and updates the action
+ settings accordingly. As a result request tags can be used to
+ activate other tagger actions, as long as these other taggers look
+ for headers that haven't already be parsed.</p>
+
+ <p>For example you could tag client requests which use the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">POST</tt> method, then use this tag to activate another
+ tagger that adds a tag if cookies are sent, and then use a block
+ action based on the cookie tag. This allows the outcome of one
+ action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if you'd
+ reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
+ method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be
+ created. The method tagger would look for the request line, but at
+ the time the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been
+ parsed.</p>
+
+ <p>While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
+ indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't make
+ too much sense.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="NEGATIVE-TAG-PATTERNS" id=
+ "NEGATIVE-TAG-PATTERNS">8.4.4. The Negative Request Tag
+ Patterns</a></h3>
+
+ <p>To match requests that do not have a certain request tag, specify
+ a negative tag pattern by prefixing the tag pattern line with either
+ <span class="QUOTE">"NO-REQUEST-TAG:"</span> or <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"NO-RESPONSE-TAG:"</span> instead of <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"TAG:"</span>.</p>
+
+ <p>Negative request tag patterns created with <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"NO-REQUEST-TAG:"</span> are checked after all client headers
+ are scanned, the ones created with <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"NO-RESPONSE-TAG:"</span> are checked after all server
+ headers are scanned. In both cases all the created tags are
+ considered.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="CLIENT-TAG-PATTERN" id=
+ "CLIENT-TAG-PATTERN">8.4.5. The Client Tag Pattern</a></h3>
+
+ <div class="WARNING">
+ <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center"><b>Warning</b></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">
+ <p>This is an experimental feature. The syntax is likely to
+ change in future versions.</p>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Client tag patterns are not set based on HTTP headers but based on
+ the client's IP address. Users can enable them themselves, but the
+ Privoxy admin controls which tags are available and what their effect
+ is.</p>
+
+ <p>After a client-specific tag has been defined with the <a href=
+ "config.html#CLIENT-SPECIFIC-TAG">client-specific-tag</a>, directive,
+ action sections can be activated based on the tag by using a
+ CLIENT-TAG pattern. The CLIENT-TAG pattern is evaluated at the same
+ priority as URL patterns, as a result the last matching pattern wins.
+ Tags that are created based on client or server headers are evaluated
+ later on and can overrule CLIENT-TAG and URL patterns!</p>
+
+ <p>The tag is set for all requests that come from clients that
+ requested it to be set. Note that "clients" are differentiated by IP
+ address, if the IP address changes the tag has to be requested
+ again.</p>
+
+ <p>Clients can request tags to be set by using the CGI interface
+ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/client-tags" target=
+ "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/client-tags</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>Example:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# If the admin defined the client-specific-tag circumvent-blocks,
+# and the request comes from a client that previously requested
+# the tag to be set, overrule all previous +block actions that
+# are enabled based on URL to CLIENT-TAG patterns.
+{-block}
+CLIENT-TAG:^circumvent-blocks$
+
+# This section is not overruled because it's located after
+# the previous one.
+{+block{Nobody is supposed to request this.}}
+example.org/blocked-example-page
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="ACTIONS" id="ACTIONS">8.5. Actions</a></h2>
+
+ <p>All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly
+ enabled somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded
+ with a <span class="QUOTE">"+"</span>, and turned off if preceded with
+ a <span class="QUOTE">"-"</span>. So a <tt class="LITERAL">+action</tt>
+ means <span class="QUOTE">"do that action"</span>, e.g. <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">+block</tt> means <span class="QUOTE">"please block URLs that
+ match the following patterns"</span>, and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">-block</tt> means <span class="QUOTE">"don't block URLs that
+ match the following patterns, even if <tt class="LITERAL">+block</tt>
+ previously applied."</span></p>
+
+ <p>Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in
+ curly braces and separated by whitespace, like in <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</tt>,
+ followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
+ Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a
+ section of the actions file.</p>
+
+ <p>Actions fall into three categories:</p>
+
<ul>
<li>
- <p>
- <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> - is used to define
- which <span class="QUOTE">"actions"</span> relating to
- banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
- handling etc should be applied by default. It should be the first
- actions file loaded
- </p>
+ <p>Boolean, i.e the action can only be <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"enabled"</span> or <span class="QUOTE">"disabled"</span>.
+ Syntax:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+ +<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt> # enable action <tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>
+ -<tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt> # disable action <tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+
+ <p>Example: <tt class="LITERAL">+handle-as-image</tt></p>
</li>
+
<li>
- <p>
- <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> - defines many
- exceptions (both positive and negative) from the default set of
- actions that's configured in <tt class=
- "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>. It is a set of rules that
- should work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is
- only supposed to be edited by the developers. It should be the
- second actions file loaded.
- </p>
+ <p>Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable
+ this type of action. Syntax:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+ +<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>{<tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>} # enable action and set parameter to <tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>,
+ # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
+ -<tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p>Example: <tt class="LITERAL">+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11;
+ U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602
+ Firefox/2.0.0.4}</tt></p>
</li>
+
<li>
- <p>
- <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> - 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.
- </p>
+ <p>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, <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span> the parameters from
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span> 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:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+ +<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>{<tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>} # enable action and add <tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt> to the list of parameters
+ -<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>{<tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>} # remove the parameter <tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt> from the list of parameters
+ # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
+ <tt class=
+"REPLACEABLE"><i>-name</i></tt> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+
+ <p>Examples: <tt class="LITERAL">+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some
+ text}</tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">+filter{html-annoyances}</tt></p>
</li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Set
- to Cautious</span> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Set to Medium</span>
- <span class="GUIBUTTON">Set to Advanced</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">and have no influence on your
- browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
- editor</i></span>. A default installation should be pre-set to
- <tt class="LITERAL">Cautious</tt>. New users should try this for
- a while before adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels.
- The more aggressive the settings, then the more likelihood there
- is of problems such as sites not working as they should.
- </p>
- <p>
- The <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> button allows you to turn
- each action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <span class=
- "GUIBUTTON">Cautious</span> button changes the actions list to
- low/safe settings which will activate ad blocking and a minimal
- set of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s features, and
- subsequently there will be less of a chance for accidental
- problems. The <span class="GUIBUTTON">Medium</span> button sets
- the list to a medium level of other features and a low level set
- of privacy features. The <span class="GUIBUTTON">Advanced</span>
- button sets the list to a high level of ad blocking and medium
- level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter three buttons
- over-ride any changes via with the <span class=
- "GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> button. More fine-tuning can be done in
- the lower sections of this internal page.
- </p>
- <p>
- While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in
- all actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the
- first one to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier
- rules.
- </p>
- <p>
- The default profiles, and their associated actions, as
- pre-defined in <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> are:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <div class="TABLE">
- <a name="AEN2625"></a>
- <p class="c2">
- Table 1. Default Configurations
- </p>
- <table border="1" frame="border" rules="all" class="CALSTABLE">
- <col width="1*" title="C1">
- <col width="1*" title="C2">
- <col width="1*" title="C3">
- <col width="1*" title="C4">
- <thead>
- <tr>
- <th>
- Feature
- </th>
- <th>
- Cautious
- </th>
- <th>
- Medium
- </th>
- <th>
- Advanced
- </th>
- </tr>
- </thead>
- <tbody>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"actions"</span> are taken. So in this case <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> would just be a normal, non-blocking,
+ non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the privacy and
+ blocking features you need (although the provided default actions files
+ will give a good starting point).</p>
+
+ <p>Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the
+ same type. So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the
+ latter part of the file (or in a file that is processed later when
+ using multiple actions files such as <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">user.action</tt>). For multi-valued actions, the actions are
+ applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
+ the order they are defined in <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> (the
+ default installation has three actions files). It also quite possible
+ for any given URL to match more than one <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"pattern"</span> (because of wildcards and regular
+ expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
+ match wins.</p>
+
+ <p>The list of valid <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> actions
+ are:</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="ADD-HEADER" id="ADD-HEADER">8.5.1.
+ add-header</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Multi-value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP
+ headers is not checked. It is recommended that you use the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class="LITERAL">X-</tt>"</span> prefix
+ for custom headers.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>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 <span class="QUOTE">"HTTP
+ headers"</span> are, you definitely don't need to worry about
+ this one.</p>
+
+ <p>Headers added by this action are not modified by other
+ actions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Ad-blocking Aggressiveness
- </td>
- <td>
- medium
- </td>
- <td>
- high
- </td>
- <td>
- high
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Add a DNT ("Do not track") header to all requests,
+# event to those that already have one.
+#
+# This is just an example, not a recommendation.
+#
+# There is no reason to believe that user-tracking websites care
+# about the DNT header and depending on the User-Agent, adding the
+# header may make user-tracking easier.
+{+add-header{DNT: 1}}
+/
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="BLOCK" id="BLOCK">8.5.2. block</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Block ads or other unwanted content</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked,
+ i.e. the requests are trapped by <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> and the requested URL is never
+ retrieved, but is answered locally with a substitute page or
+ image, as determined by the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>,
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>,
+ and <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">handle-as-empty-document</a></tt>
+ actions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>A block reason that should be given to the user.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> sends a special
+ <span class="QUOTE">"BLOCKED"</span> page for requests to
+ blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
+ parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and
+ a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if the
+ force feature is available and enabled).</p>
+
+ <p>A very important exception occurs if <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span> <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">block</tt> and <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>,
+ apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an
+ image. If <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>
+ (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined
+ by its parameter, if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is
+ sent.</p>
+
+ <p>It is important to understand this process, in order to
+ understand how <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> deals
+ with ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core
+ feature, and one upon which various other features depend.</p>
+
+ <p>The <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt> action can perform a
+ very similar task, by <span class="QUOTE">"blocking"</span>
+ 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.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Ad-filtering by size
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
+# Block and replace with "blocked" page
+ .nasty-stuff.example.com
+
+{+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
+# Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us/banners/
+
+{+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
+# Block and then ignore
+ adserver.example.net/.*\.js$
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR" id=
+ "CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">8.5.3. change-x-forwarded-for</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request
+ in the HTTP headers.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"X-Forwarded-For:"</span>
+ HTTP header from the client request, or adds a new one.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"block"</span> to delete the
+ header.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"add"</span> to create the header
+ (or append the client's IP address to an already existing
+ one).</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>It is safe and recommended to use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">block</tt>.</p>
+
+ <p>Forwarding the source address of the request may make sense
+ in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Ad-filtering by link
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER" id=
+ "CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER">8.5.4. client-header-filter</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Rewrite or remove single client headers.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>All client headers to which this action applies are filtered
+ on-the-fly through the specified regular expression based
+ substitutions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Multi-value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own,
+ not to all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems,
+ but on the downside you can't write filters that only change
+ header x if header y's value is z. You can do that by using
+ tags though.</p>
+
+ <p>Client-header filters are executed after the other header
+ actions have finished and use their output as input.</p>
+
+ <p>If the request URI gets changed, <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will detect that and use the new
+ one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind
+ the client's back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for
+ certain requests.</p>
+
+ <p>Please refer to the <a href="filter-file.html">filter file
+ chapter</a> to learn which client-header filters are available
+ by default, and how to create your own.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Pop-up killing
- </td>
- <td>
- blocks only
- </td>
- <td>
- blocks only
- </td>
- <td>
- blocks only
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
+{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
+/
+
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER" id=
+ "CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">8.5.5. client-header-tagger</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Block requests based on their headers.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Client headers to which this action applies are filtered
+ on-the-fly through the specified regular expression based
+ substitutions, the result is used as tag.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Multi-value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
+ and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"sees"</span> the original.</p>
+
+ <p>Client-header taggers are the first actions that are
+ executed and their tags can be used to control every other
+ action.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Privacy Features
- </td>
- <td>
- low
- </td>
- <td>
- medium
- </td>
- <td>
- medium/high
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Tag every request with the User-Agent header
+{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
+/
+
+# Tagging itself doesn't change the action
+# settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
+#
+# If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
+# show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
+{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -filter \
+ -deanimate-gifs \
+}
+TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
+TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
+TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
+TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
+TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
+TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
+
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Cookie handling
- </td>
- <td>
- none
- </td>
- <td>
- session-only
- </td>
- <td>
- kill
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Tag all requests with the Range header set
+{+client-header-tagger{range-requests}}
+/
+
+# Disable filtering for the tagged requests.
+#
+# With filtering enabled Privoxy would remove the Range headers
+# to be able to filter the whole response. The downside is that
+# it prevents clients from resuming downloads or skipping over
+# parts of multimedia files.
+{-filter -deanimate-gifs}
+TAG:^RANGE-REQUEST$
+
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE" id=
+ "CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">8.5.6. content-type-overwrite</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the
+ browser's rendering mode</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Replaces the <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> HTTP
+ server header.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Any string.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> HTTP server
+ header is used by the browser to decide what to do with the
+ document. The value of this header can cause the browser to
+ open a download menu instead of displaying the document by
+ itself, even if the document's format is supported by the
+ browser.</p>
+
+ <p>The declared content type can also affect which rendering
+ mode the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"text/html"</span>, many browsers treat it as yet
+ another broken HTML document. If it is send as <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"application/xml"</span>, browsers with XHTML support
+ will only display it, if the syntax is correct.</p>
+
+ <p>If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but
+ sets <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type: text/html"</span>, you
+ can use <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to overwrite
+ it with <span class="QUOTE">"application/xml"</span> and
+ validate the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting
+ browser. If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain
+ loudly.</p>
+
+ <p>You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser
+ prints error messages instead of rendering a document falsely
+ declared as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
+ <span class="QUOTE">"text/html"</span> and have it rendered as
+ broken HTML document.</p>
+
+ <p>By default <tt class="LITERAL">content-type-overwrite</tt>
+ only replaces <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span>
+ headers that look like some kind of text. If you want to
+ overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</a></tt>.
+ This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before
+ circumventing it.</p>
+
+ <p>Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a
+ custom <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header
+ filter</a></tt>. It allows you to activate it for every
+ document of a certain site and it will still only replace the
+ content types you aimed at.</p>
+
+ <p>Of course you can apply <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">content-type-overwrite</tt> to a whole site and then
+ make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot more work to get the
+ same precision.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (sections):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Referer forging
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
+{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
+www.example.net/
+
+# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
+{-content-type-overwrite}
+www.example.net/.*\.css$
+www.example.net/.*style
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER" id=
+ "CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER">8.5.7. crunch-client-header</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Remove a client header <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has no dedicated action for.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the
+ string the user supplied as parameter.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Any string.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action allows you to block client headers for which no
+ dedicated <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> action
+ exists. <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will remove
+ every client header that contains the string you supplied as
+ parameter.</p>
+
+ <p>Regular expressions are <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">not supported</i></span> and you can't use this
+ action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.</p>
+
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">crunch-client-header</tt> is only meant
+ for quick tests. If you have to block several different
+ headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should use a
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER">client-header
+ filter</a></tt>.</p>
+
+ <div class="WARNING">
+ <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center"><b>Warning</b></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">
+ <p>Don't block any header without understanding the
+ consequences.</p>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- GIF de-animation
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
+/
+
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH" id=
+ "CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">8.5.8. crunch-if-none-match</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between
+ sessions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"If-None-Match:"</span> HTTP
+ client header.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Removing the <span class="QUOTE">"If-None-Match:"</span>
+ HTTP client header is useful for filter testing, where you want
+ to force a real reload instead of getting status code
+ <span class="QUOTE">"304"</span> which would cause the browser
+ to use a cached copy of the page.</p>
+
+ <p>It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a
+ cookie replacement (unlikely but possible).</p>
+
+ <p>Blocking the <span class="QUOTE">"If-None-Match:"</span>
+ header shouldn't cause any caching problems, as long as the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"If-Modified-Since:"</span> header isn't
+ blocked or missing as well.</p>
+
+ <p>It is recommended to use this action together with
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</a></tt>
+ and <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</a></tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Fast redirects
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
+# allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
+{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES" id=
+ "CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">8.5.9. crunch-incoming-cookies</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your
+ system</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes any <span class="QUOTE">"Set-Cookie:"</span> HTTP
+ headers from server replies.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action is only concerned with <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">incoming</i></span> HTTP
+ cookies. For <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">outgoing</i></span> HTTP cookies, use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a></tt>.
