X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=6e2e6eb541d74e376fd1a2a29ffaf356f34dc25a;hb=4be4bdd648271517ac5a375e20a2cef59940a31a;hp=343e55e248d279f9cdc59b0259e32ad4811bb780;hpb=d598402eae9fa82f61416fe3654b895ab9380a01;p=privoxy.git
diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
index 343e55e2..6e2e6eb5 100644
--- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
+++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@
-
-
+
+
-
-
+
+
@@ -34,13 +34,13 @@
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil Exp $
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.157 2013/01/05 23:50:35 ler762 Exp $
- Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2013 Privoxy Developers http://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; 2001-2009 by
+ Copyright &my-copy; 2001-2011 by
Privoxy Developers
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.157 2013/01/05 23:50:35 ler762 Exp $
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:
@@ -165,14 +165,14 @@ Hal.
- 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:
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm,
- and will use /etc/privoxy for the location
+ and will use /etc/privoxy for the location
of configuration files.
@@ -193,13 +193,13 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
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.
+ 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.
+ 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.
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
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 +225,7 @@ 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
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ 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.
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
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
@@ -301,31 +301,83 @@ 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 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.
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+ To uninstall, run /Applications/Privoxy/uninstall.command as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
+
+
+
+Installation from source
+
+ 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.
+
+
+ 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 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.
+ 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 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).
+ 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.
+
+
+ To uninstall, run the macsetup module's uninstall.sh as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
AmigaOS
- Copy and then unpack the lha archive to a suitable location.
+ 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
+ directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
remove this directory.
@@ -352,19 +404,19 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
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
+ 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).
- 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
+ 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.
- Configuration files are in /etc/privoxy, the
+ 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.
@@ -377,7 +429,7 @@ 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
+ is to download the source tarball from our
project download
page.
@@ -386,8 +438,8 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
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
@@ -420,7 +472,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
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.
@@ -437,4262 +489,3201 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
What's New in this Release
- Privoxy 3.0.12 is mainly a bugfix release:
+ Privoxy 3.0.19 is a stable release.
+ The changes since 3.0.18 stable are:
-
-
- The socket-timeout option now also works on platforms whose
- select() implementation modifies the timeout structure.
- Previously the timeout was triggered even if the connection
- didn't stall. Reported by cyberpatrol.
-
-
-
-
- The Connection: keep-alive code properly deals with files
- larger than 2GB. Previously the connection was closed too
- early.
-
-
-
-
- The content length for files above 2GB is logged correctly.
-
-
-
-
- The user-manual directive on the show-status page links to
- the documentation location specified with the directive,
- not to the Privoxy website.
-
-
-
-
- When running in daemon mode, Privoxy doesn't log anything
- to the console unless there are errors before the logfile
- has been opened.
-
-
-
-
- The show-status page prints warnings about invalid directives
- on the same line as the directives themselves.
-
-
-
-
- Fixed several justified (but harmless) compiler warnings,
- mostly on 64 bit platforms.
-
-
-
-
- The mingw32 version explicitly requests the default charset
- to prevent display problems with some fonts available on more
- recent Windows versions. Patch by Burberry.
-
-
-
-
- The mingw32 version uses the Privoxy icon in the alt-tab
- windows. Patch by Burberry.
-
-
-
-
- The timestamp and the thread id is omitted in the "Fatal error"
- message box on mingw32.
-
-
-
+
- Fixed two related mingw32-only buffer overflows. Triggering
- them required control over the configuration file, therefore
- this isn't seen as a security issue.
+ Bug fixes:
+
+
+
+ Prevent a segmentation fault when de-chunking buffered content.
+ It could be triggered by malicious web servers if Privoxy was
+ configured to filter the content and running on a platform
+ where SIZE_T_MAX isn't larger than UINT_MAX, which probably
+ includes most 32-bit systems. On those platforms, all Privoxy
+ versions before 3.0.19 appear to be affected.
+ To be on the safe side, this bug should be presumed to allow
+ code execution as proving that it doesn't seems unrealistic.
+
+
+
+
+ Do not expect a response from the SOCKS4/4A server until it
+ got something to respond to. This regression was introduced
+ in 3.0.18 and prevented the SOCKS4/4A negotiation from working.
+ Reported by qqqqqw in #3459781.
