X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=68a53abf02e63b8c5f6c344d43feac65cf91de1d;hb=1ab5d5c80b0d088ecd058454aee0c1911cac80bd;hp=f6365fa480dba2f38b6ef59f7bee49aa6e4fbbf3;hpb=2c8dfacae06e570490ad08312d6c5fbcc5086fb1;p=privoxy.git
diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
index f6365fa4..68a53abf 100644
--- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
+++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@
+
-
+
+
@@ -34,13 +36,11 @@
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.131 2011/04/19 13:14:10 fabiankeil Exp $
-
- Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2017 Privoxy Developers https://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
========================================================================
- NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
+ NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
========================================================================
@@ -55,12 +55,12 @@
- Copyright &my-copy; 2001-2010 by
- Privoxy Developers
+ Copyright &my-copy; 2001-2017 by
+ Privoxy Developers
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.131 2011/04/19 13:14:10 fabiankeil Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.221 2017/05/20 09:27:54 fabiankeil Exp $
@@ -99,14 +99,11 @@ Hal.
You can find the latest version of the Privoxy User Manual at http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/.
+ url="https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/.
Please see the Contact section on how to
contact the developers.
-
-
-
@@ -115,7 +112,7 @@ Hal.
Introduction
This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
- Privoxy, v.&p-version;Privoxy, &p-version;
Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
- documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
+ documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
CVS sources). And there may be bugs, though hopefully
- not many!
+ not many!
]]>
Features
- In addition to the core
- features of ad blocking and
+ In addition to the core
+ features of ad blocking and
cookie management,
Privoxy provides many supplemental
- features,
+ features,
that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
@@ -160,19 +157,19 @@ Hal.
Privoxy is available both in convenient pre-compiled
packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
- Privoxy Project
+ Privoxy Project
Page.
- Note:
- On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
+ Note:
+ On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
found. (See below for your platform). In any case be sure to backup
your old configuration if it is valuable to you. See the note to upgraders section below.
-
+
Binary Packages
How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
@@ -180,41 +177,11 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
-
-Red Hat and Fedora RPMs
-
-
- RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm,
- and will use /etc/privoxy for the location
- of configuration files.
-
-
-
- Note that on Red Hat, Privoxy will
- not be automatically started on system boot. You will
- need to enable that using chkconfig,
- ntsysv, or similar methods.
-
-
-
- If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
- rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm. This
- will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
-
-
-
- Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed
- on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
- Otherwise, RPM will try to remove Junkbuster
- automatically if found, before installing Privoxy.
-
-
-
Debian and Ubuntu
DEBs can be installed with apt-get install privoxy,
- and will use /etc/privoxy for the location of
+ and will use /etc/privoxy for the location of
configuration files.
@@ -225,7 +192,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
the installation process. You will find the configuration files
- in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in.
+ in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in.
Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full Windows service
@@ -256,33 +223,22 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
command: services.msc. If you do not take the manual step
of modifying Privoxy's service settings, it will
not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
- actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
+ actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
write to its log and configuration files.
-
-Solaris
-
-
- Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and
- untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
- things go.
-
-
-
OS/2
First, make sure that no previous installations of
- Junkbuster and / or
+ Junkbuster and / or
Privoxy are left on your
system. Check that no Junkbuster
or Privoxy objects are in
your startup folder.
-
@@ -301,72 +257,83 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Mac OS X
- Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
- icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
- Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
- installation process.
+ Installation instructions for the OS X platform depend upon whether
+ you downloaded a ready-built installation package (.pkg or .mpkg) or have
+ downloaded the source code.
+
+
+Installation from ready-built package
- The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
- installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
- prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
- computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
- /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
+ The downloaded file will either be a .pkg (for OS X 10.5 upwards) or a bzipped
+ .mpkg file (for OS X 10.4). The former can be double-clicked as is and the
+ installation will start; double-clicking the latter will unzip the .mpkg file
+ which can then be double-clicked to commence the installation.