+ Use <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span>
+ to disable HTTP cookies completely.</p>
+
+ <p>It makes <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">no sense
+ at all</i></span> to use this action in conjunction with the
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</a></tt>
+ action, since it would prevent the session cookies from being
+ set. See also <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter-content-cookies</a></tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- HTML taming
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++crunch-incoming-cookies
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER" id=
+ "CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER">8.5.10. crunch-server-header</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Remove a server header <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has no dedicated action for.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the
+ string the user supplied as parameter.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Any string.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action allows you to block server headers for which no
+ dedicated <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> action
+ exists. <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will remove
+ every server header that contains the string you supplied as
+ parameter.</p>
+
+ <p>Regular expressions are <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">not supported</i></span> and you can't use this
+ action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.</p>
+
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">crunch-server-header</tt> is only meant
+ for quick tests. If you have to block several different
+ headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should use a
+ custom <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header
+ filter</a></tt>.</p>
+
+ <div class="WARNING">
+ <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center"><b>Warning</b></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">
+ <p>Don't block any header without understanding the
+ consequences.</p>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- JavaScript taming
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
+{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
+/
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES" id=
+ "CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">8.5.11. crunch-outgoing-cookies</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from
+ your system</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes any <span class="QUOTE">"Cookie:"</span> HTTP
+ headers from client requests.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action is only concerned with <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">outgoing</i></span> HTTP
+ cookies. For <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">incoming</i></span> HTTP cookies, use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a></tt>.
+ Use <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span>
+ to disable HTTP cookies completely.</p>
+
+ <p>It makes <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">no sense
+ at all</i></span> to use this action in conjunction with the
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</a></tt>
+ action, since it would prevent the session cookies from being
+ read.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Web-bug killing
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++crunch-outgoing-cookies
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="DEANIMATE-GIFS" id=
+ "DEANIMATE-GIFS">8.5.12. deanimate-gifs</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first
+ or last image.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"last"</span> or <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"first"</span></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not
+ pixels!). If the option <span class="QUOTE">"first"</span> is
+ given, the first frame of the animation is used as the
+ replacement. If <span class="QUOTE">"last"</span> 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).</p>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
<tr>
<td>
- Image tag reordering
- </td>
- <td>
- no
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
- </td>
- <td>
- yes
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++deanimate-gifs{last}
+</pre>
</td>
</tr>
- </tbody>
- </table>
- </div>
- </li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>
- The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main
- configuration file, and are processed in the order they are defined
- (e.g. <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> is typically processed
- before <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>). The content of these
- can all be viewed and edited from <a href=
- "http://config.privoxy.org/show-status" target=
- "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</a>. The over-riding
- principle when applying actions, is that the last action that matches
- a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first (defined
- in <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>), followed by any
- exceptions (typically also in <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.action</tt>), which are then followed lastly by
- any local preferences (typically in <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">user</i></span><tt class="FILENAME">.action</tt>).
- Generally, <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> has the last word.
- </p>
- <p>
- An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
- <span class="QUOTE">"aliases"</span> in an actions file, you have to
- place the (optional) <a href="actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias
- section</a> at the top of that file. Then comes the default set of
- rules which will apply universally to all sites and pages (be <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">very careful</i></span> with
- using such a universal set in <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>
- or any other actions file after <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.action</tt>, because it will override the result
- from consulting any previous file). And then below that, exceptions
- to the defined universal policies. You can regard <tt class=
- "FILENAME">user.action</tt> as an appendix to <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.action</tt>, with the advantage that it is a
- separate file, which makes preserving your personal settings across
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> upgrades easier.
- </p>
- <p>
- Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads,
- banners, or just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather
- not see. Cookies can be accepted or rejected, or accepted only during
- the current browser session (i.e. not written to disk), content can
- be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking fooled, and much
- more. See below for a <a href="actions-file.html#ACTIONS">complete
- list of actions</a>.
- </p>
- <div class="SECT2">
- <h2 class="SECT2">
- <a name="AEN2724">8.1. Finding the Right Mix</a>
- </h2>
- <p>
- Note that some <a href="actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</a>,
- like cookie suppression or script disabling, may render some sites
- unusable that rely on these techniques to work properly. Finding
- the right mix of actions is not always easy and certainly a matter
- of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
- refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that
- the more <span class="QUOTE">"aggressive"</span> your default
- settings (in the top section of the actions file) are, the more
- exceptions for <span class="QUOTE">"trusted"</span> 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 purposes, like maybe your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
- </p>
- <p>
- 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 things. There just are too many variables, and sites
- are constantly changing. Sooner or later you will want to change
- the rules (and read this chapter again :).
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT2">
- <h2 class="SECT2">
- <a name="AEN2731">8.2. How to Edit</a>
- </h2>
- <p>
- The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
- using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <a href=
- "http://config.privoxy.org/show-status" target=
- "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</a>. Note: the config
- file option <a href=
- "config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</a> must be
- enabled for this to work. 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 <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Cautious"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"Medium"</span> or
- <span class="QUOTE">"Advanced"</span>. Warning: the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Advanced"</span> setting is more aggressive, and will be
- more likely to cause problems for some sites. Experienced users
- only!
- </p>
- <p>
- If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also
- directly edit the the actions files with your favorite text editor.
- Look at <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> which is richly
- commented with many good examples.
- </p>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
</div>
- <div class="SECT2">
- <h2 class="SECT2">
- <a name="ACTIONS-APPLY">8.3. How Actions are Applied to
- Requests</a>
- </h2>
- <p>
- Actions files are divided into sections. There are special
- sections, like the <span class="QUOTE">"<a href=
- "actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</a>"</span> sections which will
- be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections:
- They have a heading line (often split up to multiple lines for
- readability) which consist of a list of actions, separated by
- whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there is a
- list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
- </p>
- <p>
- To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the
- request is compared to all URL patterns in each <span class=
- "QUOTE">"action file"</span>. Every time it matches, the list of
- applicable actions for the request is incrementally updated, using
- the heading of the section in which the pattern is located. The
- same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
- </p>
- <p>
- If multiple applying sections set the same action differently, the
- last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL
- might match a regular section with a heading line of <tt class=
- "LITERAL">{ +<a href=
- "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a> }</tt>,
- then later another one with just <tt class="LITERAL">{ +<a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a> }</tt>, resulting in <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span> actions to
- apply. And there may well be cases where you will want to combine
- actions together. Such a section then might look like:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
- { +<tt class="LITERAL">handle-as-image</tt> +<tt class=
-"LITERAL">block{Banner ads.}</tt> }
- # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
- banners.example.com
- media.example.com/.*banners
- .example.com/images/ads/
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- <p>
- You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by
- visiting <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info" target=
- "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</a>.
- </p>
- <p>
- Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <a
- href="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
- Action</a> section.
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT2">
- <h2 class="SECT2">
- <a name="AF-PATTERNS">8.4. Patterns</a>
- </h2>
- <p>
- As mentioned, <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> uses <span
- class="QUOTE">"patterns"</span> to determine what <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">actions</i></span> might apply to
- which sites and pages your browser attempts to access. These <span
- class="QUOTE">"patterns"</span> use wild card type <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">pattern</i></span> matching to
- achieve a high degree of flexibility. This allows one expression to
- be expanded and potentially match against many similar patterns.
- </p>
- <p>
- Generally, an URL pattern has the form <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><domain><port>/<path></tt>, where the
- <tt class="LITERAL"><domain></tt>, the <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><port></tt> and the <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><path></tt> are optional. (This is why the special
- <tt class="LITERAL">/</tt> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the
- protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <tt class=
- "LITERAL">http://</tt>) should <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">not</i></span> be included in the pattern. This is
- assumed already!
- </p>
- <p>
- The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path
- parts of the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type
- matching technique, while the path part uses more flexible <a href=
- "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
- "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expressions"</span></a> (POSIX
- 1003.2).
- </p>
- <p>
- The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a
- colon (<tt class="LITERAL">:</tt>). If the domain part contains a
- numerical IPv6 address, it has to be put into angle brackets (<tt
- class="LITERAL"><</tt>, <tt class="LITERAL">></tt>).
- </p>
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION" id=
+ "DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">8.5.13. downgrade-http-version</a></h4>
+
<div class="VARIABLELIST">
<dl>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <tt
- class="LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>, regardless of which
- document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in this
- domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note
- that a simple <tt class="LITERAL">example.com</tt> is
- different and would NOT match.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the
- trailing <tt class="LITERAL">/</tt> may be omitted.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/index.html</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches all the documents on <tt class=
- "LITERAL">www.example.com</tt> whose name starts with <tt
- class="LITERAL">/index.html</tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/index.html$</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches only the single document <tt class=
- "LITERAL">/index.html</tt> on <tt class=
- "LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">/index.html$</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches the document <tt class="LITERAL">/index.html</tt>,
- regardless of the domain, i.e. on <span class="emphasis"><i
- class="EMPHASIS">any</i></span> web server anywhere.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">/</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
- domain or the path to match anything.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">:8000/</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL"><2001:db8::1>/</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Matches any URL with the host address <tt class=
- "LITERAL">2001:db8::1</tt>. (Note that the real URL uses
- plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">index.html</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain
- name and there is no top-level domain called <tt class=
- "LITERAL">.html</tt>. So its a mistake.
- </p>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to
+ HTTP/1.0.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This is a left-over from the time when <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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.</p>
+
+ <p>Note that enabling this action is only a workaround. It
+ should not be enabled for sites that work without it. While it
+ shouldn't break any pages, it has an (usually negative)
+ performance impact.</p>
+
+ <p>If you come across a site where enabling this action helps,
+ please report it, so the cause of the problem can be analyzed.
+ If the problem turns out to be caused by a bug in <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> it should be fixed so the
+ following release works without the work around.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+{+downgrade-http-version}
+problem-host.example.com
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h3 class="SECT3">
- <a name="AEN2843">8.4.1. The Domain Pattern</a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if
- the domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at
- that end. For example:
- </p>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">.example.com</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches any domain with first-level domain <tt class=
- "LITERAL">com</tt> and second-level domain <tt class=
- "LITERAL">example</tt>. For example <tt class=
- "LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">example.com</tt> and <tt class=
- "LITERAL">foo.bar.baz.example.com</tt>. Note that it
- wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <tt class=
- "LITERAL">another-example</tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">www.</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches any domain that <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">STARTS</i></span> with <tt class=
- "LITERAL">www.</tt> (It also matches the domain <tt class=
- "LITERAL">www</tt> but most of the time that doesn't
- matter.)
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">.example.</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches any domain that <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">CONTAINS</i></span> <tt class=
- "LITERAL">.example.</tt>. And, by the way, also included
- would be any files or documents that exist within that
- domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
- speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <tt class=
- "LITERAL">example</tt> as a domain.) This might be <tt
- class="LITERAL">www.example.com</tt>, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">news.example.de</tt>, or <tt class=
- "LITERAL">www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</tt> for instance.
- All these cases are matched.
- </p>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- <p>
- Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain
- names themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type
- wild-cards: <span class="QUOTE">"*"</span> represents zero or
- more arbitrary characters (this is equivalent to the <a href=
- "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
- "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expression"</span></a> based
- syntax of <span class="QUOTE">".*"</span>), <span class=
- "QUOTE">"?"</span> represents any single character (this is
- equivalent to the regular expression syntax of a simple <span
- class="QUOTE">"."</span>), and you can define <span class=
- "QUOTE">"character classes"</span> in square brackets which is
- similar to the same regular expression technique. All of this can
- be freely mixed:
- </p>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">ad*.example.com</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches <span class="QUOTE">"adserver.example.com"</span>,
- <span class="QUOTE">"ads.example.com"</span>, etc but not
- <span class="QUOTE">"sfads.example.com"</span>
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">*ad*.example.com</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches all of the above, and then some.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">.?pix.com</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches <tt class="LITERAL">www.ipix.com</tt>, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">pictures.epix.com</tt>, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</tt> etc.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- matches <tt class="LITERAL">www1.example.com</tt>, <tt
- class="LITERAL">www4.example.cc</tt>, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">wwwd.example.cy</tt>, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">wwwz.example.com</tt> etc., but <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not</i></span> <tt class=
- "LITERAL">wwww.example.com</tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- <p>
- While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular
- expression based syntax.
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h3 class="SECT3">
- <a name="AEN2919">8.4.2. The Path Pattern</a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> uses <span class=
- "QUOTE">"modern"</span> POSIX 1003.2 <a href=
- "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
- "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expressions"</span></a> for
- matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more
- flexible.
- </p>
- <p>
- There is an <a href="appendix.html#REGEX">Appendix</a> with a
- brief quick-start into regular expressions, you also might want
- to have a look at your operating system's documentation on
- regular expressions (try <tt class="LITERAL">man re_format</tt>).
- </p>
- <p>
- Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the
- <span class="QUOTE">"/"</span>, i.e. it matches as if it would
- start with a <span class="QUOTE">"^"</span> (regular expression
- speak for the beginning of a line).
- </p>
- <p>
- Please also note that matching in the path is <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">CASE INSENSITIVE</i></span> by
- default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the
- pattern by using the <span class="QUOTE">"(?-i)"</span> switch:
- <tt class="LITERAL">www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</tt> will
- match only documents whose path starts with <tt class=
- "LITERAL">PaTtErN</tt> in <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">exactly</i></span> this capitalization.
- </p>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">.example.com/.*</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Is equivalent to just <span class=
- "QUOTE">".example.com"</span>, since any documents within
- that domain are matched with or without the <span class=
- "QUOTE">".*"</span> regular expression. This is redundant
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">.example.com/.*/index.html$</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Will match any page in the domain of <span class=
- "QUOTE">"example.com"</span> that is named <span class=
- "QUOTE">"index.html"</span>, and that is part of some path.
- For example, it matches <span class=
- "QUOTE">"www.example.com/testing/index.html"</span> but NOT
- <span class="QUOTE">"www.example.com/index.html"</span>
- because the regular expression called for at least two
- <span class="QUOTE">"/'s"</span>, thus the path
- requirement. It also would match <span class=
- "QUOTE">"www.example.com/testing/index_html"</span>,
- because of the special meta-character <span class=
- "QUOTE">"."</span>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class="LITERAL">.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This regular expression is conditional so it will match any
- page named <span class="QUOTE">"index.html"</span>
- regardless of path which in this case can have one or more
- <span class="QUOTE">"/'s"</span>. And this one must contain
- exactly <span class="QUOTE">".html"</span> (but does not
- have to end with that!).
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class=
- "LITERAL">.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This regular expression will match any path of <span class=
- "QUOTE">"example.com"</span> that contains any of the words
- <span class="QUOTE">"ads"</span>, <span class=
- "QUOTE">"banner"</span>, <span class=
- "QUOTE">"banners"</span> (because of the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"?"</span>) or <span class="QUOTE">"junk"</span>.
- The path does not have to end in these words, just contain
- them.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <tt class=
- "LITERAL">.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</tt>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This is very much the same as above, except now it must end
- in either <span class="QUOTE">".jpg"</span>, <span class=
- "QUOTE">".jpeg"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">".gif"</span>
- or <span class="QUOTE">".png"</span>. So this one is
- limited to common image formats.