+
+
+
- In verbose mode, or if the new option --show-skipped-tests
- is used, Privoxy-Regression-Test logs skipped tests and the
- skip reason.
+ General improvements:
+
+
+
+ Fix an off-by-one in an error message about connect failures.
+
+
+
+
+ Use a GNUMakefile variable for the webserver root directory and
+ update the path. Sourceforge changed it which broke various
+ web-related targets.
+
+
+
+
+ Update the CODE_STATUS description.
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
-Note to Upgraders
-
- A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
- versions of Privoxy:
+ The following changes were made between 3.0.17 and 3.0.18:
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
-
- 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
- not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
- Starting Privoxy.
-
-
-
-
-
- Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and
- HTTPS (SSL) proxy
- by setting the proxy configuration for address of
- 127.0.0.1 and port 8118.
- 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
- cookies,
- you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
-
-
-
-
-
- A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
- most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
- configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
- to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
- to enable the
- web-based action editor though.
- Be sure to read the warnings first.
-
-
- See the Configuration section for more
- configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
- You might also want to look at the next section for a quick
- introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and
- banners.
-
-
-
-
-
- If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
- blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
- Privoxy's behavior, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might
- find the richly commented examples
- helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The
- Appendix Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
- 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.
-
-
-
-
-
- Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-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
- user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
-
-
- 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
- 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
- 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
- the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform
- some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
- Privoxy to take some action. Each
- action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
- actions in Privoxy's
- arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. Actions, and action
- configuration files, are explained in depth below.
-
-
- Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration,
- 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.
-
-
- When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
- of the sections as defined in Privoxy's configuration,
- or not. If so, then Privoxy will perform the
- respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
- pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
- use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
- original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
- embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
- or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
- such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
- instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
- server are blocked.
-
-
-
- The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image,
- handle-as-empty-document,and
- set-image-blocker:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 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,
- but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
- stops any communication with the remote server and sends
- Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
- let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
-
-
-
-
-
- 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
- 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
- HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
-
-
-
-
-
- set-image-blocker - tells
- Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image that
- has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
- block action somewhere in the
- configuration, and, it must also match an
- handle-as-image action.
-
-
- The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
-
-
-
- pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
- replacement is obvious. This is the default.
-
-
-
-
- blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
- This is the so-called invisible configuration option.
-
-
-
-
- http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere
- of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
- filters as well. Filters
- are very different from blocks.
- A block blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
- are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
- filter usage: a text replacement of no-no for
- nasty-word. That is a very simple example. This process can be
- used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
- some pitfalls to be wary off.
-
-
-
- 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
- is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
-
-
-
- Note that as of Privoxy 3.0.7 beta the
- action editor is disabled by default. Check the
- enable-edit-actions
- section in the configuration file to learn why and in which
- cases it's safe to enable again.
-
-
-
- If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
- actions file, and click
- Edit. It is best to put personal or
- local preferences in user.action since this is not
- meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
- other files. Here you can insert new actions, and URLs for ad
- blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
- Privoxy will detect these changes automatically.
-
-
-
- A quick and simple step by step example:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
- Copy Link Location from the
- pop-up menu.
-
-
-
-
- Set your browser to
- http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
-
-
-
- Find user.action in the top section, and click
- on Edit:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- You should have a section with only
- block listed under
- Actions:.
- If not, click a Insert new section below
- button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
- Edit button right under the word Actions:.
- This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
- block near the top, and click
- in the Enabled column, then Submit
- just below the list.
-
-
-
-
- Now, in the block actions section,
- click the Add button, and paste the URL the
- browser got from Copy Link Location.
- Remove the http:// at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
- Submit (or
- OK if in a pop-up window).
-
-
-
-
- Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload
- (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
- wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
- site. For a more extensive explanation of patterns, and
- the entire actions concept, see the Actions
- section.
-
-
-
- For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
- to now go to the Actions Files Tutorial.
- 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
- fall into the advanced usage category, and are explained in
- depth in later sections.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Starting Privoxy
-
- Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you
- will want to configure your browser(s) to use
- 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
- 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:
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy
-
-
-
-
- For Internet Explorer v.5-7:
-
-
-
- Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings
-
-
-
- Then, check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info
- (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
- proxy support too (sometimes labeled Secure). Make sure any
- checkboxes like Use the same proxy server for all protocols is
- UNCHECKED. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 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
- any cookies,
- if you want Privoxy to manage that. You are now
- ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
- Privoxy!