- To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
- for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
- starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
+ The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
+ (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
+ configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
+ proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
+
+
+ To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
+ starts up, remove or rename the file /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist
+ (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
+ /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
+
+
+ To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the scripts startPrivoxy.sh
+ and stopPrivoxy.sh supplied in /Applications/Privoxy. They must be run from an
+ administrator account, using sudo.
-
-
-
-AmigaOS
- Copy and then unpack the lha archive to a suitable location.
- All necessary files will be installed into Privoxy
- directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
- remove this directory.
+ To uninstall, run /Applications/Privoxy/uninstall.command as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
-
-
-FreeBSD
-
+
+Installation from source
- Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
- it with cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean.
+ To build and install the Privoxy source code on OS X you will need to obtain
+ the macsetup module from the Privoxy Sourceforge CVS repository (refer to
+ Sourceforge help for details of how to set up a CVS client to have read-only
+ access to the repository). This module contains scripts that leverage the usual
+ open-source tools (available as part of Apple's free of charge Xcode
+ distribution or via the usual open-source software package managers for OS X
+ (MacPorts, Homebrew, Fink etc.) to build and then install the privoxy binary
+ and associated files. The macsetup module's README file contains complete
+ instructions for its use.
- If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
- the package with pkg_add -r privoxy.
+ The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
+ (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
+ configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
+ proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
- The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
- File Release
- Page, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
- beta releases which are only available there.
+ To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
+ starts up, remove or rename the file /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist
+ (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
+ /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
-
-
-
-Gentoo
- Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for Privoxy are
- contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
- but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
- Privoxy Version is added to the Portage Tree).
+ To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
+ for Mac OS X (also part of the macsetup module). This application can start
+ and stop the privoxy service and display its log and configuration files.
- Before installing Privoxy under Gentoo just do
- first emerge --sync to get the latest changes from the
- Portage tree. With emerge privoxy you install the latest
- version.
+ To uninstall, run the macsetup module's uninstall.sh as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
+
+
+
+FreeBSD
+
- Configuration files are in /etc/privoxy, the
- documentation is in /usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;
- and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
+ Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
+ it with cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean.
@@ -377,17 +344,17 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources
- is to download the source tarball from our
- project download
+ is to download the source tarball from our
+ project download
page.
If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
- version directly from the
- CVS repository.
-
-
+
Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date
-
- As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
- of both the main actions file (as a separate
- package) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
- download.
-
If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe
- to our announce mailing list, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
+ url="https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo/privoxy-announce">subscribe
+ to our announce mailing list, privoxy-announce@lists.privoxy.org.
In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
to the latest default.action file we strongly
- recommend that you use user.action and
+ recommend that you use user.action and
user.filter for your local
customizations of Privoxy. See the Chapter on actions files for details.
@@ -436,684 +396,160 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
What's New in this Release
+
+&changelog;
+
+
+
+
+Note to Upgraders
+
- Privoxy 3.0.17 is a stable release.
- The changes since 3.0.16 stable are:
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of Privoxy:
-
-
-
- Fixed last-chunk-detection for responses where the content was small
- enough to be read with the body, causing Privoxy to wait for the
- end of the content until the server closed the connection or the
- request timed out. Reported by "Karsten" in #3028326.
-
-
-
-
- Responses with status code 204 weren't properly detected as body-less
- like RFC2616 mandates. Like the previous bug, this caused Privoxy to
- wait for the end of the content until the server closed the connection
- or the request timed out. Fixes #3022042 and #3025553, reported by a
- user with no visible name. Most likely also fixes a bunch of other
- AJAX-related problem reports that got closed in the past due to
- insufficient information and lack of feedback.
-
-
-
-
- Fixed an ACL bug that made it impossible to build a blacklist.
- Usually the ACL directives are used in a whitelist, which worked
- as expected, but blacklisting is still useful for public proxies
- where one only needs to deny known abusers access.