- </p>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- <p>
- There are many, many good examples to be found in <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.action</tt>, and more tutorials below in <a
- href="appendix.html#REGEX">Appendix on regular expressions</a>.
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h3 class="SECT3">
- <a name="TAG-PATTERN">8.4.3. The Tag Pattern</a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
- request's tags. Tags can be created with either the <a href=
- "actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</a>
- or the <a href=
- "actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</a>
- action.
- </p>
- <p>
- Tag patterns have to start with <span class=
- "QUOTE">"TAG:"</span>, so <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can tell them apart from URL
- patterns. Everything after the colon including white space, is
- interpreted as a regular expression with path pattern syntax,
- except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored automatically
- (<span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> doesn't silently add a
- <span class="QUOTE">"^"</span>, you have to do it yourself if you
- need it).
- </p>
- <p>
- To match all requests that are tagged with <span class=
- "QUOTE">"foo"</span> your pattern line should be <span class=
- "QUOTE">"TAG:^foo$"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"TAG:foo"</span>
- would work as well, but it would also match requests whose tags
- contain <span class="QUOTE">"foo"</span> somewhere. <span class=
- "QUOTE">"TAG: foo"</span> wouldn't work as it requires white
- space.
- </p>
- <p>
- Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time, but
- tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus always
- overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
- </p>
- <p>
- Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's
- matched by one of the tag patterns and updates the action
- settings accordingly. As a result tags can be used to activate
- other tagger actions, as long as these other taggers look for
- headers that haven't already be parsed.
- </p>
- <p>
- For example you could tag client requests which use the <tt
- class="LITERAL">POST</tt> method, then use this tag to activate
- another tagger that adds a tag if cookies are sent, and then use
- a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows the outcome
- of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
- you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and
- activated the method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method
- tags would be created. The method tagger would look for the
- request line, but at the time the cookie tag is created, the
- request line has already been parsed.
- </p>
- <p>
- While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
- indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
- make too much sense.
- </p>
- </div>
</div>
- <div class="SECT2">
- <h2 class="SECT2">
- <a name="ACTIONS">8.5. Actions</a>
- </h2>
- <p>
- All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly
- enabled somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if
- preceded with a <span class="QUOTE">"+"</span>, and turned off if
- preceded with a <span class="QUOTE">"-"</span>. So a <tt class=
- "LITERAL">+action</tt> means <span class="QUOTE">"do that
- action"</span>, e.g. <tt class="LITERAL">+block</tt> means <span
- class="QUOTE">"please block URLs that match the following
- patterns"</span>, and <tt class="LITERAL">-block</tt> means <span
- class="QUOTE">"don't block URLs that match the following patterns,
- even if <tt class="LITERAL">+block</tt> previously
- applied."</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in
- curly braces and separated by whitespace, like in <tt class=
- "LITERAL">{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</tt>,
- followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they
- apply. Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines
- make up a section of the actions file.
- </p>
- <p>
- Actions fall into three categories:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <ul>
- <li>
- <p>
- Boolean, i.e the action can only be <span class=
- "QUOTE">"enabled"</span> or <span class=
- "QUOTE">"disabled"</span>. Syntax:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
- +<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt> # enable action <tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>
- -<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt> # disable action <tt
-class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
-
- <p>
- Example: <tt class="LITERAL">+handle-as-image</tt>
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable
- this type of action. Syntax:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
- +<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>{<tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>} # enable action and set parameter to <tt
-class="REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>,
- # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
- -<tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
-
- <p>
- 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.
- </p>
- <p>
- Example: <tt class="LITERAL">+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11;
- U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602
- Firefox/2.0.0.4}</tt>
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- 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, <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span> the parameters
- from <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span>
- 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:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
- +<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>{<tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>} # enable action and add <tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt> to the list of parameters
- -<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>name</i></tt>{<tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt>} # remove the parameter <tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>param</i></tt> from the list of parameters
- # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
- <tt class=
-"REPLACEABLE"><i>-name</i></tt> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
-
- <p>
- Examples: <tt class="LITERAL">+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some
- text}</tt> and <tt class=
- "LITERAL">+filter{html-annoyances}</tt>
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
-
- <p>
- If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <span class=
- "QUOTE">"actions"</span> are taken. So in this case <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> would just be a normal, non-blocking,
- non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the privacy and
- blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
- files will give a good starting point).
- </p>
- <p>
- Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the
- same type. So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the
- latter part of the file (or in a file that is processed later when
- using multiple actions files such as <tt class=
- "FILENAME">user.action</tt>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
- are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are
- processed in the order they are defined in <tt class=
- "FILENAME">config</tt> (the default installation has three actions
- files). It also quite possible for any given URL to match more than
- one <span class="QUOTE">"pattern"</span> (because of wildcards and
- regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of
- actions! Last match wins.
- </p>
- <p>
- The list of valid <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> actions
- are:
- </p>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="ADD-HEADER">8.5.1. add-header</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Confuse log analysis, custom applications
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Multi-value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP
- headers is not checked. It is recommended that you use the
- <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class="LITERAL">X-</tt>"</span>
- prefix for custom headers.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- 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 <span class=
- "QUOTE">"HTTP headers"</span> are, you definitely don't
- need to worry about this one.
- </p>
- <p>
- Headers added by this action are not modified by other
- actions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="BLOCK">8.5.2. block</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Block ads or other unwanted content
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked,
- i.e. the requests are trapped by <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> and the requested URL is never
- retrieved, but is answered locally with a substitute page
- or image, as determined by the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>,
- <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>,
- and <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">handle-as-empty-document</a></tt>
- actions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- A block reason that should be given to the user.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> sends a special
- <span class="QUOTE">"BLOCKED"</span> page for requests to
- blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
- parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies,
- and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only
- if the force feature is available and enabled).
- </p>
- <p>
- A very important exception occurs if <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span> <tt class=
- "LITERAL">block</tt> and <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>,
- apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an
- image. If <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>
- (see below) also applies, the type of image will be
- determined by its parameter, if not, the standard
- checkerboard pattern is sent.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is important to understand this process, in order to
- understand how <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
- deals with ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a
- core feature, and one upon which various other features
- depend.
- </p>
- <p>
- The <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt> action can
- perform a very similar task, by <span class=
- "QUOTE">"blocking"</span> 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.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
-# Block and replace with "blocked" page
- .nasty-stuff.example.com
-{+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
-# Block and replace with image
- .ad.doubleclick.net
- .ads.r.us/banners/
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="EXTERNAL-FILTER" id=
+ "EXTERNAL-FILTER">8.5.14. external-filter</a></h4>
-{+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
-# Block and then ignore
- adserver.example.net/.*\.js$
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">8.5.3.
- change-x-forwarded-for</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request
- in the HTTP headers.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"X-Forwarded-For:"</span>
- HTTP header from the client request, or adds a new one.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span> to delete the
- header.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"add"</span> to create the header
- (or append the client's IP address to an already
- existing one).
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- It is safe and recommended to use <tt class=
- "LITERAL">block</tt>.
- </p>
- <p>
- Forwarding the source address of the request may make sense
- in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER">8.5.4. client-header-filter</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Rewrite or remove single client headers.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- All client headers to which this action applies are
- filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
- expression based substitutions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of
- the <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Client-header filters are applied to each header on its
- own, not to all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose
- problems, but on the downside you can't write filters that
- only change header x if header y's value is z. You can do
- that by using tags though.
- </p>
- <p>
- Client-header filters are executed after the other header
- actions have finished and use their output as input.
- </p>
- <p>
- If the request URL gets changed, <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will detect that and use the
- new one. This can be used to rewrite the request
- destination behind the client's back, for example to
- specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
- </p>
- <p>
- Please refer to the <a href="filter-file.html">filter file
- chapter</a> to learn which client-header filters are
- available by default, and how to create your own.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-# Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
-{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
-/
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">8.5.5. client-header-tagger</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Block requests based on their headers.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Client headers to which this action applies are filtered
- on-the-fly through the specified regular expression based
- substitutions, the result is used as tag.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of
- the <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its
- own, and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <span
- class="QUOTE">"sees"</span> the original.
- </p>
- <p>
- Client-header taggers are the first actions that are
- executed and their tags can be used to control every other
- action.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-# Tag every request with the User-Agent header
-{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
-/
+ <dd>
+ <p>Modify content using a programming language of your
+ choice.</p>
+ </dd>
-# Tagging itself doesn't change the action
-# settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
-#
-# If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
-# show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
-{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
- -hide-if-modified-since \
- -overwrite-last-modified \
- -hide-user-agent \
- -filter \
- -deanimate-gifs \
-}
-TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
-TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
-TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
-TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
-TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
-TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">8.5.6.
- content-type-overwrite</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the
- browser's rendering mode
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Replaces the <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span>
- HTTP server header.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Any string.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> HTTP server
- header is used by the browser to decide what to do with the
- document. The value of this header can cause the browser to
- open a download menu instead of displaying the document by
- itself, even if the document's format is supported by the
- browser.
- </p>
- <p>
- The declared content type can also affect which rendering
- mode the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <span
- class="QUOTE">"text/html"</span>, many browsers treat it as
- yet another broken HTML document. If it is send as <span
- class="QUOTE">"application/xml"</span>, browsers with XHTML
- support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
- </p>
- <p>
- If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but
- sets <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type: text/html"</span>,
- you can use <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to
- overwrite it with <span class=
- "QUOTE">"application/xml"</span> and validate the web
- master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser. If the
- syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
- </p>
- <p>
- You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser
- prints error messages instead of rendering a document
- falsely declared as XHTML, you can overwrite the content
- type with <span class="QUOTE">"text/html"</span> and have
- it rendered as broken HTML document.
- </p>
- <p>
- By default <tt class="LITERAL">content-type-overwrite</tt>
- only replaces <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span>
- headers that look like some kind of text. If you want to
- overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
- <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</a></tt>.
- This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before
- circumventing it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a
- custom <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header
- filter</a></tt>. It allows you to activate it for every
- document of a certain site and it will still only replace
- the content types you aimed at.
- </p>
- <p>
- Of course you can apply <tt class=
- "LITERAL">content-type-overwrite</tt> to a whole site and
- then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot more work to
- get the same precision.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (sections):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-# Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
-{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
-www.example.net/
+ <dd>
+ <p>All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and
+ JavaScript, to which this action applies, can be filtered
+ on-the-fly through the specified external filter. By default
+ plain text documents are exempted from filtering, because web
+ servers often use the <tt class="LITERAL">text/plain</tt> MIME
+ type for all files whose type they don't know.)</p>
+ </dd>
-# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
-{-content-type-overwrite}
-www.example.net/.*\.css$
-www.example.net/.*style
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER">8.5.7. crunch-client-header</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Remove a client header <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has no dedicated action for.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the
- string the user supplied as parameter.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Any string.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action allows you to block client headers for which no
- dedicated <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> action
- exists. <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will
- remove every client header that contains the string you
- supplied as parameter.
- </p>
- <p>
- Regular expressions are <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">not supported</i></span> and you can't use this
- action to block different headers in the same request,
- unless they contain the same string.
- </p>
- <p>
- <tt class="LITERAL">crunch-client-header</tt> is only meant
- for quick tests. If you have to block several different
- headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should
- use a <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER">client-header
- filter</a></tt>.
- </p>
- <div class="WARNING">
- <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td align="CENTER">
- <b>Warning</b>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td align="LEFT">
- <p>
- Don't block any header without understanding the
- consequences.
- </p>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </div>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-# Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
-{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
-/
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">8.5.8. crunch-if-none-match</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between
- sessions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"If-None-Match:"</span>
- HTTP client header.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Removing the <span class="QUOTE">"If-None-Match:"</span>
- HTTP client header is useful for filter testing, where you
- want to force a real reload instead of getting status code
- <span class="QUOTE">"304"</span> which would cause the
- browser to use a cached copy of the page.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a
- cookie replacement (unlikely but possible).
- </p>
- <p>
- Blocking the <span class="QUOTE">"If-None-Match:"</span>
- header shouldn't cause any caching problems, as long as the
- <span class="QUOTE">"If-Modified-Since:"</span> header
- isn't blocked or missing as well.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is recommended to use this action together with <tt
- class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</a></tt>
- and <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</a></tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-# Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
-# allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
-{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
-/
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">8.5.9.
- crunch-incoming-cookies</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your
- system
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes any <span class="QUOTE">"Set-Cookie:"</span> HTTP
- headers from server replies.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action is only concerned with <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">incoming</i></span> HTTP
- cookies. For <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">outgoing</i></span> HTTP cookies, use <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a></tt>.
- Use <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">both</i></span> to disable HTTP cookies
- completely.
- </p>
- <p>
- It makes <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">no
- sense at all</i></span> to use this action in conjunction
- with the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</a></tt>
- action, since it would prevent the session cookies from
- being set. See also <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter-content-cookies</a></tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+crunch-incoming-cookies
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER">8.5.10. crunch-server-header</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Remove a server header <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has no dedicated action for.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the
- string the user supplied as parameter.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Any string.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action allows you to block server headers for which no
- dedicated <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> action
- exists. <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will
- remove every server header that contains the string you
- supplied as parameter.
- </p>
- <p>
- Regular expressions are <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">not supported</i></span> and you can't use this
- action to block different headers in the same request,
- unless they contain the same string.
- </p>
- <p>
- <tt class="LITERAL">crunch-server-header</tt> is only meant
- for quick tests. If you have to block several different
- headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should
- use a custom <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header
- filter</a></tt>.
- </p>
- <div class="WARNING">
- <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td align="CENTER">
- <b>Warning</b>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td align="LEFT">
- <p>
- Don't block any header without understanding the
- consequences.
- </p>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </div>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-# Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
-{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
-/
-</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">8.5.11.
- crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from
- your system
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes any <span class="QUOTE">"Cookie:"</span> HTTP
- headers from client requests.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action is only concerned with <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">outgoing</i></span> HTTP
- cookies. For <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">incoming</i></span> HTTP cookies, use <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a></tt>.
- Use <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">both</i></span> to disable HTTP cookies
- completely.
- </p>
- <p>
- It makes <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">no
- sense at all</i></span> to use this action in conjunction
- with the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</a></tt>
- action, since it would prevent the session cookies from
- being read.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <dd>
+ <p>Multi-value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The name of an external content filter, as defined in the
+ <a href="filter-file.html">filter file</a>. External filters
+ can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "config.html#FILTERFILE">filterfile</a></tt> option in the
+ <a href="config.html">config file</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>When used in its negative form, and without parameters,
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span>
+ filtering with external filters is completely disabled.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>External filters are scripts or programs that can modify the
+ content in case common <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER">filters</a></tt> aren't powerful
+ enough. With the exception that this action doesn't use
+ pcrs-based filters, the notes in the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt>
+ section apply.</p>
+
+ <div class="WARNING">
+ <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
<tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+crunch-outgoing-cookies
-</pre>
- </td>
+ <td align="center"><b>Warning</b></td>
</tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="DEANIMATE-GIFS">8.5.12. deanimate-gifs</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first
- or last image.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"last"</span> or <span class=
- "QUOTE">"first"</span>
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes,
- not pixels!). If the option <span class=
- "QUOTE">"first"</span> is given, the first frame of the
- animation is used as the replacement. If <span class=
- "QUOTE">"last"</span> 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).
- </p>
- <p>
- 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.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+
<tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+deanimate-gifs{last}
-</pre>
+ <td align="left">
+ <p>Currently external filters are executed with
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s privileges.
+ Only use external filters you understand and trust.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">8.5.13.
