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diff --git a/doc/source/faq.sgml b/doc/source/faq.sgml
index f4afd4d1..852aa662 100644
--- a/doc/source/faq.sgml
+++ b/doc/source/faq.sgml
@@ -1,9 +1,21 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
]>
@@ -43,8 +63,35 @@
Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions
-$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9 Exp $
+
+
+
+
+ Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
+ Privoxy Developers
+
+
+
+$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9 Exp $
+
+
+
+
@@ -65,20 +112,18 @@
]]>
This FAQ gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked
- questions about Privoxy.
+ questions about Privoxy
+ .
-
+
&p-intro;
+
You can find the latest version of the document at http://www.privoxy.org/faq/.
- Please see the Contact section in the user-manual if
- you want to contact the developers.
+ Please see the Contact section if you want to contact the developers.
@@ -87,16 +132,10 @@
-
-
-
-
-
-
-General Information
+General Information
What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?
@@ -116,8 +155,7 @@
significantly at this point.
- Please see the user-manual for more
+ Please see the History section for more
information on the history of Junkbuster and
Privoxy.
@@ -133,8 +171,9 @@
There are potential legal complications from the continued use of the
- Junkbuster name, which is a trademark of
+ Junkbuster name, which is a registered trademark of
Junkbusters Corporation.
+ And thus they own
the rights to the name.
(There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
Privoxy project itself, and they, in fact, still
share our ideals and goals.)
@@ -143,8 +182,8 @@
The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
- a name in their own right, especially now with the pending release of
- version 3.0.
+ a name in their own right.
@@ -160,18 +199,18 @@ from the old Junkbuster?
The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
- users will notice right off the bat. The blocklist
file does
- not exist any more. This is replaced by actions
files, such
- as default.actions. This is where most of the per site
- configuration is now.
+ users will notice right off the bat if you are upgrading from
+ Junkbuster 2.0.x. The blocklist
+ file does not exist any more. This is replaced by actions
+ files, such as default.actions. This is where most of
+ the per site configuration is now.
What are some of the new features?
-
-&newfeatures;
+
+ &newfeatures;
+
@@ -276,12 +315,12 @@ This does not sound very scientific.
Is there is a license or fee? What about a
warranty? Registration?
- Privoxy is licensed under the
- GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free to use, copy,
- modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this license.
- Please see the
-user-manual for
- more information on the license and copyright.
+ Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public
+ License (GPL). It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish
+ under the terms of this license. Please see the Copyright section for more information on the
+ license and copyright. Or the LICENSE file
+ that should be included.
@@ -325,7 +364,7 @@ warranty? Registration?
-Installation
+Installation
Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?
@@ -357,8 +396,7 @@ Include supported.sgml here:
See the user-manual for
- platform specific installation instructions. [FIXME: This is meant for after
- the name change for 3.0!]
+ platform specific installation instructions.
Note: Some installers may automatically uninstall
@@ -439,7 +477,7 @@ All the ads are there. What's wrong?
-Configuration
+Configuration
Can I use my old config files?
@@ -460,7 +498,7 @@ All the ads are there. What's wrong?
actions
files are where various actions that
Privoxy might take, are configured.
Typically, you would define a set of default actions that apply
- to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
+ to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
@@ -472,6 +510,8 @@ All the ads are there. What's wrong?
site, we would define this in our actions
file.
+
@@ -487,7 +527,7 @@ All the ads are there. What's wrong?
some of these actions
.
These are all explained in the
- user-manual.
+ user-manual.
Please refer to that.
@@ -501,7 +541,7 @@ way to do this?
The easiest way to do this, is to access Privoxy
with your web browser at http://p.p/,
and then select
- "Edit the actions list"
+ "View & change the current configuration"
from the selection list. You can also do this by editing the appropriate
file with a text editor.
@@ -509,13 +549,36 @@ way to do this?
Please see the
user-manual for a
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">user-manual for a
detailed explanation of these and other configuration files, and their
various options and syntax.
+
+
+There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
+the differences?
+
+ As of Privoxy v2.9.15, three actions files
+ are being included, to be used for
+ different purposes. These are
+ default.action, standard.action,
+ and user.action. Please see
+ the User Manual
+ for an explanation of each.
+
+
+
+ Earlier versions included three different versions
+ default.action files. The new scheme allows for
+ greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
+ configuration.
+
+
+
+
+
@@ -572,9 +636,9 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
-
+
+
ad-filtering
?
@@ -582,7 +646,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
blank image
?
@@ -590,7 +654,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
de-animate GIFs
?
@@ -598,7 +662,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
referer forging
?
@@ -606,7 +670,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only)
?
@@ -614,7 +678,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
no-popup windows
?
@@ -622,7 +686,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
fast redirects
?
@@ -630,7 +694,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
hide-referrer
?
@@ -638,7 +702,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
hide-useragent
?
@@ -646,7 +710,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
x
-
+
content-modification
?
@@ -654,7 +718,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
x
-
+
feature-x
?
@@ -662,7 +726,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
-
+
feature-y
?