-
-
-
-
- Added LOG_LEVEL_RECEIVED to log the not-yet-parsed data read from the
- network. This should make debugging various parsing issues a lot easier.
-
-
-
-
- The IPv6 code is enabled by default on Windows versions that support it.
- Patch submitted by oCameLo in #2942729.
-
-
-
-
- In mingw32 versions, the user.filter file is reachable through the
- GUI, just like default.filter is. Feature request 3040263.
-
-
-
-
- Added the configure option --enable-large-file-support to set a few
- defines that are required by platforms like GNU/Linux to support files
- larger then 2GB. Mainly interesting for users without proper logfile
- management.
-
+
+
+
+ The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
+ configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
+ is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
+ diff and maybe patch.
+
+
+ There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
+ most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
+ files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
+ to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
+ &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
+
+
+
+
+ Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
+ including configuration files, therefore you should really save
+ any important configuration files!
+
+
+
+
+ On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
+ files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
+
+
+
+
+ In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
+ You can change that in the debug section
+ of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
+ logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
+ as expected.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Three other config file settings are now off by default:
+ enable-remote-toggle,
+ enable-remote-http-toggle,
+ and enable-edit-actions.
+ If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
+ be aware of the security issues involved.
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
-Note to Upgraders
-
-
- A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
- versions of Privoxy:
-
-
-
- The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
- configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
- is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
- diff and maybe patch.
-
-
- There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
- most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
- files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
- to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
- &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
-
+ Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
+ information.
+
+
-
- Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
- including configuration files, therefore you should really save
- any important configuration files!
+
+ Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy
+ service to more than just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the security-relevant options. These are
+ off by default.
-
-
- On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
- files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
-
-
-
-
- standard.action has been merged into
- the default.action file.
-
-
-
-
- In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
- You can change that in the debug section
- of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
- logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
- as expected.
-
-
-
-
-
- Three other config file settings are now off by default:
- enable-remote-toggle,
- enable-remote-http-toggle,
- and enable-edit-actions.
- If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
- be aware of the security issues involved.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
-
-
-
-
- Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
- information.
-
-
-
-
-
- Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy
- service to more than just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the security-relevant options. These are
- off by default.
-
-
-
+
Start Privoxy, if the installation program has
@@ -1128,26 +564,26 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
HTTPS (SSL) proxy
by setting the proxy configuration for address of
127.0.0.1 and port 8118.
- DO NOT activate proxying for FTP or
+ DO NOT activate proxying for FTP or
any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
browser from using these protocols.
-
+
Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
- If using Privoxy to manage
+ If using Privoxy to manage
cookies,
you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
-
+
- A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
+ A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
- configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
+ configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
to enable the
web-based action editor though.
@@ -1161,7 +597,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and
banners.
-
+
@@ -1176,36 +612,23 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Action has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
misbehave.
-
-
-
+
Please see the section Contacting the
Developers on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
- help.
+ help.
-
+
Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
-
+
-
@@ -1213,35 +636,35 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Quickstart to Ad Blocking
Ad blocking is but one of Privoxy's
- array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
+ array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
-
- This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
+
+ This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
- more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
- things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
+ more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
+ things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
problem sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
- configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
- not an easy way to eliminate all ads. Either take
+ configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
+ not an easy way to eliminate all ads. Either take
the easy way and settle for most ads blocked with the
default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
habits and preferences.
Secondly, a brief explanation of Privoxy's
- actions. Actions in this context, are
+ actions. Actions in this context, are
the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform
some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
Privoxy to take some action. Each
@@ -1253,7 +676,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration,
- followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
+ followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
can actually be URL type patterns that use
wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
@@ -1276,18 +699,17 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image,
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image,
handle-as-empty-document,and
set-image-blocker:
-
-
+
- block - this is perhaps
+ block - this is perhaps
the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
@@ -1296,32 +718,32 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
-
+
- handle-as-image -
+ handle-as-image -
tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image.