- downgrade-http-version</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to
- HTTP/1.0.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This is a left-over from the time when <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 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 HTTP/1.1 features and
- requirements are supported yet, so there is a chance you
- might need this action.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-{+downgrade-http-version}
-problem-host.example.com
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This feature is experimental, the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "filter-file.html#EXTERNAL-FILTER-SYNTAX">syntax</a></tt> may
+ change in the future.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++external-filter{fancy-filter}
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="FAST-REDIRECTS">8.5.14. fast-redirects</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect
- links.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without
- contacting the redirection server first.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"simple-check"</span> to just
- search for the string <span class=
- "QUOTE">"http://"</span> to detect redirection URLs.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"check-decoded-url"</span> to
- decode URLs (if necessary) before searching for
- redirection URLs.
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- 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: <span class=
- "QUOTE">"http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/"</span>.
- </p>
- <p>
- 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 asks the server for one redirect after the
- other. Plus, it feeds the advertisers.
- </p>
- <p>
- This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled
- for improvement. If it is enabled by default, you will have
- to create some exceptions to this action. It can lead to
- failures in several ways:
- </p>
- <p>
- Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil. Some
- sites offer a real service that requires this information
- to work. For example a validation service needs to know,
- which document to validate. <tt class=
- "LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt> assumes that every URL
- parameter that looks like another URL is a redirection
- target, and will always redirect to the last one. Most of
- the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't, the
- user gets redirected anyway.
- </p>
- <p>
- Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters
- after the URL parameter. The URL: <span class=
- "QUOTE">"http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar"</span>.
- contains the redirection URL <span class=
- "QUOTE">"http://www.example.net/"</span>, followed by
- another parameter. <tt class="LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt>
- doesn't know that and will cause a redirect to <span class=
- "QUOTE">"http://www.example.net/&foo=bar"</span>.
- Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter
- will be silently ignored or lead to a <span class=
- "QUOTE">"page not found"</span> error. You can prevent this
- problem by first using the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#REDIRECT">redirect</a></tt> action to
- remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little
- effort.
- </p>
- <p>
- To detect a redirection URL, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt> only looks for the string
- <span class="QUOTE">"http://"</span>, either in plain text
- (invalid but often used) or encoded as <span class=
- "QUOTE">"http%3a//"</span>. Some sites use their own URL
- encoding scheme, encrypt the address of the target server
- or replace it with a database id. In theses cases <tt
- class="LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt> is fooled and the
- request reaches the redirection server where it probably
- gets logged.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FAST-REDIRECTS" id=
+ "FAST-REDIRECTS">8.5.15. fast-redirects</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect
+ links.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without
+ contacting the redirection server first.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"simple-check"</span> to just search
+ for the string <span class="QUOTE">"http://"</span> to
+ detect redirection URLs.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"check-decoded-url"</span> to decode
+ URLs (if necessary) before searching for redirection
+ URLs.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>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: <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/"</span>.</p>
+
+ <p>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 asks
+ the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds the
+ advertisers.</p>
+
+ <p>This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled
+ for improvement. If it is enabled by default, you will have to
+ create some exceptions to this action. It can lead to failures
+ in several ways:</p>
+
+ <p>Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil. Some
+ sites offer a real service that requires this information to
+ work. For example a validation service needs to know, which
+ document to validate. <tt class="LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt>
+ assumes that every URL parameter that looks like another URL is
+ a redirection target, and will always redirect to the last one.
+ Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
+ the user gets redirected anyway.</p>
+
+ <p>Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters
+ after the URL parameter. The URL: <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar"</span>.
+ contains the redirection URL <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"http://www.example.net/"</span>, followed by another
+ parameter. <tt class="LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt> doesn't know
+ that and will cause a redirect to <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"http://www.example.net/&foo=bar"</span>. Depending
+ on the target server configuration, the parameter will be
+ silently ignored or lead to a <span class="QUOTE">"page not
+ found"</span> error. You can prevent this problem by first
+ using the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#REDIRECT">redirect</a></tt> action to remove
+ the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.</p>
+
+ <p>To detect a redirection URL, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt> only looks for the string
+ <span class="QUOTE">"http://"</span>, either in plain text
+ (invalid but often used) or encoded as <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"http%3a//"</span>. Some sites use their own URL
+ encoding scheme, encrypt the address of the target server or
+ replace it with a database id. In theses cases <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">fast-redirects</tt> is fooled and the request reaches
+ the redirection server where it probably gets logged.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
one.example.com
{ +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
another.example.com/testing
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="FILTER">8.5.15. filter</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner
- advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, add
- personalized effects, etc.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and
- JavaScript, to which this action applies, can be 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 <tt class="LITERAL">text/plain</tt> MIME type
- for all files whose type they don't know.)
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The name of a content filter, as defined in the <a href=
- "filter-file.html">filter file</a>. Filters can be defined
- in one or more files as defined by the <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "config.html#FILTERFILE">filterfile</a></tt> option in the
- <a href="config.html">config file</a>. <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.filter</tt> is the collection of filters
- supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should
- go in their own file, such as <tt class=
- "FILENAME">user.filter</tt>.
- </p>
- <p>
- When used in its negative form, and without parameters,
- <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span>
- filtering is completely disabled.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- 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.
- </p>
- <p>
- 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. (The
- total time until the page is completely rendered doesn't
- change much, but it may be perceived as slower since the
- page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be
- more noticeable on slower connections.
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"Rolling your own"</span> filters
- requires a knowledge of <a href=
- "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
- "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expressions"</span></a>
- and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html" target=
- "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"HTML"</span></a>. This is very
- powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive. Filters
- should be used with caution, and where an equivalent <span
- class="QUOTE">"action"</span> is not available.
- </p>
- <p>
- The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
- <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "config.html#BUFFER-LIMIT">buffer-limit</a></tt> option in
- the main <a href="config.html">config file</a>. The default
- is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the
- buffered data, and all pending data, is passed through
- unfiltered.
- </p>
- <p>
- Inappropriate 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 <tt class=
- "LITERAL">-filter</tt> exceptions.
- </p>
- <p>
- Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless <span
- class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is compiled with zlib
- support (requires at least <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7), in which case <span
- class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will decompress the
- content before filtering it.
- </p>
- <p>
- If you use a <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
- version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
- as much documents as possible, even those that would
- normally be sent compressed, you must use the <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</a></tt>
- action in conjunction with <tt class="LITERAL">filter</tt>.
- </p>
- <p>
- Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as
- the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> 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.
- </p>
- <p>
- <a href="contact.html">Feedback</a> with suggestions for
- new or improved filters is particularly welcome!
- </p>
- <p>
- The below list has only the names and a one-line
- description of each predefined filter. There are <a href=
- "filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS">more verbose
- explanations</a> of what these filters do in the <a href=
- "filter-file.html">filter file chapter</a>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (with filters from the distribution <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.filter</tt> file). See <a href=
- "filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters
- section</a> for more explanation on each:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FILTER" id="FILTER">8.5.16.
+ filter</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner
+ advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, add
+ personalized effects, etc.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and
+ JavaScript, to which this action applies, can be 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
+ <tt class="LITERAL">text/plain</tt> MIME type for all files
+ whose type they don't know.)</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Multi-value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The name of a content filter, as defined in the <a href=
+ "filter-file.html">filter file</a>. Filters can be defined in
+ one or more files as defined by the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href="config.html#FILTERFILE">filterfile</a></tt>
+ option in the <a href="config.html">config file</a>. <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">default.filter</tt> is the collection of filters
+ supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
+ in their own file, such as <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">user.filter</tt>.</p>
+
+ <p>When used in its negative form, and without parameters,
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span>
+ filtering is completely disabled.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p>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. (The total time until
+ the page is completely rendered doesn't change much, but it may
+ be perceived as slower since the page is not incrementally
+ displayed.) This effect will be more noticeable on slower
+ connections.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"Rolling your own"</span> filters
+ requires a knowledge of <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions" target=
+ "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"Regular Expressions"</span></a> and
+ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html" target=
+ "_top"><span class="QUOTE">"HTML"</span></a>. This is very
+ powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive. Filters
+ should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
+ <span class="QUOTE">"action"</span> is not available.</p>
+
+ <p>The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "config.html#BUFFER-LIMIT">buffer-limit</a></tt> option in the
+ main <a href="config.html">config file</a>. The default is 4096
+ KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered data,
+ and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.</p>
+
+ <p>Inappropriate 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 <tt class="LITERAL">-filter</tt>
+ exceptions.</p>
+
+ <p>Compressed content can't be filtered either, but if
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is compiled with zlib
+ support and a supported compression algorithm is used (gzip or
+ deflate), <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can first
+ decompress the content and then filter it.</p>
+
+ <p>If you use a <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
+ version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on as
+ much documents as possible, even those that would normally be
+ sent compressed, you must use the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</a></tt>
+ action in conjunction with <tt class="LITERAL">filter</tt>.</p>
+
+ <p>Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as
+ the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> 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.</p>
+
+ <p><a href="contact.html">Feedback</a> with suggestions for new
+ or improved filters is particularly welcome!</p>
+
+ <p>The below list has only the names and a one-line description
+ of each predefined filter. There are <a href=
+ "filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS">more verbose
+ explanations</a> of what these filters do in the <a href=
+ "filter-file.html">filter file chapter</a>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">default.filter</tt> file). See <a href=
+ "filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters
+ section</a> for more explanation on each:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p><a name="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES" id=
+ "FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-JS-EVENTS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).
+ <p><a name="FILTER-JS-EVENTS" id="FILTER-JS-EVENTS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++filter{js-events} # Kill JavaScript event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES" id=
+ "FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES" id=
+ "FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).
+ <p><a name="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS" id=
+ "FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags if refresh time is larger than 9 seconds.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.
+ <p><a name="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS" id=
+ "FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.
+ <p><a name="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS" id="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-IMG-REORDER"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-IMG-REORDER" id=
+ "FILTER-IMG-REORDER"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE" id=
+ "FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK" id=
+ "FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-WEBBUGS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-WEBBUGS" id="FILTER-WEBBUGS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS" id=
+ "FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS" id=
+ "FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS" id=
+ "FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-DEMORONIZER"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-IFRAMES" id="FILTER-IFRAMES"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++filter{iframes} # Removes all detected iframes. Should only be enabled for individual sites.
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+
+ <p><a name="FILTER-DEMORONIZER" id=
+ "FILTER-DEMORONIZER"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH" id=
+ "FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE" id=
+ "FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-FUN"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-FUN" id="FILTER-FUN"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL" id=
+ "FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS" id=
+ "FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-SITE-SPECIFICS"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-SITE-SPECIFICS" id=
+ "FILTER-SITE-SPECIFICS"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-NO-PING"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-NO-PING" id="FILTER-NO-PING"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-GOOGLE"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-GOOGLE" id="FILTER-GOOGLE"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-YAHOO"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-YAHOO" id="FILTER-YAHOO"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-MSN"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-MSN" id="FILTER-MSN"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <a name="FILTER-BLOGSPOT"></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><a name="FILTER-BLOGSPOT" id="FILTER-BLOGSPOT"></a></p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.
</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FORCE-TEXT-MODE" id=
+ "FORCE-TEXT-MODE">8.5.17. force-text-mode</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Force <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to treat a
+ document as if it was in some kind of <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">text</i></span> format.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Declares a document as text, even if the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> isn't detected as such.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>As explained <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER">above</a></tt>, <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> tries to only filter files that
+ are in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite</a></tt>.
+ <tt class="LITERAL">force-text-mode</tt> declares a document as
+ text, without looking at the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> first.</p>
+
+ <div class="WARNING">
+ <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center"><b>Warning</b></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">
+ <p>Think twice before activating this action. Filtering
+ binary data with regular expressions can cause file
+ damage.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">8.5.16. force-text-mode</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Force <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to treat a
- document as if it was in some kind of <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">text</i></span> format.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Declares a document as text, even if the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> isn't detected as such.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- As explained <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER">above</a></tt>, <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> tries to only filter files
- that are in some kind of text format. The same restrictions
- apply to <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite</a></tt>.
- <tt class="LITERAL">force-text-mode</tt> declares a
- document as text, without looking at the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> first.
- </p>
- <div class="WARNING">
- <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td align="CENTER">
- <b>Warning</b>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td align="LEFT">
- <p>
- Think twice before activating this action.
- Filtering binary data with regular expressions can
- cause file damage.
- </p>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </div>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+force-text-mode
</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="FORWARD-OVERRIDE" id=
+ "FORWARD-OVERRIDE">8.5.18. forward-override</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or
+ request origin</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Overrules the forward directives in the configuration
+ file.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"forward ."</span> to use a direct
+ connection without any additional proxies.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"forward 127.0.0.1:8123"</span> to
+ use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050
+ ."</span> to use the socks4a proxy listening at 127.0.0.1
+ port 9050. Replace <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"forward-socks4a"</span> with <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"forward-socks4"</span> to use a socks4 connection
+ (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"forward-socks5"</span> for socks5 connections
+ (with remote DNS resolution).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050
+ proxy.example.org:8000"</span> to use the socks4a proxy
+ listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy
+ listening at proxy.example.org port 8000. Replace
+ <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4a"</span> with
+ <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4"</span> to use a socks4
+ connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use
+ <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks5"</span> for socks5
+ connections (with remote DNS resolution).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"forward-webserver
+ 127.0.0.1:80"</span> to use the HTTP server listening at
+ 127.0.0.1 port 80 without adjusting the request
+ headers.</p>
+
+ <p>This makes it more convenient to use Privoxy to make
+ existing websites available as onion services as well.</p>
+
+ <p>Many websites serve content with hardcoded URLs and
+ can't be easily adjusted to change the domain based on the
+ one used by the client.</p>
+
+ <p>Putting Privoxy between Tor and the webserver (or an
+ stunnel that forwards to the webserver) allows to rewrite
+ headers and content to make client and server happy at the
+ same time.</p>
+
+ <p>Using Privoxy for webservers that are only reachable
+ through onion addresses and whose location is supposed to
+ be secret is not recommended and should not be necessary
+ anyway.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action takes parameters similar to the <a href=
+ "config.html#FORWARDING">forward</a> directives in the
+ configuration file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used
+ as replacement, but normally it's only used in cases where
+ matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.</p>
+
+ <div class="WARNING">
+ <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center"><b>Warning</b></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td align="left">
+ <p>Please read the description for the <a href=
+ "config.html#FORWARDING">forward</a> directives before
+ using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will
+ reduce your privacy and increase the chances of
+ man-in-the-middle attacks.</p>
+
+ <p>If the ports are missing or invalid, default values
+ will be used. This might change in the future and you
+ shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes
+ Privoxy to exit. Due to design limitations, invalid
+ parameter syntax isn't detected until the action is
+ used the first time.</p>
+
+ <p>Use the <a href=
+ "http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info" target=
+ "_top">show-url-info CGI page</a> to verify that your
+ forward settings do what you thought the do.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="FORWARD-OVERRIDE">8.5.17. forward-override</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or
- request origin
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Multi-value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"forward ."</span> to use a direct
- connection without any additional proxies.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"forward 127.0.0.1:8123"</span> to
- use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050
- ."</span> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
- 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <span class=
- "QUOTE">"forward-socks4a"</span> with <span class=
- "QUOTE">"forward-socks4"</span> to use a socks4
- connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use
- <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks5"</span> for socks5
- connections (with remote DNS resolution).
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050
- proxy.example.org:8000"</span> to use the socks4a proxy
- listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP
- proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000. Replace
- <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4a"</span> with <span
- class="QUOTE">"forward-socks4"</span> to use a socks4
- connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use
- <span class="QUOTE">"forward-socks5"</span> for socks5
- connections (with remote DNS resolution).