-
-
-
- Privoxy itself is typically started by specifying the
- main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
- file is specified on the command line, Privoxy
- will look for a file named config in the current
- directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt.
-
-
-
-Red Hat and Fedora
-
- A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
- the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
- file.
-
-
-
- # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
-
-
-
- Or ...
-
-
-
- # service privoxy start
-
-
-
-
-
-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.
-
-
-
- # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-
-
-
-
-
-Windows
-
-Click on the &my-app; Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
- specified on the command line, Privoxy will look
- for a file named config.txt. Note that Windows will
- automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
- when installing.
-
-
- 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
- Windows Installation
- instructions for details.
-
-
-
-
-Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others
-
-Example Unix startup command:
-
-
-
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
-
-
-
-
-
-OS/2
-
- During installation, Privoxy is configured to
- start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
- double-clicking on the Privoxy icon in the
- Privoxy folder.
-
-
-
-
-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. 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 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).
-
-
-
-
-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
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Command Line Options
-
- Privoxy may be invoked with the following
- command-line options:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- --version
-
-
- Print version info and exit. Unix only.
-
-
-
-
- --help
-
-
- Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
-
-
-
-
- --no-daemon
-
-
- Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
- leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
-
-
-
-
- --pidfile FILE
-
-
- On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the
- FILE on exit. Failure to create or delete the
- FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE
- option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
-
-
-
-
- --user USER[.GROUP]
-
-
- After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
- USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
- privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
-
-
-
-
- --chroot
-
-
- Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option,
- chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
- 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.
-
-
-
-
- --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
- the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
-
-
- For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
- your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
- (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
- but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
-
-
-
-
-
- configfile
-
-
- If no configfile is included on the command line,
- Privoxy will look for a file named
- config in the current directory (except on Win32
- where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify
- full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
- Privoxy will fail to start.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Privoxy Configuration
-
- All Privoxy configuration is stored
- in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
- Many important aspects of Privoxy can
- also be controlled easily with a web browser.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
-
- Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special
- URL http://config.privoxy.org/
- (shortcut: http://p.p/),
- which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
- You will see the following section:
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Privoxy Menu
-
-
-
- ▪ View & change the current configuration
-
-
- ▪ View the source code version numbers
-
-
- ▪ View the request headers.
-
-
- ▪ Look up which actions apply to a URL and why
-
-
- ▪ Toggle Privoxy on or off
-
-
- ▪ Documentation
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
- actions files, which is where the ad, banner,
- cookie, and URL blocking magic is 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.
-
-
-
- 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
- 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.
-
-
-
- Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
- in Privoxy 3.0.7 beta and later.
- Check the
- configuration file to learn why
- and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Configuration Files Overview
-
- For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
- /etc/privoxy/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
- AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
- Privoxy executable.
-
-
-
- The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
- some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
- principle configuration files are:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- The main configuration file is named config
- on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt
- on Windows. This is a required file.
-
-
-
-
-
- match-all.action is used to define which actions
- 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.
-
-
- default.action defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
- from the default set of actions that's configured in match-all.action.
- 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
- 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.
-
-
-
-
-
- Filter files (the filter
- file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
- viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
- lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
- whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
- 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
- Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
-
-
-
-
- All files use the # character to denote a
- comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
- through placing a backslash ("\") as the very last character
- in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it looses
- its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise
- valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
- out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
-
-
-
- The actions files and filter files
- can use Perl style regular expressions for
- 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
- 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
- must obviously be sent to the old listening address.
-
-
-
- While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
- The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
- Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so
- please check all your configuration files on important issues.
-
-]]>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- &config;
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Actions Files
-
-
-
-
- The actions files are used to define what actions
- Privoxy 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.
-
-
- There
- are three action files included with Privoxy with
- differing purposes:
-
-
-
-
-
- match-all.action - is used to define which
- actions 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
-
-
-
-
- default.action - defines many exceptions (both
- positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
- in match-all.action. 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.
-
-
-
-
- user.action - is intended to be for local site
- preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
- has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
- thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
-
-
-
-
- EditSet to CautiousSet to MediumSet to Advanced
-
-
- 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
- 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
- not working as they should.