Privoxy's default configuration already does this
for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
- some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
+ some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
Privoxy BLOCKED page (which would only result in
a broken image icon). There are some limitations to this
though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
an entire HTML page in most situations.
-
+
- handle-as-empty-document -
- sends an empty document instead of Privoxy's
- normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
+ handle-as-empty-document -
+ sends an empty document instead of Privoxy's
+ normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
-
+
@@ -1338,7 +760,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
- pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
+ pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
replacement is obvious. This is the default.
@@ -1354,14 +776,13 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
-
+
-
Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
- filters as well. Filters
+ filters as well. Filters
are very different from blocks.
A block blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
@@ -1376,7 +797,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
- (shortcut: http://p.p/show-status). This
+ (shortcut: http://p.p/show-status). This
is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
@@ -1403,58 +824,55 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
A quick and simple step by step example:
-
- Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
+ Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
Copy Link Location from the
- pop-up menu.
+ pop-up menu.
-
+
- Set your browser to
+ Set your browser to
http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
+
- Find user.action in the top section, and click
+ Find user.action in the top section, and click
on Edit:
-
-
-
-
+
+
You should have a section with only
- block listed under
+ block listed under
Actions:.
If not, click a Insert new section below
- button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
+ button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
Edit button right under the word Actions:.
This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
block near the top, and click
in the Enabled column, then Submit
just below the list.
-
+
Now, in the block actions section,
@@ -1464,21 +882,20 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Submit (or
OK if in a pop-up window).
-
+
Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload
(or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
-
-
+
+
-
- This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
+ This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
- site. For a more extensive explanation of patterns, and
+ site. For a more extensive explanation of patterns, and
the entire actions concept, see the Actions
section.
@@ -1489,11 +906,11 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
- There are also various
- filters that can be used for ad blocking
- (filters are a special subset of actions). These
+ There are also various
+ filters that can be used for ad blocking
+ (filters are a special subset of actions). These
fall into the advanced usage category, and are explained in
- depth in later sections.
+ depth in later sections.
@@ -1509,53 +926,49 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you
will want to configure your browser(s) to use
- Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
+ Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
proxy. The default is
127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done
!
- Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and
+ Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and
HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
-
-
-
-
+
+
With Firefox, this is typically set under:
-
+
Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network ->Connection -> Settings
-
-
+
Or optionally on some platforms:
-
+
Edit -> Preferences -> General -> Connection Settings -> Manual Proxy Configuration
-
-
+
With Netscape (and
Mozilla), this can be set under:
@@ -1565,11 +978,10 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy
-
- For Internet Explorer v.5-7:
+ For Internet Explorer v.5-7:
@@ -1585,24 +997,22 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
-
-
After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
- re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
+ re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
any cookies,
if you want Privoxy to manage that. You are now
ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
@@ -1617,41 +1027,38 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt.
-
-Red Hat and Fedora
+
+Debian
- A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
- the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
+ We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
+ default. It will use the file
+ /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
file.
-
- # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-
+
+
+
+FreeBSD and ElectroBSD
- Or ...
+ To start Privoxy upon booting, add
+ "privoxy_enable='YES'" to /etc/rc.conf.
+ Privoxy will use
+ /usr/local/etc/privoxy/config as its main
+ configuration file.
-
- # service privoxy start
-
+ If you installed Privoxy into a jail, the
+ paths above are relative to the jail root.
-
-
-
-Debian
- We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
- default. It will use the file
- /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
- file.
+ To start Privoxy manually, run:
-
- # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+ # service privoxy onestart
-
@@ -1666,21 +1073,25 @@ Click on the &my-app; Icon to start Privoxy. If no co
Privoxy can run with full Windows service functionality.
On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
- to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
+ to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
Windows Installation
instructions for details.
-Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others
+Generic instructions for Unix derivates (Solaris, NetBSD, HP-UX etc.)
Example Unix startup command:
-
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+
+ Note that if you installed Privoxy through
+ a package manager, the package will probably contain a platform-specific
+ script or configuration file to start Privoxy
+ upon boot.