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action takes parameters similar to the <a href=
- "config.html#FORWARDING">forward</a> directives in the
- configuration file, but without the URL pattern. It can be
- used as replacement, but normally it's only used in cases
- where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
- </p>
- <div class="WARNING">
- <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td align="CENTER">
- <b>Warning</b>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td align="LEFT">
- <p>
- Please read the description for the <a href=
- "config.html#FORWARDING">forward</a> directives
- before using this action. Forwarding to the wrong
- people will reduce your privacy and increase the
- chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
- </p>
- <p>
- If the ports are missing or invalid, default values
- will be used. This might change in the future and
- you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect
- syntax causes Privoxy to exit.
- </p>
- <p>
- Use the <a href=
- "http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info" target=
- "_top">show-url-info CGI page</a> to verify that
- your forward settings do what you thought the do.
- </p>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </div>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-# Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
+ </div>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+# Use an ssh tunnel for requests previously tagged as
# <span class="QUOTE">"User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0"</span> and make sure
# resuming downloads continues to work.
+#
# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
+#
# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
-{+forward-override{forward .} \
+{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
-hide-if-modified-since \
-overwrite-last-modified \
}
TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">8.5.18.
- handle-as-empty-document</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">if they get
- blocked</i></span>
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just
- marks URLs. If the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">also
- applies</i></span>, the presence or absence of this mark
- decides whether an HTML <span class=
- "QUOTE">"BLOCKED"</span> page, or an empty document will be
- sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
- The <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">empty</i></span> document isn't literally empty,
- but actually contains a single space.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript
- documents are blocked with <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy's</span> default HTML page; this
- option can be used to silence them. And of course this
- action can also be used to eliminate the <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> BLOCKED message in frames.
- </p>
- <p>
- The content type for the empty document can be specified
- with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite{}</a></tt>,
- but usually this isn't necessary.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT" id=
+ "HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">8.5.19. handle-as-empty-document</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">if they get
+ blocked</i></span></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just
+ marks URLs. If the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">also applies</i></span>, the
+ presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML
+ <span class="QUOTE">"BLOCKED"</span> page, or an empty document
+ will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked
+ content. The <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">empty</i></span> document isn't literally empty, but
+ actually contains a single space.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript
+ documents are blocked with <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy's</span> default HTML page; this option
+ can be used to silence them. And of course this action can also
+ be used to eliminate the <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> BLOCKED message in frames.</p>
+
+ <p>The content type for the empty document can be specified
+ with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite{}</a></tt>,
+ but usually this isn't necessary.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
{+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
example.org/.*\.js$
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">8.5.19. handle-as-image</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by
- images <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">if they
- do get blocked</i></span>, rather than HTML pages)
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just
- marks URLs as images. If the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">also
- applies</i></span>, the presence or absence of this mark
- decides whether an HTML <span class=
- "QUOTE">"blocked"</span> page, or a replacement image (as
- determined by the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>
- action) will be sent to the client as a substitute for the
- blocked content.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The below generic example section is actually part of <tt
- class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>. It marks all URLs
- with well-known image file name extensions as images and
- should be left intact.
- </p>
- <p>
- Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image
- action in conjunction with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt>, to block sources
- of banners, whose URLs don't reflect the file type, like in
- the second example section.
- </p>
- <p>
- 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
- <tt class="LITERAL">handle-as-image</tt> in this situation
- will not replace the ad frame with an image, but lead to
- error messages.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (sections):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE" id=
+ "HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">8.5.20. handle-as-image</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by
+ images <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">if they do
+ get blocked</i></span>, rather than HTML pages)</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just
+ marks URLs as images. If the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">also applies</i></span>, the
+ presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML
+ <span class="QUOTE">"blocked"</span> page, or a replacement
+ image (as determined by the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>
+ action) will be sent to the client as a substitute for the
+ blocked content.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The below generic example section is actually part of
+ <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>. It marks all URLs
+ with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
+ be left intact.</p>
+
+ <p>Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image
+ action in conjunction with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt>, to block sources of
+ banners, whose URLs don't reflect the file type, like in the
+ second example section.</p>
+
+ <p>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 <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">handle-as-image</tt> in this situation will not
+ replace the ad frame with an image, but lead to error
+ messages.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (sections):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Generic image extensions:
#
{+handle-as-image}
{+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE">8.5.20. hide-accept-language</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Pretend to use different language settings.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes or replaces the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> HTTP header in client
- requests.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or any user
- defined value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to
- make a foreign User-Agent set with <tt class="LITERAL"><a
- href=
- "actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</a></tt>
- more believable.
- </p>
- <p>
- However some sites with content in different languages
- check the <span class="QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> to
- decide which one to take by default. Sometimes it isn't
- possible to later switch to another language without
- changing the <span class="QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span>
- header first.
- </p>
- <p>
- Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the <span
- class="QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> header to languages
- you understand, or to languages that aren't wide spread.
- </p>
- <p>
- Before setting the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> header to a rare
- language, you should consider that it helps to make your
- requests unique and thus easier to trace. If you don't plan
- to change this header frequently, you should stick to a
- common language.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE" id=
+ "HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE">8.5.21. hide-accept-language</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Pretend to use different language settings.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes or replaces the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> HTTP header in client
+ requests.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or any user
+ defined value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make
+ a foreign User-Agent set with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</a></tt>
+ more believable.</p>
+
+ <p>However some sites with content in different languages check
+ the <span class="QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> to decide
+ which one to take by default. Sometimes it isn't possible to
+ later switch to another language without changing the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> header first.</p>
+
+ <p>Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> header to
+ languages you understand, or to languages that aren't wide
+ spread.</p>
+
+ <p>Before setting the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Accept-Language:"</span> header to a rare language,
+ you should consider that it helps to make your requests unique
+ and thus easier to trace. If you don't plan to change this
+ header frequently, you should stick to a common language.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
}
/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">8.5.21.
- hide-content-disposition</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view
- inside the browser.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes or replaces the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> HTTP header set by
- some servers.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or any user
- defined value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Some servers set the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> HTTP header for
- documents they assume you want to save locally before
- viewing them. The <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> header contains the
- file name the browser is supposed to use by default.
- </p>
- <p>
- In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it
- impossible to <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">just view</i></span> the document, without
- downloading it first, even if it's just a simple text file
- or an image.
- </p>
- <p>
- Removing the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> header helps to
- prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally
- check the <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span>
- header, before they decide if they can display a document
- without saving it first. In these cases, you have to change
- this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
- download menus.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is also possible to change the server's file name
- suggestion to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth
- the time to set it up.
- </p>
- <p>
- This action will probably be removed in the future, use
- server-header filters instead.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION" id=
+ "HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">8.5.22. hide-content-disposition</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside
+ the browser.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes or replaces the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> HTTP header set by some
+ servers.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or any user
+ defined value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Some servers set the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> HTTP header for documents
+ they assume you want to save locally before viewing them. The
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> header
+ contains the file name the browser is supposed to use by
+ default.</p>
+
+ <p>In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it
+ impossible to <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">just
+ view</i></span> the document, without downloading it first,
+ even if it's just a simple text file or an image.</p>
+
+ <p>Removing the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Content-Disposition:"</span> header helps to prevent
+ this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Content-Type:"</span> header, before they
+ decide if they can display a document without saving it first.
+ In these cases, you have to change this header as well, before
+ the browser stops displaying download menus.</p>
+
+ <p>It is also possible to change the server's file name
+ suggestion to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the
+ time to set it up.</p>
+
+ <p>This action will probably be removed in the future, use
+ server-header filters instead.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
{ -filter \
+content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
+hide-content-disposition{block} }
.sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">8.5.22.
- hide-if-modified-since</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between
- sessions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"If-Modified-Since:"</span>
- HTTP client header or modifies its value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or a user
- defined value that specifies a range of hours.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where
- you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
- code <span class="QUOTE">"304"</span>, which would cause
- the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
- </p>
- <p>
- Instead of removing the header, <tt class=
- "LITERAL">hide-if-modified-since</tt> can also add or
- subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's
- value. You specify a range of minutes where the random
- factor should be chosen from and <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> does the rest. A negative
- value means subtracting, a positive value adding.
- </p>
- <p>
- Randomizing the value of the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"If-Modified-Since:"</span> makes it less likely
- that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
- but you will run into caching problems if the random range
- is too high.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and
- let <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</a></tt>
- handle the greater changes.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is also recommended to use this action together with <tt
- class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</a></tt>,
- otherwise it's more or less pointless.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE" id=
+ "HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">8.5.23. hide-if-modified-since</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between
+ sessions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"If-Modified-Since:"</span>
+ HTTP client header or modifies its value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or a user
+ defined value that specifies a range of hours.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you
+ want to force a real reload instead of getting status code
+ <span class="QUOTE">"304"</span>, which would cause the browser
+ to use a cached copy of the page.</p>
+
+ <p>Instead of removing the header, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">hide-if-modified-since</tt> can also add or subtract
+ a random amount of time to/from the header's value. You specify
+ a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen
+ from and <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> does the
+ rest. A negative value means subtracting, a positive value
+ adding.</p>
+
+ <p>Randomizing the value of the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"If-Modified-Since:"</span> makes it less likely that
+ the server can use the time as a cookie replacement, but you
+ will run into caching problems if the random range is too
+ high.</p>
+
+ <p>It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</a></tt>
+ handle the greater changes.</p>
+
+ <p>It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</a></tt>,
+ otherwise it's more or less pointless.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+crunch-if-none-match}
/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">8.5.23. hide-from-header</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers
- your email address
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes any existing <span class="QUOTE">"From:"</span>
- HTTP header, or replaces it with the specified string.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or any user
- defined value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The keyword <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span> will
- completely remove the header (not to be confused with the
- <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action).
- </p>
- <p>
- 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.
- </p>
- <p>
- This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't
- send <span class="QUOTE">"From:"</span> headers anymore.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HIDE-FROM-HEADER" id=
+ "HIDE-FROM-HEADER">8.5.24. hide-from-header</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers
+ your email address</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes any existing <span class="QUOTE">"From:"</span> HTTP
+ header, or replaces it with the specified string.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Keyword: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>, or any user
+ defined value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The keyword <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span> will
+ completely remove the header (not to be confused with the
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action).</p>
+
+ <p>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.</p>
+
+ <p>This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't
+ send <span class="QUOTE">"From:"</span> headers anymore.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+hide-from-header{block}
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- or
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>or
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HIDE-REFERRER">8.5.24. hide-referrer</a>
- </h4>
- <a name="HIDE-REFERER"></a>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"Referer:"</span> (sic)
- HTTP header from the client request, or replaces it with a
- forged one.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"conditional-block"</span> to
- delete the header completely if the host has changed.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"conditional-forge"</span> to forge
- the header if the host has changed.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span> to delete the header
- unconditionally.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"forge"</span> to pretend to be
- coming from the homepage of the server we are talking
- to.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- Any other string to set a user defined referrer.
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- <tt class="LITERAL">conditional-block</tt> is the only
- parameter, that isn't easily detected in the server's log
- file. If it blocks the referrer, the request will look like
- the visitor used a bookmark or typed in the address
- directly.
- </p>
- <p>
- Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same
- host allows the server owner to see the visitor's <span
- class="QUOTE">"click path"</span>, but in most cases she
- could also get that information by comparing other parts of
- the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't a very
- common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change
- between different requests.
- </p>
- <p>
- Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can
- lead to failures on servers that check the referrer before
- they answer any requests, in an attempt to prevent their
- content from being embedded or linked to elsewhere.
- </p>
- <p>
- Both <tt class="LITERAL">conditional-block</tt> and <tt
- class="LITERAL">forge</tt> will work with referrer checks,
- as long as content and valid referring page are on the same
- host. Most of the time that's the case.
- </p>
- <p>
- <tt class="LITERAL">hide-referer</tt> is an alternate
- spelling of <tt class="LITERAL">hide-referrer</tt> and the
- two can be can be freely substituted with each other.
- (<span class="QUOTE">"referrer"</span> is the correct
- English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug
- - it requires it to be spelled as <span class=
- "QUOTE">"referer"</span>.)
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HIDE-REFERRER" id="HIDE-REFERRER">8.5.25.
+ hide-referrer</a></h4><a name="HIDE-REFERER" id="HIDE-REFERER"></a>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular
+ site</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"Referer:"</span> (sic) HTTP
+ header from the client request, or replaces it with a forged
+ one.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"conditional-block"</span> to delete
+ the header completely if the host has changed.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"conditional-forge"</span> to forge
+ the header if the host has changed.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"block"</span> to delete the header
+ unconditionally.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"forge"</span> to pretend to be
+ coming from the homepage of the server we are talking
+ to.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">conditional-block</tt> is the only
+ parameter, that isn't easily detected in the server's log file.
+ If it blocks the referrer, the request will look like the
+ visitor used a bookmark or typed in the address directly.</p>
+
+ <p>Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same
+ host allows the server owner to see the visitor's <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"click path"</span>, but in most cases she could also
+ get that information by comparing other parts of the log file:
+ for example the User-Agent if it isn't a very common one, or
+ the user's IP address if it doesn't change between different
+ requests.</p>
+
+ <p>Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can
+ lead to failures on servers that check the referrer before they
+ answer any requests, in an attempt to prevent their content
+ from being embedded or linked to elsewhere.</p>
+
+ <p>Both <tt class="LITERAL">conditional-block</tt> and
+ <tt class="LITERAL">forge</tt> will work with referrer checks,
+ as long as content and valid referring page are on the same
+ host. Most of the time that's the case.</p>
+
+ <p><tt class="LITERAL">hide-referer</tt> is an alternate
+ spelling of <tt class="LITERAL">hide-referrer</tt> and the two
+ can be can be freely substituted with each other. (<span class=
+ "QUOTE">"referrer"</span> is the correct English spelling,
+ however the HTTP specification has a bug - it requires it to be
+ spelled as <span class="QUOTE">"referer"</span>.)</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+hide-referrer{forge}
</pre>
- </td>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>or
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="HIDE-USER-AGENT" id=
+ "HIDE-USER-AGENT">8.5.26. hide-user-agent</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating
+ system</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Replaces the value of the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"User-Agent:"</span> HTTP header in client requests
+ with the specified value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Any user-defined string.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <div class="WARNING">
+ <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td align="center"><b>Warning</b></td>
</tr>
- </table>
- or
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+
<tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
-+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
-</pre>
+ <td align="left">
+ <p>This can lead to problems on web sites that depend
+ on looking at this header in order to customize their
+ content for different browsers (which, by the way, is
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">NOT</i></span> the right thing to do: good
+ web sites work browser-independently).</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="HIDE-USER-AGENT">8.5.25. hide-user-agent</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating
- system
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Replaces the value of the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"User-Agent:"</span> HTTP header in client requests
- with the specified value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Any user-defined string.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <div class="WARNING">
- <table class="WARNING" border="1" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td align="CENTER">
- <b>Warning</b>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td align="LEFT">
- <p>
- This can lead to problems on web sites that depend
- on looking at this header in order to customize
- their content for different browsers (which, by the
- way, is <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">NOT</i></span> the right thing to do:
- good web sites work browser-independently).
- </p>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </div>
- <p>
- Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever
- different types of browsers will access the same <span
- class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not recommended</i></span>.
- In single-user, single-browser setups, you might use it to
- delete your OS version information from the headers,
- because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
- OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order
- to access sites that won't let you in otherwise (though
- there may be a good reason in some cases).