-
-
- 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
- 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
- other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
- Advanced 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
- Edit button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
- lower sections of this internal page.
-
-
- 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.
-
-
- The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
- default.action are:
-
-
-
Default Configurations
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Feature
- Cautious
- Medium
- Advanced
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Ad-blocking Aggressiveness
- medium
- high
- high
-
-
-
- Ad-filtering by size
- no
- yes
- yes
-
-
-
- Ad-filtering by link
- no
- no
- yes
-
-
- Pop-up killing
- blocks only
- blocks only
- blocks only
-
-
-
- Privacy Features
- low
- medium
- medium/high
-
-
-
- Cookie handling
- none
- session-only
- kill
-
-
-
- Referer forging
- no
- yes
- yes
-
-
-
- GIF de-animation
- no
- yes
- yes
-
-
-
- Fast redirects
- no
- no
- yes
-
-
-
- HTML taming
- no
- no
- yes
-
-
-
- JavaScript taming
- no
- no
- yes
-
-
-
- Web-bug killing
- no
- yes
- yes
-
-
-
- Image tag reordering
- no
- yes
- yes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
- file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
- default.action is typically processed before
- user.action). The content of these can all be viewed and
- edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
- 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 default.action),
- followed by any exceptions (typically also in
- default.action), which are then followed lastly by any
- local preferences (typically in user.action).
- Generally, user.action has the last word.
-
-
-
- An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
- aliases in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
- alias section at the top of that file.
- Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
- sites and pages (be very careful with using such a
- universal set in user.action or any other actions file after
- default.action, because it will override the result
- from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
- exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
- user.action as an appendix to default.action,
- with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
- personal settings across Privoxy upgrades easier.
-
-
-
- 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 complete list
- of actions.
-
-
-
-
-Finding the Right Mix
-
- Note that some actions, 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
- aggressive your default settings (in the top section of the
- actions file) are, the more exceptions for trusted sites you
- will have to make later. If, for example, you want to 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.
-
-
-
- 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 :).
-
-
-
-
-
-How to Edit
-
- The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
- using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
- Note: the config file option enable-edit-actions 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 Cautious, Medium or
- Advanced. Warning: the Advanced setting is more
- aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
- Experienced users only!
-
-
-
- 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
- default.action which is richly commented with many
- good examples.
-
-
-
-
-
-How Actions are Applied to Requests
-
- Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
- like the alias 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.
-
-
-
- To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
- compared to all URL patterns in each action file.
- 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.
-
-
-
- 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 {
- +handle-as-image },
- then later another one with just {
- +block }, resulting
- in both actions to apply. And there may well be
- cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
- might look like:
-
-
-
-
- { +handle-as-image +block{Banner ads.} }
- # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
- banners.example.com
- media.example.com/.*banners
- .example.com/images/ads/
-
-
-
- You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info.
-
-
-
- Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix,
- Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action section.
-
-
-
-
-
-Patterns
-
- As mentioned, Privoxy uses patterns
- to determine what actions might apply to which sites and
- pages your browser attempts to access. These patterns use wild
- card type pattern matching to achieve a high degree of
- flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
- against many similar patterns.
-
-
-
- Generally, an URL pattern has the form
- <domain><port>/<path>, where the
- <domain>, the <port>
- and the <path> are optional. (This is why the special
- / pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
- portion of the URL pattern (e.g. http://) should
- not be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
-
-
- 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
- Regular
- Expressions (POSIX 1003.2).
-
-
- The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
- (:). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
- it has to be put into angle brackets
- (<, >).
-
-
-
-
- www.example.com/
-
-
- is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com,
- regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
- this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
- simple example.com is different and would NOT match.
-
-
-
-
- www.example.com
-
-
- means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may
- be omitted.
-
-
-
-
- www.example.com/index.html
-
-
- matches all the documents on www.example.com
- whose name starts with /index.html.
-
-
-
-
- www.example.com/index.html$
-
-
- matches only the single document /index.html
- on www.example.com.
-
-
-
-
- /index.html$
-
-
- matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain,
- i.e. on any web server anywhere.
-
-
-
-
- :8000/
-
-
- Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
-
-
-
-
- <2001:db8::1>/
-
-
- Matches any URL with the host address 2001:db8::1.