@@ -1697,71 +1108,24 @@ Example Unix startup command:
Mac OS X
- After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
- double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
- installer package icon and follow the installation process.
+ The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
+ (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
+ configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
+ proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
- The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
- installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
- start every time your computer starts up.
+ To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
+ starts up, remove or rename the file /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist
+ (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
+ /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
- To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
- computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
- /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
-
-
- A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
- enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
-
-
- In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
- administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
- to uninstall the software is also available.
-
-
- An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
- the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
-
-
-
-
-
-AmigaOS
-
- Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
- startnet script (AmiTCP), in
- s:user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your
- startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
- Privoxy will automatically quit when you quit your
- TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
- Privoxy is still running).
+ To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the scripts startPrivoxy.sh
+ and stopPrivoxy.sh supplied in /Applications/Privoxy. They must be run from an
+ administrator account, using sudo.
-
-Gentoo
-
- A script is again used. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config
- as its main configuration file.
-
-
-
- /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-
-
-
- Note that Privoxy is not automatically started at
- boot time by default. You can change this with the rc-update
- command.
-
-
-
- rc-update add privoxy default
-
-
-
@@ -1869,9 +1233,29 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
command-line options:
-
+
+
+ --config-test
+
+
+ Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to
+ the listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the
+ configuration files have been successfully loaded.
+
+
+ If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
+ is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration files have been
+ successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can
+ currently only be detected at run time).
+
+
+ This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with
+ --no-daemon is recommended if a configured
+ log file shouldn't be used.
+
+ --version
@@ -1879,7 +1263,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Print version info and exit. Unix only.
-
+
--help
@@ -1887,7 +1271,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
-
+
--no-daemon
@@ -1896,7 +1280,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
-
+
--pidfile FILE
@@ -1907,7 +1291,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE
option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
-
+
--user USER[.GROUP]
@@ -1923,9 +1307,9 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
--chroot
- Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option,
+ Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option,
chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
- process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
+ process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
Unix only.
@@ -1935,9 +1319,10 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname
- Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
- resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
- libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
+ Specifies a hostname (for example www.privoxy.org) to look up before doing a chroot.
+ On some systems, initializing the resolver library involves reading config files from
+ /etc and/or loading additional shared libraries from /lib.
+ On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
@@ -1953,23 +1338,22 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
configfile
- If no configfile is included on the command line,
- Privoxy will look for a file named
- config in the current directory (except on Win32
- where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify
- full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
+ If no configfile is included on the command line,
+ Privoxy will look for a file named
+ config in the current directory (except on Win32
+ where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify
+ full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
Privoxy will fail to start.
-
+
-
- On MS Windows only there are two additional
- command-line options to allow Privoxy to install and
- run as a service. See the
-Window Installation section
+ On MS Windows only there are two additional
+ command-line options to allow Privoxy to install and
+ run as a service. See the
+Window Installation section
for details.
@@ -1983,24 +1367,23 @@ for details.
Privoxy Configuration
- All Privoxy configuration is stored
+ All Privoxy configuration is stored
in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
- Many important aspects of Privoxy can
+ Many important aspects of Privoxy can
also be controlled easily with a web browser.
-
+Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
- Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special
+ Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special
URL http://config.privoxy.org/
- (shortcut: http://p.p/),
+ (shortcut: http://p.p/),
which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
You will see the following section:
-
@@ -2026,7 +1409,7 @@ for details.
▪ Documentation
+ url="https://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation
@@ -2039,19 +1422,16 @@ for details.
cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
Privoxy. This is an easy way to adjust various
aspects of Privoxy configuration. The actions
- file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
+ file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
- Toggle Privoxy On or Off is handy for sites that might
+ Toggle Privoxy On or Off is handy for sites that might
have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
- it as a test to see whether it is Privoxy
- causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues
+ it as a test to see whether it is Privoxy
+ causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues
to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
- Privoxy acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
- is even a toggle Bookmarklet offered, so
- that you can toggle Privoxy with one click from
- your browser.