@@ -670,7 +734,7 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
-
+
feature-z
?
@@ -678,13 +742,15 @@ following table shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
-
+
+ -->
+
Why can I change the configuration with a
browser? Does that not raise security issues?
@@ -715,7 +781,8 @@ problem.
What is <quote>default.filter</quote>?
- The default.filter
file is used to filter
any
+ The default.filter
file is where filters
+ are defined, which are used to filter
any
web page content. By filtering
we mean it can modify, remove,
or change anything on the page, including HTML tags, and
JavaScript. Regular expressions are used to accomplish this, and operate
@@ -732,7 +799,8 @@ problem.
Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
but you can disable/enable various sections of the included default
- file with the Actions List Editor
from your browser.
+ file with the View & change the current configuration
from
+ your browser.
@@ -753,7 +821,7 @@ problem.
listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
-
+
@@ -768,21 +836,22 @@ problem.
Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.
This is a configuration option for images that
- Privoxy is stopping. You have the choice of a checkerboard
- pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF image (aka blank
), or a custom
- URL of your choice. Note that to fit this category, the URL must match both
- the +image
and +block
actions.
+ Privoxy is stopping. You have the choice of a
+ checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF image (aka blank
),
+ or a custom URL of your choice. Note that to fit this category, the URL must
+ match both the +handle-as-image
+ and
+ +block
actions.
-
- If you want to see nothing, then change the +image-blocker
+ If you want to see nothing, then change the
+ +set-image-blocker
action to +image-blocker{blank}
. This can be done from the
- Edit Actions List
selection at View & change the current configuration selection at http://p.p/. Or by hand editing the appropriate
actions file. This will only effect what is defined as images
though. Also, some URLs that generate the bright red Blocked
- banner, can be moved to the +image-blocker
section for the
+ banner, can be moved to the +set-image-blocker
section for the
same reason, but there are some limits and risks to this (see below).
@@ -806,23 +875,27 @@ problem.
Blocked
. Why and how do I get rid of this?
These are URLs that match something in one of
- Privoxy's block actions (+block). It is meant
- to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and an easy way
- for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has been defined
- explicitly as images
(e.g. ad banners). Depending on the
- URL itself, it is sometimes hard for Privoxy to
- really know whether there is indeed an ad image there or not. And there are
- limitations as to what Privoxy can do to
- fool
the browser.
+ Privoxy's block actions
+ (+block
).
+ It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
+ an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
+ been defined explicitly as images
(e.g. ads that are GIF image
+ files). Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for
+ Privoxy to really know whether there is indeed an
+ ad image there or not. And there are limitations as to what
+ Privoxy can do to fool
the
+ browser.
For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate
HTML page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an
- aribitray image (like we would for a blank
image), for an HTML
+ aribitrary image (like we would for a blank
image), for an HTML
page. The browser is expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have
- for frames. So this situation can be a little trickier to deal with, and
- Privoxy will use the Blocked
page.
+ for frames. Such situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and
+ Privoxy may show the Blocked
page,
+ despite your best efforts.
@@ -848,40 +921,86 @@ problem.
Another way to deal with this is find why and where
Privoxy is blocking the frame, and
- diable this. Then let the +image-blocker
action
+ diable this. Then let the +set-image-blocker
action
handle the ad that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
-I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. All I
-see is a bright red square.
+I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.
+
+ There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
+ clicking on the visible portion, and select Show Frame
,
+ or equivalent. This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy
+ Blocked
page, and from there you can see just what is being
+ blocked, and why.
+
+
+ As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries
+ to adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there
+ just isn't enough room to display much of anything useful though.
+
+
+
+
+
+Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a service
+on Win2K/NT?
+
+ Yes, it can run as a system service using srvany.exe.
+ The only catch is that this will effectively disable the
+ Privoxy icon in the taskbar. You can have
+ one or the other, but not both at this time :(
+
- There is not enough space to fit the entire page. Try right clicking on the
- visible, red portion, and select Show Frame
, or equivalent.
- This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy Blocked
- page, and from there you can see just what is being blocked, and why.
+ There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See
+ thread: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118,
+ for details, and a sample configuration.
+
+
How can I make <application>Privoxy</application> work with other
proxies like <application>Squid</application>?
This can be done. See the user manual,
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">user manual,
which describes how to do this.
+
+
+
+Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a <quote>transparent
+</quote> proxy?
+
+ No, Privoxy currently does not have this ability,
+ though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
+ special handling of the request headers beyond what
+ Privoxy is now capable of.
+
+
+
+ Chaining Privoxy with another proxy that has
+ this ability should work though.
+ See the user
+ manual, which describes this, and also http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/.
+
+
+
-Miscellaneous
+Miscellaneous
How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
@@ -904,25 +1023,20 @@ has to add extra time to browsing.
-
I noticed considerable
delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?
-Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable delays in
-page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages with large contents
-seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering all the content at once.
+The entire page content must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
+mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time. The
+loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
+different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
+content, giving the user a feeling of "it works".