- (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
-
-
-
-
- index.html
-
-
- matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
- there is no top-level domain called .html. So its
- a mistake.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The Domain Pattern
-
-
- 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:
-
-
-
-
- .example.com
-
-
- matches any domain with first-level domain com
- and second-level domain example.
- For example www.example.com,
- example.com and foo.bar.baz.example.com.
- Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was another-example.
-
-
-
-
- www.
-
-
- matches any domain that STARTS with
- www. (It also matches the domain
- www but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
-
-
-
-
- .example.
-
-
- matches any domain that CONTAINS.example..
- 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 example as
- a domain.) This might be www.example.com,
- news.example.de, or
- www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl for instance. All these
- cases are matched.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
- themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
- * represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
- equivalent to the
- Regular
- Expression based syntax of .*),
- ? represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
- regular expression syntax of a simple .), and you can define
- character classes in square brackets which is similar to
- the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
-
-
-
-
- ad*.example.com
-
-
- matches adserver.example.com,
- ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com
-
-
-
-
- *ad*.example.com
-
-
- matches all of the above, and then some.
+ General improvements:
+
+
+
+ Privoxy can (re)compress buffered content before delivering
+ it to the client. Disabled by default as most users wouldn't
+ benefit from it.
+
+
+
+
+ The +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action checks URL
+ segments separately. If there are other parameters behind
+ the redirect URL, this makes it unnecessary to cut them off
+ by additionally using a +redirect{} pcrs command.
+ Initial patch submitted by Jamie Zawinski in #3429848.
+
+
+
+
+ When loading action sections, verify that the referenced filters
+ exist. Currently missing filters only result in an error message,
+ but eventually the severity will be upgraded to fatal.
+
+
+
+
+ Allow to bind to multiple separate addresses.
+ Patch set submitted by Petr Pisar in #3354485.
+
+
+
+
+ Set socket_error to errno if connecting fails in rfc2553_connect_to().
+ Previously rejected direct connections could be incorrectly reported
+ as DNS issues if Privoxy was compiled with IPv6 support.
+
+
+
+
+ Adjust url_code_map[] so spaces are replaced with %20 instead of '+'
+ While '+' can be used by client's submitting form data, this is not
+ actually what Privoxy is using the lookups for. This is more of a
+ cosmetic issue and doesn't fix any known problems.
+
+
+
+
+ When compiled without FEATURE_FAST_REDIRECTS, do not silently
+ ignore +fast-redirect{} directives
+
+
+
+
+ Added a workaround for GNU libc's strptime() reporting negative
+ year values when the parsed year is only specified with two digits.
+ On affected systems cookies with such a date would not be turned
+ into session cookies by the +session-cookies-only action.
+ Reported by Vaeinoe in #3403560
+
+
+
+
+ Fixed bind failures with certain GNU libc versions if no non-loopback
+ IP address has been configured on the system. This is mainly an issue
+ if the system is using DHCP and Privoxy is started before the network
+ is completely configured.
+ Reported by Raphael Marichez in #3349356.
+ Additional insight from Petr Pisar.
+
+
+
+
+ Privoxy log messages now use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
+ It's only slightly longer than the old format, but contains
+ the full date including the year and allows sorting by date
+ (when grepping in multiple log files) without hassle.
+
+
+
+
+ In get_last_url(), do not bother trying to decode URLs that do
+ not contain at least one '%' sign. It reduces the log noise and
+ a number of unnecessary memory allocations.
+
+
+
+
+ In case of SOCKS5 failures, dump the socks response in the log message.
+
+
+
+
+ Simplify the signal setup in main().
+
+
+
+
+ Streamline socks5_connect() slightly.
+
+
+
+
+ In socks5_connect(), require a complete socks response from the server.
+ Previously Privoxy didn't care how much data the server response
+ contained as long as the first two bytes contained the expected
+ values. While at it, shrink the buffer size so Privoxy can't read
+ more than a whole socks response.
+
+
+
+
+ In chat(), do not bother to generate a client request in case of
+ direct CONNECT requests. It will not be used anyway.
+
+
+
+
+ Reduce server_last_modified()'s stack size.
+
+
+
+
+ Shorten get_http_time() by using strftime().
+
+
+
+
+ Constify the known_http_methods pointers in unknown_method().