- </p>
- <p>
- More information on known user-agent strings can be found
- at <a href="http://www.user-agents.org/" target=
- "_top">http://www.user-agents.org/</a> and <a href=
- "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent" target=
- "_top">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</a>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different
+ types of browsers will access the same <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not recommended</i></span>. In
+ single-user, single-browser setups, you might use it to delete
+ your OS version information from the headers, because it is an
+ invitation to exploit known bugs for your OS. It is also
+ occasionally useful to forge this in order to access sites that
+ won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good reason
+ in some cases).</p>
+
+ <p>More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
+ <a href="http://www.user-agents.org/" target=
+ "_top">http://www.user-agents.org/</a> and <a href=
+ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent" target=
+ "_top">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</a>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="LIMIT-CONNECT">8.5.26. limit-connect</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Prevent abuse of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
- as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are
- allowable.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter
- using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and the
- maximum to 65K).
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- By default, i.e. if no <tt class=
- "LITERAL">limit-connect</tt> action applies, <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> allows HTTP CONNECT requests
- to all ports. Use <tt class="LITERAL">limit-connect</tt> if
- fine-grained control is desired for some or all
- destinations.
- </p>
- <p>
- The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to
- secure websites (<span class="QUOTE">"https://"</span>
- 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 means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
- used as TCP relays very easily.
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> relays HTTPS
- traffic without seeing the decoded content. Websites can
- leverage this limitation to circumvent <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s filters. By specifying an
- invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usages:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="LIMIT-CONNECT" id="LIMIT-CONNECT">8.5.27.
+ limit-connect</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Prevent abuse of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> as
+ a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are
+ allowable.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter
+ using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and the maximum
+ to 65K).</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>By default, i.e. if no <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">limit-connect</tt> action applies, <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to
+ all ports. Use <tt class="LITERAL">limit-connect</tt> if
+ fine-grained control is desired for some or all
+ destinations.</p>
+
+ <p>The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure
+ websites (<span class="QUOTE">"https://"</span> 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 means
+ CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very
+ easily.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> relays HTTPS
+ traffic without seeing the decoded content. Websites can
+ leverage this limitation to circumvent <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s filters. By specifying an
+ invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usages:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
+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
+limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">8.5.27. prevent-compression</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it
- can be passed through <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt>s.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask
- for compressed transfer.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- More and more websites send their content compressed by
- default, which is generally a good idea and saves
- bandwidth. But the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt> and <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</a></tt>
- actions need access to the uncompressed data.
- </p>
- <p>
- When compiled with zlib support (available since <span
- class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7), content that
- should be filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't
- have to worry about this action. If you are using an older
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> version, or one
- that hasn't been compiled with zlib support, this action
- can be used to convince the server to send the content
- uncompressed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is
- seldom decreased by less than 50%, for markup-heavy
- instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the
- original size isn't unusual.
- </p>
- <p>
- Not using compression will therefore slow down the
- transfer, and you should only enable this action if you
- really need it. As of <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
- predefined action settings.
- </p>
- <p>
- Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle
- requests for uncompressed documents correctly. Broken PHP
- applications tend to send an empty document body, some IIS
- versions only send the beginning of the content. If you
- enable <tt class="LITERAL">prevent-compression</tt> per
- default, you might want to add exceptions for those sites.
- See the example for how to do that.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (sections):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="LIMIT-COOKIE-LIFETIME" id=
+ "LIMIT-COOKIE-LIFETIME">8.5.28. limit-cookie-lifetime</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Limit the lifetime of HTTP cookies to a couple of minutes or
+ hours.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Overwrites the expires field in Set-Cookie server headers if
+ it's above the specified limit.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The lifetime limit in minutes, or 0.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action reduces the lifetime of HTTP cookies coming from
+ the server to the specified number of minutes, starting from
+ the time the cookie passes Privoxy.</p>
+
+ <p>Cookies with a lifetime below the limit are not modified.
+ The lifetime of session cookies is set to the specified
+ limit.</p>
+
+ <p>The effect of this action depends on the server.</p>
+
+ <p>In case of servers which refresh their cookies with each
+ response (or at least frequently), the lifetime limit set by
+ this action is updated as well. Thus, a session associated with
+ the cookie continues to work with this action enabled, as long
+ as a new request is made before the last limit set is
+ reached.</p>
+
+ <p>However, some servers send their cookies once, with a
+ lifetime of several years (the year 2037 is a popular choice),
+ and do not refresh them until a certain event in the future,
+ for example the user logging out. In this case this action may
+ limit the absolute lifetime of the session, even if requests
+ are made frequently.</p>
+
+ <p>If the parameter is <span class="QUOTE">"0"</span>, this
+ action behaves like <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</a></tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usages:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
++limit-cookie-lifetime{60}
+
+</pre>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="PREVENT-COMPRESSION" id=
+ "PREVENT-COMPRESSION">8.5.29. prevent-compression</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can
+ be passed through <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt>s.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask
+ for compressed transfer.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>More and more websites send their content compressed by
+ default, which is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth.
+ But the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt> and <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</a></tt>
+ actions need access to the uncompressed data.</p>
+
+ <p>When compiled with zlib support (available since
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7), content that
+ should be filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't
+ have to worry about this action. If you are using an older
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> version, or one that
+ hasn't been compiled with zlib support, this action can be used
+ to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.</p>
+
+ <p>Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is
+ seldom decreased by less than 50%, for markup-heavy instances
+ like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
+ unusual.</p>
+
+ <p>Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer,
+ and you should only enable this action if you really need it.
+ As of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7 it's
+ disabled in all predefined action settings.</p>
+
+ <p>Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle
+ requests for uncompressed documents correctly. Broken PHP
+ applications tend to send an empty document body, some IIS
+ versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
+ <tt class="LITERAL">prevent-compression</tt> per default, you
+ might want to add exceptions for those sites. See the example
+ for how to do that.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (sections):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
#
{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
{ -prevent-compression }
.compusa.com/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">8.5.28.
- overwrite-last-modified</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between
- sessions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span>
- HTTP server header or modifies its value.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- One of the keywords: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>,
- <span class="QUOTE">"reset-to-request-time"</span> and
- <span class="QUOTE">"randomize"</span>
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Removing the <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span>
- header is useful for filter testing, where you want to
- force a real reload instead of getting status code <span
- class="QUOTE">"304"</span>, which would cause the browser
- to reuse the old version of the page.
- </p>
- <p>
- The <span class="QUOTE">"randomize"</span> option
- overwrites the value of the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span> header with a randomly
- chosen time between the original value and the current
- time. In theory the server could send each document with a
- different <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span>
- header to track visits without using cookies. <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Randomize"</span> makes it impossible and the
- browser can still revalidate cached documents.
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"reset-to-request-time"</span>
- overwrites the value of the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span> header with the current
- time. You could use this option together with <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</a></tt>
- to further customize your random range.
- </p>
- <p>
- The preferred parameter here is <span class=
- "QUOTE">"randomize"</span>. It is safe to use, as long as
- the time settings are more or less correct. If the server
- sets the <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span> header
- to the time of the request, the random range becomes zero
- and the value stays the same. Therefore you should later
- randomize it a second time with <tt class="LITERAL"><a
- href=
- "actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hided-if-modified-since</a></tt>,
- just to be sure.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is also recommended to use this action together with <tt
- class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</a></tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED" id=
+ "OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">8.5.30. overwrite-last-modified</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between
+ sessions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span> HTTP
+ server header or modifies its value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>One of the keywords: <span class="QUOTE">"block"</span>,
+ <span class="QUOTE">"reset-to-request-time"</span> and
+ <span class="QUOTE">"randomize"</span></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Removing the <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span>
+ header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a
+ real reload instead of getting status code <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"304"</span>, which would cause the browser to reuse
+ the old version of the page.</p>
+
+ <p>The <span class="QUOTE">"randomize"</span> option overwrites
+ the value of the <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span>
+ header with a randomly chosen time between the original value
+ and the current time. In theory the server could send each
+ document with a different <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span> header to track visits without
+ using cookies. <span class="QUOTE">"Randomize"</span> makes it
+ impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached
+ documents.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"reset-to-request-time"</span>
+ overwrites the value of the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span> header with the current time.
+ You could use this option together with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</a></tt>
+ to further customize your random range.</p>
+
+ <p>The preferred parameter here is <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"randomize"</span>. It is safe to use, as long as the
+ time settings are more or less correct. If the server sets the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Last-Modified:"</span> header to the time
+ of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value
+ stays the same. Therefore you should later randomize it a
+ second time with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hided-if-modified-since</a></tt>,
+ just to be sure.</p>
+
+ <p>It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</a></tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+crunch-if-none-match}
/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="REDIRECT">8.5.29. redirect</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Redirect requests to other sites.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Convinces the browser that the requested document has been
- moved to another location and the browser should get it
- from there.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
- HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
- either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
- single pcrs command to the original URL.
- </p>
- <p>
- This action will be ignored if you use it together with <tt
- class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt>. It can be
- combined with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</a></tt>
- to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
- </p>
- <p>
- Use this action carefully, make sure not to create
- redirection loops and be aware that using your own
- redirects might make it possible to fingerprint your
- requests.
- </p>
- <p>
- In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
- them working, enable <a href="config.html#DEBUG">debug
- 128</a>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usages:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="REDIRECT" id="REDIRECT">8.5.31.
+ redirect</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Redirect requests to other sites.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Convinces the browser that the requested document has been
+ moved to another location and the browser should get it from
+ there.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
+ HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is either
+ provided as parameter, or derived by applying a single pcrs
+ command to the original URL.</p>
+
+ <p>The syntax for pcrs commands is documented in the <a href=
+ "filter-file.html">filter file</a> section.</p>
+
+ <p>Requests can't be blocked and redirected at the same time,
+ applying this action together with <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> is a configuration
+ error. Currently the request is blocked and an error message
+ logged, the behavior may change in the future and result in
+ Privoxy rejecting the action file.</p>
+
+ <p>This action can be combined with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</a></tt>
+ to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.</p>
+
+ <p>Use this action carefully, make sure not to create
+ redirection loops and be aware that using your own redirects
+ might make it possible to fingerprint your requests.</p>
+
+ <p>In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
+ them working, enable <a href="config.html#DEBUG">debug
+ 128</a>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usages:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
example.com/stylesheet\.css
# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
-# (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to <span class=
+# (relies on the browser to accept and forward invalid URLs to <span class=
"APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>)
-{ +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
+{ +redirect{https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
a
# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
+# Redirect http://example.com/&bla=fasel&toChange=foo (and any other value but "bar")
+# to http://example.com/&bla=fasel&toChange=bar
+#
+# The URL pattern makes sure that the following request isn't redirected again.
+{+redirect{s@toChange=[^&]+@toChange=bar@}}
+example.com/.*toChange=(?!bar)
+
+# Add a shortcut to look up illumos bugs
+{+redirect{s@^http://i([0-9]+)/.*@https://www.illumos.org/issues/$1@}}
+# Redirected URL = http://i4974/
+# Redirect Destination = https://www.illumos.org/issues/4974
+i[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]*/
+
# Redirect remote requests for this manual
# to the local version delivered by Privoxy
{+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
www.privoxy.org/user-manual/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">8.5.30. server-header-filter</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Rewrite or remove single server headers.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- All server headers to which this action applies are
- filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
- expression based substitutions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of
- the <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Server-header filters are applied to each header on its
- own, not to all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose
- problems, but on the downside you can't write filters that
- only change header x if header y's value is z. You can do
- that by using tags though.
- </p>
- <p>
- Server-header filters are executed after the other header
- actions have finished and use their output as input.
- </p>
- <p>
- Please refer to the <a href="filter-file.html">filter file
- chapter</a> to learn which server-header filters are
- available by default, and how to create your own.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER" id=
+ "SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">8.5.32. server-header-filter</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Rewrite or remove single server headers.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>All server headers to which this action applies are filtered
+ on-the-fly through the specified regular expression based
+ substitutions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Multi-value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own,
+ not to all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems,
+ but on the downside you can't write filters that only change
+ header x if header y's value is z. You can do that by using
+ tags though.</p>
+
+ <p>Server-header filters are executed after the other header
+ actions have finished and use their output as input.</p>
+
+ <p>Please refer to the <a href="filter-file.html">filter file
+ chapter</a> to learn which server-header filters are available
+ by default, and how to create your own.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">8.5.31. server-header-tagger</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Server headers to which this action applies are filtered
- on-the-fly through the specified regular expression based
- substitutions, the result is used as tag.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of
- the <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its
- own, and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <span
- class="QUOTE">"sees"</span> the original.
- </p>
- <p>
- Server-header taggers are executed before all other header
- actions that modify server headers. Their tags can be used
- to control all of the other server-header actions, the
- content filters and the crunch actions (<a href=
- "actions-file.html#REDIRECT">redirect</a> and <a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a>).
- </p>
- <p>
- Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header
- taggers doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the
- server's log file.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage (section):
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER" id=
+ "SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">8.5.33. server-header-tagger</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type
+ header.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Server headers to which this action applies are filtered
+ on-the-fly through the specified regular expression based
+ substitutions, the result is used as tag.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Multi-value.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <a href="filter-file.html">filter files</a>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
+ and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"sees"</span> the original.</p>
+
+ <p>Server-header taggers are executed before all other header
+ actions that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to
+ control all of the other server-header actions, the content
+ filters and the crunch actions (<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#REDIRECT">redirect</a> and <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a>).</p>
+
+ <p>Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header
+ taggers doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the
+ server's log file.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage (section):</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
{+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
/
+# If the response has a tag starting with 'image/' enable an external
+# filter that only applies to images.
+#
+# Note that the filter is not available by default, it's just a
+# <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+"filter-file.html#EXTERNAL-FILTER-SYNTAX">silly example</a></tt>.
+{+external-filter{rotate-image} +force-text-mode}
+TAG:^image/
+
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">8.5.32. session-cookies-only</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Allow only temporary <span class="QUOTE">"session"</span>
- cookies (for the current browser session <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">only</i></span>).
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"expires"</span> field from
- <span class="QUOTE">"Set-Cookie:"</span> server headers.
- Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
- forget them in between sessions.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Boolean.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- N/A
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This is less strict than <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a></tt>
- / <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a></tt>
- and allows you to browse websites that insist or rely on
- setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too
- badly.
- </p>
- <p>
- Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have
- been processed by <tt class=
- "LITERAL">session-cookies-only</tt> 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.
- </p>
- <p>
- It makes <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">no
- sense at all</i></span> to use <tt class=
- "LITERAL">session-cookies-only</tt> together with <tt
- class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a></tt>
- or <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a></tt>.
- If you do, cookies will be plainly killed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such
- cookies without an <span class="QUOTE">"expires"</span>
- field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try
- it out to be sure.
- </p>
- <p>
- This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have
- been stored previously by the browser before starting <span
- class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>. These would have to be
- removed manually.
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> also uses the <a
- href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">content-cookies
- filter</a> to block some types of cookies. Content cookies
- are not effected by <tt class=
- "LITERAL">session-cookies-only</tt>.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY" id=
+ "SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">8.5.34. session-cookies-only</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Allow only temporary <span class="QUOTE">"session"</span>
+ cookies (for the current browser session <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">only</i></span>).</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Deletes the <span class="QUOTE">"expires"</span> field from
+ <span class="QUOTE">"Set-Cookie:"</span> server headers. Most
+ browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget
+ them in between sessions.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Boolean.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>N/A</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This is less strict than <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a></tt>
+ / <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a></tt>
+ and allows you to browse websites that insist or rely on
+ setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too
+ badly.</p>
+
+ <p>Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have
+ been processed by <tt class="LITERAL">session-cookies-only</tt>
+ 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.</p>
+
+ <p>It makes <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">no sense
+ at all</i></span> to use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">session-cookies-only</tt> together with <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a></tt>
+ or <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a></tt>.
+ If you do, cookies will be plainly killed.</p>
+
+ <p>Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such
+ cookies without an <span class="QUOTE">"expires"</span> field.