+ Privoxy acts like a normal forwarding proxy.
@@ -2076,19 +1456,18 @@ for details.
For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
/etc/privoxy/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
- AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
+ AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
Privoxy executable.
- The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
+ The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
principle configuration files are:
-
@@ -2097,7 +1476,7 @@ for details.
on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt
on Windows. This is a required file.
-
+
@@ -2111,23 +1490,23 @@ for details.
It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
- Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These
- are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
+ Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These
+ are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
match-all.action (which you will most probably want
to define sooner or later) are best applied in user.action,
where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
-
+
There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
(Shortcut: http://p.p/show-status) for the
- various actions files.
+ various actions files.
-
+
@@ -2135,18 +1514,17 @@ for details.
file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
- whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
- default.filter includes various filters made
- available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
- others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
- filter files in config as you can with
- actions files. We suggest user.filter for any
+ whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
+ default.filter includes various filters made
+ available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
+ others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
+ filter files in config as you can with
+ actions files. We suggest user.filter for any
locally defined filters or customizations.
-
+
-
The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
@@ -2165,15 +1543,15 @@ for details.
- The actions files and filter files
+ The actions files and filter files
can use Perl style regular expressions for
- maximum flexibility.
+ maximum flexibility.
After making any changes, there is no need to restart
Privoxy in order for the changes to take
- effect. Privoxy detects such changes
+ effect. Privoxy detects such changes
automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
of Privoxy, these wake up requests
@@ -2182,9 +1560,9 @@ for details.
- While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
- The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
- Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so
+ While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
+ The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
+ Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so
please check all your configuration files on important issues.
]]>
@@ -2220,19 +1598,18 @@ for details.
The actions files are used to define what actionsPrivoxy 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).
+ 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
+ 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.
-
+
- There
+ There
are three action files included with Privoxy with
differing purposes:
-
@@ -2241,7 +1618,7 @@ for details.
content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
It should be the first actions file loaded
-
+
default.action - defines many exceptions (both
@@ -2250,15 +1627,15 @@ for details.
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.
-
+
- user.action - is intended to be for local site
+ user.action - is intended to be for local site
preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
- has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
+ has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
-
+
EditSet to CautiousSet to MediumSet to Advanced
@@ -2266,16 +1643,16 @@ for details.
These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no
influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
- editor. A default installation should be pre-set to
+ editor. A default installation should be pre-set to
Cautious. 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
+ 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.
- The Edit button allows you to turn each
+ The Edit button allows you to turn each
action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The Cautious
- button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
+ button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
Medium button sets the list to a medium level of
@@ -2295,7 +1672,6 @@ for details.
The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
default.action are:
-
Default Configurations
@@ -2346,7 +1722,7 @@ for details.
blocks onlyblocks only
-
+
Privacy Featureslow
@@ -2413,14 +1789,12 @@ for details.
-
- There is a shortcut: http://p.p/ (But it
- doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
- sent through Privoxy)
-
-
-
-
-
- Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
- editing of actions files:
-
-
-
- http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Show the source code version numbers:
-
-
-
- http://config.privoxy.org/show-version
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Show the browser's request headers:
-
-
-
- http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
-
-
-
- http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
- config file. When toggled off, Privoxy
- continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
- place:
-
-
+
+ There is a shortcut: http://p.p/ (But it
+ doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
+ sent through Privoxy)
+
+
- Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
- -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
- -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
- -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
- -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
+
+
+ Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
+ editing of actions files:
+
+
+
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
+
+
+
- Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
- consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
+
+
+ Show the source code version numbers:
+
+
+
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-version
+
+
+
- Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
- more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
+
+
+ Show the browser's request headers:
+
+
+
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
+
+
+
- Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
- Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
- based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
- definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
- eventually be set by Makefile.