-The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
-sent to the browser during this time. The loading time does not really
-change in real numbers, but the feeling is different, because most
-browsers are able to start rendering incomplete content, giving the
-user a feeling of "it works".
-
-
-To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again, etc.) and
-not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download the
-entire page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the browser.
+ To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again, etc.) and
+ not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download
+ the entire page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the
+ browser.
@@ -934,32 +1048,34 @@ programmed to handle certain pages specially.
-With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x), you can get some
-information about Privoxy and change some settings by going to
-http://p.p/ or, equivalently, http://config.privoxy.org/
-(Note that p.p is far easier to type but may not work in some
-configurations. With the name change to Privoxy,
-this is changed from the previous http://i.j.b/ or earlier 2.9.x versions).
+ With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x and
+ greater), you can get some information about
+ Privoxy and change some settings by going to
+ http://p.p/ or, equivalently, http://config.privoxy.org/ (Note
+ that p.p is far easier to type but may not work in some configurations. With
+ the name change to Privoxy, this is changed from
+ the previous http://i.j.b/ and earlier 2.9.x versions).
-These pages are not forwarded to a server on the Internet
-- instead they are handled by a special web server which is built in to
-Privoxy.
+ These pages are not forwarded to a server on the
+ Internet - instead they are handled by a special web server which is built in to
+ Privoxy.
-If you are not running Privoxy, then http://p.p/ will fail, and http://config.privoxy.org/ will
-return a web page telling you you're not running
-Privoxy.
+ If you are not running Privoxy, then http://p.p/ will fail, and http://config.privoxy.org/ will
+ return a web page telling you you're not running
+ Privoxy.
-If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
-http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and you
-should really consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
+ If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
+ http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and
+ you should really consider upgrading to &p-version;).
@@ -972,34 +1088,32 @@ FIXME: commented out until we have data. HB 03/18/02.
-How do I chain <application>Privoxy</application> with other proxies
-(e.g. squid)?
-
- Fillme.
-
-
-->
Do you still maintain the blocklists?
- No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the versions
- 2.9.x. Once we have released the new stable version, v3.0, there will
- again be blocklists that you can update automatically.
+ No, not by this name. The format of the blocklists has changed
+ significantly in versions 2.9.x and later. This functionality
+ is done by the actions
file now. See next question ...
How can I submit new ads?
- As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
- have released the new version, there will again be a form on the website,
- which you can use to contribute new ads.
+Please see the Contact section.
+
+
+ This process does not work with earlier versions of Privoxy
+ or Junkbuster.
+
+
How can I hide my IP address?
You cannot hide your IP address with Privoxy or any other software, since
-the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to you.
+the server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
@@ -1038,8 +1152,8 @@ more through Google.
Privoxy can remove various information about you,
and allows you more freedom to decide which sites
- you can trust. But it's still possible that web sites can find out who you
- are. Here's one way this can happen.
+ you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it's still possible
+ that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
@@ -1093,7 +1207,6 @@ being altered?
If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
be required, but by no means the only one.
-
@@ -1205,12 +1318,9 @@ secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?
Where can I find more information about <application>Privoxy</application>
and related issues?
-
-
-
+
&seealso;
+
-
+
Troubleshooting
@@ -1280,15 +1390,16 @@ What can I do?
by disabling Privoxy filtering and blocking.
Go to http://p.p/ and click on
Toggle Privoxy On or Off
, then disable it. Now try that
- page again. It's probably a good idea to flush the browser cache as well.
+ page again. It's probably a good idea to flush the browser cache as well
+ with Shift+Reload to flush caches.
If still a problem, go to Show which actions apply to a URL and
why
from http://p.p/ and paste
the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions are
- being applied to the URL. Now, armed with this information, go to Edit
- the actions list
. Here you should see various sections that have
+ being applied to the URL. Now, armed with this information, go to
+ View & change the current configuration
. Here you should see various sections that have
various Privoxy features disabled for specific
sites. Most disabled actions
will have a -
(minus
sign) in front of them. Some aliases are used just to disable other actions,
@@ -1298,7 +1409,7 @@ What can I do?
is causing the problem. Rember to flush your browser's caches when making
such changes! As a last resort, try fragile
which
disables most actions. Now re-try the page. There might be some trial and
- error involved. This is discussed in a little more detail in the user-manual appendix.
@@ -1310,24 +1421,6 @@ What can I do?
-
-Where can I get help? Report bugs? Feature Requests? Etc?
-
- Feedback is encouraged, whether good, bad or ugly. Please see the contact
- page in the user-manual for
- details.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-What time is it?
-
- Time for you to go!
-
-
-
+
+ Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+
+ &contacting;
+
+
+
-
+ ©right;
+
+
+
+ Portions of this document are borrowed
from the original
+ Junkbuster (tm) FAQ, and modified as
+ appropriate for Privoxy.
+
-Contact the developers
-Please see the user manual for information on how to contact the developers.
-
+
+ License
+
+ &license;
+
+
+
+
+
+ History
+
+ &history;
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-