+ If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to
+ be sure.</p>
+
+ <p>This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have
+ been stored previously by the browser before starting
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>. These would have to
+ be removed manually.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> also uses the
+ <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">content-cookies
+ filter</a> to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are
+ not effected by <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">session-cookies-only</tt>.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+session-cookies-only
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h4 class="SECT3">
- <a name="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">8.5.33. set-image-blocker</a>
- </h4>
- <div class="VARIABLELIST">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- Typical use:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Choose the replacement for blocked images
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Effect:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span> <tt
- class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">and</i></span> <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>
- <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">also</i></span>
- apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
- <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">then</i></span>
- the parameter of this action decides what will be sent as a
- replacement.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Type:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Parameterized.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Parameter:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"pattern"</span> to send a built-in
- checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
- decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where
- banners were busted.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"blank"</span> to send a built-in
- transparent image. This makes banners disappear
- completely, but makes it hard to detect where <span
- class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has blocked images
- on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has blocked
- innocent images, like navigation icons.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class=
- "REPLACEABLE"><i>target-url</i></tt>"</span> to send a
- redirect to <tt class=
- "REPLACEABLE"><i>target-url</i></tt>. You can redirect
- to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem
- via <span class="QUOTE">"file:///"</span> URL. (But
- note that not all browsers support redirecting to a
- local file system).
- </p>
- <p>
- A good application of redirects is to use special <span
- class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>-built-in URLs, which
- send the built-in images, as <tt class=
- "REPLACEABLE"><i>target-url</i></tt>. This has the same
- visual effect as specifying <span class=
- "QUOTE">"blank"</span> or <span class=
- "QUOTE">"pattern"</span> in the first place, but
- enables your browser to cache the replacement image,
- instead of requesting it over and over again.
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Notes:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- The URLs for the built-in images are <span class=
- "QUOTE">"http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<tt
- class="REPLACEABLE"><i>type</i></tt>"</span>, where <tt
- class="REPLACEABLE"><i>type</i></tt> is either <span class=
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h4 class="SECT3"><a name="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER" id=
+ "SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">8.5.35. set-image-blocker</a></h4>
+
+ <div class="VARIABLELIST">
+ <dl>
+ <dt>Typical use:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Choose the replacement for blocked images</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Effect:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">both</i></span>
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">and</i></span> <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">also</i></span>
+ apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">then</i></span> the
+ parameter of this action decides what will be sent as a
+ replacement.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Type:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Parameterized.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Parameter:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"pattern"</span> to send a built-in
+ checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually decent,
+ scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were
+ busted.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"blank"</span> to send a built-in
+ transparent image. This makes banners disappear completely,
+ but makes it hard to detect where <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has blocked images on a given
+ page and complicates troubleshooting if <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> has blocked innocent images,
+ like navigation icons.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="QUOTE">"<tt class=
+ "REPLACEABLE"><i>target-url</i></tt>"</span> to send a
+ redirect to <tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>target-url</i></tt>.
+ You can redirect to any image anywhere, even in your local
+ filesystem via <span class="QUOTE">"file:///"</span> URL.
+ (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a
+ local file system).</p>
+
+ <p>A good application of redirects is to use special
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>-built-in URLs,
+ which send the built-in images, as <tt class=
+ "REPLACEABLE"><i>target-url</i></tt>. This has the same
+ visual effect as specifying <span class=
"QUOTE">"blank"</span> or <span class=
- "QUOTE">"pattern"</span>.
- </p>
- <p>
- There is a third (advanced) type, called <span class=
- "QUOTE">"auto"</span>. It is <span class="emphasis"><i
- class="EMPHASIS">NOT</i></span> to be used in <tt class=
- "LITERAL">set-image-blocker</tt>, but meant for use from <a
- href="filter-file.html">filters</a>. Auto will select the
- type of image that would have applied to the referring
- page, had it been an image.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- Example usage:
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Built-in pattern:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ "QUOTE">"pattern"</span> in the first place, but enables
+ your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of
+ requesting it over and over again.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Notes:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The URLs for the built-in images are <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<tt class=
+ "REPLACEABLE"><i>type</i></tt>"</span>, where <tt class=
+ "REPLACEABLE"><i>type</i></tt> is either <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"blank"</span> or <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"pattern"</span>.</p>
+
+ <p>There is a third (advanced) type, called <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"auto"</span>. It is <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">NOT</i></span> to be used in <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">set-image-blocker</tt>, but meant for use from
+ <a href="filter-file.html">filters</a>. Auto will select the
+ type of image that would have applied to the referring page,
+ had it been an image.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt>Example usage:</dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Built-in pattern:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+set-image-blocker{pattern}
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Redirect to the BSD daemon:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Redirect to the BSD daemon:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="90%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h3 class="SECT3">
- <a name="AEN4549">8.5.34. Summary</a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a
- page to misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are
- many ways a site designer may choose to design his site, and what
- HTTP header content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There
- is no way to have hard and fast rules for all sites. See the <a
- href="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</a> for a brief example
- on troubleshooting actions.
- </p>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
</div>
</div>
- <div class="SECT2">
- <h2 class="SECT2">
- <a name="ALIASES">8.6. Aliases</a>
- </h2>
- <p>
- Custom <span class="QUOTE">"actions"</span>, known to <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> as <span class=
- "QUOTE">"aliases"</span>, can be defined by combining other
- actions. These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in
- actions. Currently, an alias name can contain any character except
- space, tab, <span class="QUOTE">"="</span>, <span class=
- "QUOTE">"{"</span> and <span class="QUOTE">"}"</span>, but we <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">strongly recommend</i></span>
- that you only use <span class="QUOTE">"a"</span> to <span class=
- "QUOTE">"z"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"0"</span> to <span class=
- "QUOTE">"9"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"+"</span>, and <span
- class="QUOTE">"-"</span>. Alias names are not case sensitive, and
- are not required to start with a <span class="QUOTE">"+"</span> or
- <span class="QUOTE">"-"</span> sign, since they are merely
- textually expanded.
- </p>
- <p>
- Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <span
- class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">must be defined in a special
- section at the top of the file!</i></span> And there can only be
- one such section per actions file. Each actions file may have its
- own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
- within that file.
- </p>
- <p>
- There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing
- for frequently used combinations of actions, the other one is a
- gain in flexibility: If you decide once how you want to handle
- shops by defining an alias called <span class=
- "QUOTE">"shop"</span>, you can later change your policy on shops in
- <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">one</i></span> place,
- and your changes will take effect everywhere in the actions file
- where the <span class="QUOTE">"shop"</span> alias is used. Calling
- aliases by their purpose also makes your actions files more
- readable.
- </p>
- <p>
- Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
- <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s built-in web-based
- action file editor honors aliases when reading the actions files,
- but it expands them before writing. So the effects of your aliases
- are of course preserved, but the aliases themselves are lost when
- you edit sections that use aliases with it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Now let's define some aliases...
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="SUMMARY" id="SUMMARY">8.5.36.
+ Summary</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page
+ to misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many
+ ways a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP
+ header content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way
+ to have hard and fast rules for all sites. See the <a href=
+ "appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</a> for a brief example on
+ troubleshooting actions.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="ALIASES" id="ALIASES">8.6. Aliases</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Custom <span class="QUOTE">"actions"</span>, known to <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> as <span class="QUOTE">"aliases"</span>,
+ can be defined by combining other actions. These can in turn be invoked
+ just like the built-in actions. Currently, an alias name can contain
+ any character except space, tab, <span class="QUOTE">"="</span>,
+ <span class="QUOTE">"{"</span> and <span class="QUOTE">"}"</span>, but
+ we <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">strongly
+ recommend</i></span> that you only use <span class="QUOTE">"a"</span>
+ to <span class="QUOTE">"z"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"0"</span> to
+ <span class="QUOTE">"9"</span>, <span class="QUOTE">"+"</span>, and
+ <span class="QUOTE">"-"</span>. Alias names are not case sensitive, and
+ are not required to start with a <span class="QUOTE">"+"</span> or
+ <span class="QUOTE">"-"</span> sign, since they are merely textually
+ expanded.</p>
+
+ <p>Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they
+ <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">must be defined in a special
+ section at the top of the file!</i></span> And there can only be one
+ such section per actions file. Each actions file may have its own alias
+ section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible within that
+ file.</p>
+
+ <p>There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for
+ frequently used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in
+ flexibility: If you decide once how you want to handle shops by
+ defining an alias called <span class="QUOTE">"shop"</span>, you can
+ later change your policy on shops in <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">one</i></span> place, and your changes will take effect
+ everywhere in the actions file where the <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"shop"</span> alias is used. Calling aliases by their purpose
+ also makes your actions files more readable.</p>
+
+ <p>Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
+ <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s built-in web-based action
+ file editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it
+ expands them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of
+ course preserved, but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit
+ sections that use aliases with it.</p>
+
+ <p>Now let's define some aliases...</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Useful custom aliases we can use later.
#
# Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
# (Note that some already use other aliases!)
#
+crunch-all-cookies = +<a href=
-"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> +<a
-href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
+"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> +<a href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
-crunch-all-cookies = -<a href=
-"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> -<a
-href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
+"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> -<a href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
+block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<a href=
"actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</a> -<a href=
c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
c1 = -crunch-all-cookies
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- ...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 <span class=
- "QUOTE">"/"</span> pattern):
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>...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 <span class="QUOTE">"/"</span>
+ pattern):</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# These sites are either very complex or very keen on
# user data and require minimal interference to work:
#
.dabs.com
.overclockers.co.uk
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Aliases like <span class="QUOTE">"shop"</span> and <span class=
- "QUOTE">"fragile"</span> are typically used for <span class=
- "QUOTE">"problem"</span> sites that require more than one action to
- be disabled in order to function properly.
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT2">
- <h2 class="SECT2">
- <a name="ACT-EXAMPLES">8.7. Actions Files Tutorial</a>
- </h2>
- <p>
- The above chapters have shown <a href="actions-file.html">which
- actions files there are and how they are organized</a>, how actions
- are <a href="actions-file.html#ACTIONS">specified</a> and <a href=
- "actions-file.html#ACTIONS-APPLY">applied to URLs</a>, how <a href=
- "actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">patterns</a> work, and how to
- define and use <a href="actions-file.html#ALIASES">aliases</a>.
- Now, let's look at an example <tt class=
- "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>, <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.action</tt> and <tt class=
- "FILENAME">user.action</tt> file and see how all these pieces come
- together:
- </p>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h3 class="SECT3">
- <a name="AEN4613">8.7.1. match-all.action</a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- Remember <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all actions
- are disabled when matching starts</i></span>, so we have to
- explicitly enable the ones we want.
- </p>
- <p>
- While the <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> file only
- contains a single section, it is probably the most important one.
- It has only one pattern, <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class=
- "LITERAL">/</tt>"</span>, but this pattern <a href=
- "actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">matches all URLs</a>. Therefore,
- the set of actions used in this <span class=
- "QUOTE">"default"</span> section <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">will be applied to all requests as a start</i></span>.
- It can be partly or wholly overridden by other actions files like
- <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> and <tt class=
- "FILENAME">user.action</tt>, but it will still be largely
- responsible for your overall browsing experience.
- </p>
- <p>
- Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so
- there is no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <span
- class="QUOTE">"+"</span> preceding the action name enables the
- action, a <span class="QUOTE">"-"</span> disables!). Also note
- how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it
- into multiple lines with line continuation.
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Aliases like <span class="QUOTE">"shop"</span> and <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"fragile"</span> are typically used for <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"problem"</span> sites that require more than one action to be
+ disabled in order to function properly.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT2">
+ <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="ACT-EXAMPLES" id="ACT-EXAMPLES">8.7. Actions
+ Files Tutorial</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The above chapters have shown <a href="actions-file.html">which
+ actions files there are and how they are organized</a>, how actions are
+ <a href="actions-file.html#ACTIONS">specified</a> and <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#ACTIONS-APPLY">applied to URLs</a>, how <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">patterns</a> work, and how to define
+ and use <a href="actions-file.html#ALIASES">aliases</a>. Now, let's
+ look at an example <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>,
+ <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> and <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">user.action</tt> file and see how all these pieces come
+ together:</p>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="MATCH-ALL" id="MATCH-ALL">8.7.1.
+ match-all.action</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Remember <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all actions
+ are disabled when matching starts</i></span>, so we have to
+ explicitly enable the ones we want.</p>
+
+ <p>While the <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> file only
+ contains a single section, it is probably the most important one. It
+ has only one pattern, <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class=
+ "LITERAL">/</tt>"</span>, but this pattern <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">matches all URLs</a>. Therefore, the
+ set of actions used in this <span class="QUOTE">"default"</span>
+ section <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">will be applied to
+ all requests as a start</i></span>. It can be partly or wholly
+ overridden by other actions files like <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">default.action</tt> and <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">user.action</tt>, but it will still be largely responsible
+ for your overall browsing experience.</p>
+
+ <p>Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so
+ there is no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a
+ <span class="QUOTE">"+"</span> preceding the action name enables the
+ action, a <span class="QUOTE">"-"</span> disables!). Also note how
+ this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
+ multiple lines with line continuation.</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ \
+<a href=
"actions-file.html#CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</a> \
"actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</a> \
}
/ # Match all URLs
+
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- The default behavior is now set.
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h3 class="SECT3">
- <a name="AEN4635">8.7.2. default.action</a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
- <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> file. It is maintained
- by the <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> developers and if
- you disagree with some of the sections, you should overrule them
- in your <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>.
- </p>
- <p>
- Understanding the <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> file
- can help you with your <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>,
- though.
- </p>
- <p>
- The first section in this file is a special section for internal
- use that prevents older <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
- versions from reading the file:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>The default behavior is now set.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="DEFAULT-ACTION" id="DEFAULT-ACTION">8.7.2.
+ default.action</a></h3>
+
+ <p>If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
+ <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> file. It is maintained by
+ the <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> developers and if you
+ disagree with some of the sections, you should overrule them in your
+ <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>.</p>
+
+ <p>Understanding the <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> file
+ can help you with your <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>,
+ though.</p>
+
+ <p>The first section in this file is a special section for internal
+ use that prevents older <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
+ versions from reading the file:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
##########################################################################
# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
##########################################################################
{{settings}}
for-privoxy-version=3.0.11
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the
- example section from the above <a href=
- "actions-file.html#ALIASES">chapter on aliases</a>, that also
- explains why and how aliases are used:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the
+ example section from the above <a href=
+ "actions-file.html#ALIASES">chapter on aliases</a>, that also
+ explains why and how aliases are used:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
##########################################################################
# Aliases
##########################################################################
# (Note that some already use other aliases!)
#
+crunch-all-cookies = +<a href=
-"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> +<a
-href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
+"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> +<a href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
-crunch-all-cookies = -<a href=
-"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> -<a
-href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
+"actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</a> -<a href="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</a>
+block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<a href=
"actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</a> -<a href=
shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<a href=
"actions-file.html#FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</a>
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <span
- class="QUOTE">"fragile"</span> sites, i.e. sites that require
- minimum interference, because they are either very complex or
- very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that make
- them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply
- use our pre-defined <tt class="LITERAL">fragile</tt> alias
- instead of stating the list of actions explicitly:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>The first of our specialized sections is concerned with
+ <span class="QUOTE">"fragile"</span> sites, i.e. sites that require
+ minimum interference, because they are either very complex or very
+ keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that make them
+ unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use our
+ pre-defined <tt class="LITERAL">fragile</tt> alias instead of stating
+ the list of actions explicitly:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
##########################################################################
# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
##########################################################################
.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
mail.google.com
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- 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:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>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:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Shopping sites:
#
{ shop }
.jungle.com
.scan.co.uk
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- The <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</a></tt>
- action, which may have been enabled in <tt class=
- "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>, breaks some sites. So disable
- it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>The <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</a></tt> action,
+ which may have been enabled in <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>, breaks some sites. So disable it
+ for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ -<a href="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</a> }
login.yahoo.com
edit.*.yahoo.com
.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
.nytimes.com
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- It is important that <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
- knows which URLs belong to images, so that <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">if</i></span> they are to be
- blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML
- page. Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option,
- since it would destroy the loading time advantage of banner
- blocking, and it would feed the advertisers information about
- you. We can mark any URL as an image with the <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>
- action, and marking all URLs that end in a known image file
- extension is a good start:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>It is important that <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
+ knows which URLs belong to images, so that <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">if</i></span> they are to be blocked,
+ a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page. Contacting
+ the remote site to find out is not an option, since it would destroy
+ the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it would feed the
+ advertisers information about you. We can mark any URL as an image
+ with the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt> action,
+ and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
+ good start:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
##########################################################################
# Images:
##########################################################################
{ +<a href="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a> }
/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- 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. Hence we block them <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">and</i></span> mark them as images
- in one go, with the help of our <tt class=
- "LITERAL">+block-as-image</tt> alias defined above. (We could of
- course just as well use <tt class="LITERAL">+<a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a> +<a href=
- "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt>
- here.) Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen
- by the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>
- action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
- <tt class="LITERAL">+<a href=
- "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a>{pattern}</tt>
- action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>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. Hence we block them <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">and</i></span> mark them as images in
+ one go, with the help of our <tt class="LITERAL">+block-as-image</tt>
+ alias defined above. (We could of course just as well use <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">+<a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a> +<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</a></tt> here.)
+ Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a></tt>
+ action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
+ <tt class="LITERAL">+<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker</a>{pattern}</tt>
+ action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Known ad generators:
#
{ +block-as-image }
bs*.gsanet.com
.qkimg.net
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- One of the most important jobs of <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is to block banners. Many of these
- can be <span class="QUOTE">"blocked"</span> by the <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a>{banners-by-size}</tt>
- action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references
- to banner images from the pages while they are loaded, so the
- browser doesn't request them anymore, and hence they don't need
- to be blocked here. But this naturally doesn't catch all banners,
- and some people choose not to use filters, so we need a
- comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply
- the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action to them.
- </p>
- <p>
- First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
- matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then
- comes a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is
- omitted here to keep the example short:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>One of the most important jobs of <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is to block banners. Many of these can
+ be <span class="QUOTE">"blocked"</span> by the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a>{banners-by-size}</tt> action,
+ which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
+ images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't
+ request them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here.
+ But this naturally doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose
+ not to use filters, so we need a comprehensive list of patterns for
+ banner URLs here, and apply the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action to them.</p>
+
+ <p>First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
+ matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then
+ comes a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is
+ omitted here to keep the example short:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
##########################################################################
# Block these fine banners:
##########################################################################
#
.hitbox.com
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their
- banner servers ads.<tt class=
- "REPLACEABLE"><i>company</i></tt>.com, or call the directory in
- which the banners are stored simply <span class=
- "QUOTE">"banners"</span>. So the above generic patterns are
- surprisingly effective.
- </p>
- <p>
- But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we
- don't want to block. The pattern <tt class="LITERAL">.*ads.</tt>
- e.g. catches <span class="QUOTE">"nasty-<span class="emphasis"><i
- class="EMPHASIS">ads</i></span>.nasty-corp.com"</span> as
- intended, but also <span class="QUOTE">"downlo<span class=
- "emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">ads</i></span>.sourcefroge.net"</span> or <span class=
- "QUOTE">"<span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">ads</i></span>l.some-provider.net."</span> So here
- come some well-known exceptions to the <tt class="LITERAL">+<a
- href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> section above.
- </p>
- <p>
- Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default!
- Consider the URL <span class=
- "QUOTE">"downloads.sourcefroge.net"</span>: Initially, all
- actions are deactivated, so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes
- the defaults section, which matches the URL, but just deactivates
- the <tt class="LITERAL"><a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action once again. Then
- it matches <tt class="LITERAL">.*ads.</tt>, an exception to the
- general non-blocking policy, and suddenly <tt class="LITERAL"><a
- href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</a></tt> applies. And now,
- it'll match <tt class="LITERAL">.*loads.</tt>, where <tt class=
- "LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</a></tt>
- applies, so (unless it matches <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">again</i></span> further down) it ends up with no <tt
- class="LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt>
- action applying.
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their
+ banner servers ads.<tt class="REPLACEABLE"><i>company</i></tt>.com,
+ or call the directory in which the banners are stored simply
+ <span class="QUOTE">"banners"</span>. So the above generic patterns
+ are surprisingly effective.</p>
+
+ <p>But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we
+ don't want to block. The pattern <tt class="LITERAL">.*ads.</tt> e.g.
+ catches <span class="QUOTE">"nasty-<span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">ads</i></span>.nasty-corp.com"</span> as intended, but
+ also <span class="QUOTE">"downlo<span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">ads</i></span>.sourcefroge.net"</span> or <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"<span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">ads</i></span>l.some-provider.net."</span> So here come
+ some well-known exceptions to the <tt class="LITERAL">+<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> section above.</p>
+
+ <p>Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default!
+ Consider the URL <span class=
+ "QUOTE">"downloads.sourcefroge.net"</span>: Initially, all actions
+ are deactivated, so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults
+ section, which matches the URL, but just deactivates the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt> action
+ once again. Then it matches <tt class="LITERAL">.*ads.</tt>, an
+ exception to the general non-blocking policy, and suddenly <tt class=
+ "LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</a></tt> applies.
+ And now, it'll match <tt class="LITERAL">.*loads.</tt>, where
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</a></tt>
+ applies, so (unless it matches <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">again</i></span> further down) it ends up with no
+ <tt class="LITERAL"><a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt>
+ action applying.</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
##########################################################################
# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
##########################################################################
www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Filtering source code can have nasty side effects, so make an
- exception for our friends at sourceforge.net, and all paths with
- <span class="QUOTE">"cvs"</span> in them. Note that <tt class=
- "LITERAL">-<a href="actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt>
- disables <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">all</i></span> filters in one fell swoop!
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Filtering source code can have nasty side effects, so make an
+ exception for our friends at sourceforge.net, and all paths with
+ <span class="QUOTE">"cvs"</span> in them. Note that <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">-<a href="actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a></tt>
+ disables <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">all</i></span>
+ filters in one fell swoop!</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Don't filter code!
#
{ -<a href="actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a> }
wiki.
.sourceforge.net
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- The actual <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> is of course
- much more comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how
- it works.
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="SECT3">
- <h3 class="SECT3">
- <a name="AEN4748">8.7.3. user.action</a>
- </h3>
- <p>
- So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general
- policies, which would be a reasonable starting point for many
- people. Now, you might want to be more specific and have
- customized rules that are more suitable to your personal habits
- and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined situations
- like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in <tt class=
- "FILENAME">user.action</tt>, which is parsed after all other
- actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any
- previously defined actions. <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>
- is also a <span class="emphasis"><i class=
- "EMPHASIS">safe</i></span> place for your personal settings,
- since <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> is actively
- maintained by the <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
- developers and you'll probably want to install updated versions
- from time to time.
- </p>
- <p>
- So let's look at a few examples of things that one might
- typically do in <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>The actual <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> is of course
+ much more comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it
+ works.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="SECT3">
+ <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="USER-ACTION" id="USER-ACTION">8.7.3.
+ user.action</a></h3>
+
+ <p>So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general
+ policies, which would be a reasonable starting point for many people.
+ Now, you might want to be more specific and have customized rules
+ that are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These
+ would be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank,
+ and should be placed in <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>, which
+ is parsed after all other actions files and hence has the last word,
+ over-riding any previously defined actions. <tt class=
+ "FILENAME">user.action</tt> is also a <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">safe</i></span> place for your
+ personal settings, since <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> is
+ actively maintained by the <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
+ developers and you'll probably want to install updated versions from
+ time to time.</p>
+
+ <p>So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically
+ do in <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# My user.action file. <fred@example.com>
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- As <a href="actions-file.html#ALIASES">aliases</a> are local to
- the actions file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones
- from <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>, unless you repeat
- them here:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>As <a href="actions-file.html#ALIASES">aliases</a> are local to
+ the actions file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones
+ from <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>, unless you repeat them
+ here:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
#
# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
handle-as-text = -<a href="actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a> +-<a href=
-"actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</a> +-<a
- href="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</a> -<a href=
-"actions-file.html#HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</a>
+"actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</a> +-<a href="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</a> -<a href="actions-file.html#HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</a>
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- <br>
-
- <p>
- 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 <tt class=
- "LITERAL">allow-all-cookies</tt> 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.
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+
+ <p>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 <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">allow-all-cookies</tt> 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.</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ allow-all-cookies }
sourceforge.net
.yahoo.com
.msdn.microsoft.com
.redhat.com
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which,
- so you disable them all:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so
+ you disable them all:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ -<a href="actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</a> }
.your-home-banking-site.com
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Some file types you may not want to filter for various
+ reasons:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
#
#
stupid-server.example.com/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Example of a simple <a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a>
- 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 <span class="QUOTE">"copy image
- location"</span> and pasted the URL below while removing the
- leading http://, into a <tt class="LITERAL">{ +block{} }</tt>
- section. Note that <tt class="LITERAL">{ +handle-as-image }</tt>
- need not be specified, since all URLs ending in <tt class=
- "LITERAL">.gif</tt> will be tagged as images by the general rules
- as set in default.action anyway:
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Example of a simple <a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a>
+ 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 <span class="QUOTE">"copy image location"</span> and pasted
+ the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">{ +block{} }</tt> section. Note that <tt class="LITERAL">{
+ +handle-as-image }</tt> need not be specified, since all URLs ending
+ in <tt class="LITERAL">.gif</tt> will be tagged as images by the
+ general rules as set in default.action anyway:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ +<a href="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a>{Nasty ads.} }
www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
another.example.net/more/junk/here/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- 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 <span class=
- "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to guess the file type just by
- looking at the URL. You can use the <tt class=
- "LITERAL">+block-as-image</tt> 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 <span class=
- "QUOTE">"broken image"</span> icon by the browser. Use
- cautiously.
- </p>
- <p>
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>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 <span class=
+ "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to guess the file type just by looking
+ at the URL. You can use the <tt class="LITERAL">+block-as-image</tt>
+ 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 <span class="QUOTE">"broken image"</span> icon by the browser.
+ Use cautiously.</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ +block-as-image }
.doubleclick.net
.fastclick.net
/Realmedia/ads/
ar.atwola.com/
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- 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 <a href=
- "contact.html">feedback</a>, so you just used the <tt class=
- "LITERAL">fragile</tt> alias on the site, and -- <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">whoa!</i></span> -- it worked. The
- <tt class="LITERAL">fragile</tt> aliases disables those actions
- that are most likely to break a site. Also, good for testing
- purposes to see if it is <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
- that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular
- sites that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of
- troublemakers:
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>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 <a href=
+ "contact.html">feedback</a>, so you just used the <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">fragile</tt> alias on the site, and -- <span class=
+ "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">whoa!</i></span> -- it worked. The
+ <tt class="LITERAL">fragile</tt> aliases disables those actions that
+ are most likely to break a site. Also, good for testing purposes to
+ see if it is <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> that is causing
+ the problem or not. We later find other regular sites that misbehave,
+ and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ fragile }
.forbes.com
webmail.example.com
.mybank.com
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- You like the <span class="QUOTE">"fun"</span> text replacements
- in <tt class="FILENAME">default.filter</tt>, but it is disabled
- in the distributed actions file. So you'd like to turn it on in
- your private, update-safe config, once and for all:
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>You like the <span class="QUOTE">"fun"</span> text replacements in
+ <tt class="FILENAME">default.filter</tt>, but it is disabled in the
+ distributed actions file. So you'd like to turn it on in your
+ private, update-safe config, once and for all:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ +<a href="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</a> }
/ # For ALL sites!
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are
- exceptions to the filters in <tt class=
- "FILENAME">default.action</tt> for things that really shouldn't
- be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since <tt
- class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> has the last word, these
- exceptions won't be valid for the <span class=
- "QUOTE">"fun"</span> filtering specified here.
- </p>
- <p>
- 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:
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are
+ exceptions to the filters in <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>
+ for things that really shouldn't be filtered, like code on
+ CVS->Web interfaces. Since <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt>
+ has the last word, these exceptions won't be valid for the
+ <span class="QUOTE">"fun"</span> filtering specified here.</p>
+
+ <p>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:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ allow-ads }
.sourceforge.net
.slashdot.org
.osdn.net
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- Note that <tt class="LITERAL">allow-ads</tt> has been aliased to
- <tt class="LITERAL">-<a href=
- "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt>, <tt class="LITERAL">-<a
- href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</a></tt>,
- and <tt class="LITERAL">-<a href=
- "actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</a></tt>
- above.
- </p>
- <p>
- Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type
- <tt class="LITERAL">application/x-sh</tt> which typically would
- open a download type dialog. In my case, I want to look at the
- shell script, and then I can save it should I choose to.
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p>Note that <tt class="LITERAL">allow-ads</tt> has been aliased to
+ <tt class="LITERAL">-<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</a></tt>, <tt class=
+ "LITERAL">-<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</a></tt>,
+ and <tt class="LITERAL">-<a href=
+ "actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</a></tt>
+ above.</p>
+
+ <p>Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type
+ <tt class="LITERAL">application/x-sh</tt> which typically would open
+ a download type dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell
+ script, and then I can save it should I choose to.</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ handle-as-text }
/.*\.sh$
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
- <p>
- <tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> is generally the best place
- to define exceptions and additions to the default policies of <tt
- class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>. Some actions are safe to
- have their default policies set here though. So let's set a
- default policy to have a <span class="QUOTE">"blank"</span> image
- as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for <span class=
- "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">ALL</i></span> sites. <span class=
- "QUOTE">"/"</span> of course matches all URL paths and patterns:
- </p>
- <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
- <tr>
- <td>
-<pre class="SCREEN">
+ <p><tt class="FILENAME">user.action</tt> is generally the best place
+ to define exceptions and additions to the default policies of
+ <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt>. Some actions are safe to
+ have their default policies set here though. So let's set a default
+ policy to have a <span class="QUOTE">"blank"</span> image as opposed
+ to the checkerboard pattern for <span class="emphasis"><i class=
+ "EMPHASIS">ALL</i></span> sites. <span class="QUOTE">"/"</span> of
+ course matches all URL paths and patterns:</p>
+
+ <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <pre class="SCREEN">
{ +<a href=
"actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{blank}</a> }
/ # ALL sites
</pre>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </div>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
</div>
</div>
- <div class="NAVFOOTER">
- <hr width="100%" class="c1">
- <table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0"
- cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
- <tr>
- <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">
- <a href="config.html" accesskey="P">Prev</a>
- </td>
- <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top">
- <a href="index.html" accesskey="H">Home</a>
- </td>
- <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">
- <a href="filter-file.html" accesskey="N">Next</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">
- The Main Configuration File
- </td>
- <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top">
-
- </td>
- <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">
- Filter Files
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- </div>
- </body>
-</html>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="NAVFOOTER">
+ <hr align="left" width="100%">
+
+ <table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0"
+ cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
+ <tr>
+ <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="config.html"
+ accesskey="P">Prev</a></td>
+
+ <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html"
+ accesskey="H">Home</a></td>
+ <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="filter-file.html"
+ accesskey="N">Next</a></td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">The Main Configuration
+ File</td>
+
+ <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"> </td>
+
+ <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Filter Files</td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </div>
+</body>
+</html>