- More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
+
+
+ Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
+
+
+
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
+
+
+
- Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
- enhance squid section due to user suggestion
+
+
+ Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
+ config file. When toggled off, Privoxy
+ continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
+ place:
+
+
+
- Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
- A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
+
- Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
- Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
+
- Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
- - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
- - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
- - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
- Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
- Minor update.
+
+
+Chain of Events
+
+ Let's take a quick look at how some of Privoxy's
+ core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
+ page is requested by your browser:
+
- Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
- Added more to Anatomy section.
+
+
+
+ First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
+ the request to Privoxy, which will in turn,
+ relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
+ tests:
+
+
+
+
+ Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI
+ pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
+
+
+
+
+ Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL
+ matches any +block patterns. If
+ so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
+ +handle-as-image
+ and
+ +handle-as-empty-document
+ are then checked, and if there is no match, an
+ HTML BLOCKED page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
+ it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
+ document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
+ +set-image-blocker
+ (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
+
+
+
+
+ Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
+ trust file, then that is done.
+
+
+
+
+ If the URL pattern matches the +fast-redirects action,
+ it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
+
+
+
+
+ Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
+ of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. +hide-user-agent,
+ etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
+ their parameters.
+
+
+
+
+ Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
+ page).
+
+
+
+
+ First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
+ things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
+ filtered as determined by the
+ +crunch-incoming-cookies,
+ +session-cookies-only,
+ and +downgrade-http-version
+ actions.
+
+
+
+
+ If any +filter action
+ or +deanimate-gifs
+ action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
+ read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
+ default.filter and any other filter files) are
+ processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
+ they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
+ are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
+ setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
+ Privoxy back to your browser.
+
+
+ If neither a +filter action
+ or +deanimate-gifs
+ matches, then Privoxy passes the raw data through
+ to the client browser as it becomes available.
+
+
+
+
+ As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
+ reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
+ source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
+ frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
+ separate request (this is easily viewable in Privoxy's
+ logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
+ complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
+ secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
+ differing set of actions is triggered.
+
+
- Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
- Touch up intro for new name.
+
- Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
- we have a new homepage!
+
+ NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
+ request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
+ Privoxy's core features only.
+
- Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
- A few minor catch ups with name change.
+
- Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
- configure needs to be generated.
- Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
- we are too lazy to make a block-built
- privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
+
+
+Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action
- Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
- name change related issue.
+
+ The way Privoxy applies
+ actions and filters
+ to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
+ easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
+ see just what Privoxy is
+ doing. Especially, if something Privoxy is doing
+ is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
+ the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
+ regular expressions whose consequences are not
+ always so obvious.
+
- Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
- name change. changed filenames.
+
+ One quick test to see if Privoxy is causing a problem
+ or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
+ step (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
+ logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
+ enabled via config file settings, and may need to be
+ turned on.)
+
+
+ Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
+ customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
+ defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
+ about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
+ configuration issue.
+
- Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
- name change
+
+ Privoxy also provides the
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
+ page that can show us very specifically how actions
+ are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
+
- Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
- renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
- fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
- "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
- comments and remarks to history untouched.
+
+ First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
+ Privoxy will tell us
+ how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
+ help with filtering effects (i.e. the +filter action) from
+ one of the filter files since this is handled very
+ differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
+ URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
+ such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
+ you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
+ -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
+ will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's View
+ Page Source option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
+ URL.
+
- Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
- Touch up.
+
+ Let's try an example, google.com,
+ and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
+ configuration may vary):
+
- Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
- New section in Appendix.
+
+ Matches for http://www.google.com:
- Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
- Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
+ In file: default.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
- correct feedback channels
+ {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+/
- Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
- Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
- more distros
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
- New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
+In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
+(no matches in this file)
+
- Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
- Added imageblock{pattern}.
+
+ This is telling us how we have defined our
+ actions, and
+ which ones match for our test case, google.com.
+ Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
+ the + sign denotes on. -
+ denotes off. So some are on here, but many
+ are off. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
+ end result, depending on our configuration directives.
+
+
+ The first listing
+ is for our default.action file. The large, multi-line
+ listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
+ settings. If you look at your actions file, this would be the
+ section just below the aliases section near the top. This
+ will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
+ of the listing -- / .
+
- Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
- looks better
+
+ But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
+ rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
+ would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
+ matches for .google.com. The first is negating our previous
+ cookie setting, which was for +session-cookies-only
+ (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
+ least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
+ off any +fast-redirects
+ action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
+ dot here -- .google.com. This will match any hosts and
+ sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
+ www.google.com or mail.google.com. But it would not
+ match www.google.de! So, apparently, we have these two actions
+ defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
+ part of our default.action file, and
+ google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
+
- Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
- Fix a few markup problems for jade.
+
+ Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits.
+ So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
+ configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
+ previously processed files, such as default.action.
+ user.action typically has the last word. This is the
+ best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
+
- Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
- provide correct feedback channels
+
+ And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
+ Privoxy is applying all its actions
+ to google.com:
+
- Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
- Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
+
+ Final results:
- Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
- Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
+ -add-header
+ -block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ -fast-redirects
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ -prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
- Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
- jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
+
+ Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
+ fast-redirects and session-cookies-only,
+ which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
+ and thus show in the Final Results.
+
- Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
- Add new - - user option.
+
+ Now another example, ad.doubleclick.net:
+
- Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
- Added section on command line options.
+
+ { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
+ ad*.
- Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
- Changed default port to 8118
+ { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
+ .ad.
- Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
- Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
+ { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+
- Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
- AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
- AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
- command line.
+
+ We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
+ matched three different times. Two +block{} sections,
+ and a +block{} +handle-as-image,
+ which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
+ +block-as-image. (Aliases are defined in
+ the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
+ than one action.)
+
- Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
- Just tweaking
+
+ Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
+ image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
+ would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
+ though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
+ URL to be invisible, it should be defined as ad.doubleclick.net
+ is done here -- as both a +block{}
+ and an
+ +handle-as-image.
+ The custom alias +block-as-image just
+ simplifies the process and make it more readable.
+
- Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
- Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
+
+ One last example. Let's try http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/.
+ This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
+
- Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
- Update OS/2 build section
+
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
- Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
- Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
- will work - no other changes are needed.
+ In file: default.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
- Added a very short section on Templates
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
+ /
- Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
- Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
+ { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
- Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
- Touch ups for *.action files.
+
+ Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads in our
+ configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
+ blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
+ the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
+ to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
+ We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
+ user.action file) that explicitly
+ un blocks (
+ {-block}) paths with
+ adsl in them (remember, last match in the configuration
+ wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
+
- Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
- Fix typo.
+
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+
- Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
- Updates for recent changes.
+
+ Now the page displays ;-)
+ Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
+ your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
+ using Shift+Reload.
+
- Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
- Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
+
+ But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
+ we did with:
+
- Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
- Correct 2 minor errors
+
+ { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
- Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
- *** empty log message ***
+
+ That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
+ was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
+ rules in the first section of default.action is causing
+ the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
+ error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
+ +filter actions.
+ These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
+ Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
+ +filter:
+
- Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
- Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
+
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+
- Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
- wrong url in documentation
+
+ { shop } is an alias that expands to
+ { -filter -session-cookies-only }.
+ Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
+
- Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
- Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
+
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
+ .forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
+
- Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
- Very minor changes.
+
+ This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
+ put in user.action, for local site
+ exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
+ the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
+ automatically in the scope of the action.
+
- Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
- Ditto :/
+
+ Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
++filter{banners-by-size}
+ rule, which assumes
+ that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
+ most of the time since these tend to be standardized).
+
- Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
- Ditto.
+
+ { fragile } is an alias that disables most
+ actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
+ last resort for problem sites.
+
- Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
- A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
+
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com
- Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
- Some additions, and re-arranging.
- Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
- Diddling.
+
+ Remember to flush caches! Note that the
+ mail.google reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
+ .com). This will effectively match any TLD with
+ google in it, such as mail.google.de.,
+ just as an example.
+
+
+ If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
+ actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
+
- Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
- Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
+
- Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
- cosmetics
+
- Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
- source files for junkbuster documentation
+