+
+
+
+
+ Constify the time_formats pointers in parse_header_time().
+
+
+
+
+ Constify the formerly_valid_actions pointers in action_used_to_be_valid().
+
+
+
+
+ Introduce a GNUMakefile MAN_PAGE variable that defaults to privoxy.1.
+ The Debian package uses section 8 for the man page and this
+ should simplify the patch.
+
+
+
+
+ Deduplicate the INADDR_NONE definition for Solaris by moving it to jbsockets.h
+
+
+
+
+ In block_url(), ditch the obsolete workaround for ancient Netscape versions
+ that supposedly couldn't properly deal with status code 403.
+
+
+
+
+ Remove a useless NULL pointer check in load_trustfile().
+
+
+
+
+ Remove two useless NULL pointer checks in load_one_re_filterfile().
+
+
+
+
+ Change url_code_map[] from an array of pointers to an array of arrays
+ It removes an unnecessary layer of indirection and on 64bit system reduces
+ the size of the binary a bit.
+
+
+
+
+ Fix various typos. Fixes taken from Debian's 29_typos.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a dok-tidy GNUMakefile target to clean up the messy HTML
+ generated by the other dok targets.
+
+
+
+
+ GNUisms in the GNUMakefile have been removed.
+
+
+
+
+ Change the HTTP version in static responses to 1.1
+
+
+
+
+ Synced config.sub and config.guess with upstream
+ 2011-11-11/386c7218162c145f5f9e1ff7f558a3fbb66c37c5.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a dedicated function to parse the values of toggles. Reduces duplicated
+ code in load_config() and provides better error handling. Invalid or missing
+ toggle values are now a fatal error instead of being silently ignored.
+
+
+
+
+ Terminate HTML lines in static error messages with \n instead of \r\n.
+
+
+
+
+ Simplify cgi_error_unknown() a bit.
+
+
+
+
+ In LogPutString(), don't bother looking at pszText when not
+ actually logging anything.
+
+
+
+
+ Change ssplit()'s fourth parameter from int to size_t.
+ Fixes a clang complaint.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a warning that the statistics currently can't be trusted.
+ Mention Privoxy-Log-Parser's --statistics option as
+ an alternative for the time being.
+
+
+
+
+ In rfc2553_connect_to(), start setting cgi->error_message on error.
+
+
+
+
+ Change the expected status code returned for http://p.p/die depending
+ on whether or not FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION is available.
+
+
+
+
+ In cgi_die(), mark the client connection for closing.
+ If the client will fetch the style sheet through another connection
+ it gets the main thread out of the accept() state and should thus
+ trigger the actual shutdown.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a proper CGI message for cgi_die().
+
+
+
+
+ Don't enforce a logical line length limit in read_config_line().
+
+
+
+
+ Slightly refactor server_last_modified() to remove useless gmtime*() calls.
+
+
+
+
+ In get_content_type(), also recognize '.jpeg' as JPEG extension.
+
+
+
+
+ Add '.png' to the list of recognized file extensions in get_content_type().
+
+
+
+
+ In block_url(), consistently use the block reason "Request blocked by Privoxy"
+ In two places the reason was "Request for blocked URL" which hides the
+ fact that the request got blocked by Privoxy and isn't necessarily
+ correct as the block may be due to tags.
+
+
+
+
+ In listen_loop(), reload the configuration files after accepting
+ a new connection instead of before.
+ Previously the first connection that arrived after a configuration
+ change would still be handled with the old configuration.
+
+
+
+
+ In chat()'s receive-data loop, skip a client socket check if
+ the socket will be written to right away anyway. This can
+ increase the transfer speed for unfiltered content on fast
+ network connections.
+
+
+
+
+ The socket timeout is used for SOCKS negotiations as well which
+ previously couldn't timeout.
+
+
+
+
+ Don't keep the client connection alive if any configuration file
+ changed since the time the connection came in. This is closer to
+ Privoxy's behaviour before keep-alive support for client connection
+ has been added and also less confusing in general.
+
+
+
+
+ Treat all Content-Type header values containing the pattern
+ 'script' as a sign of text. Reported by pribog in #3134970.
+
+
+
-
-
- .?pix.com
- matches www.ipix.com,
- pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc.
+ Action file improvements:
+
+
+
+ Moved the site-specific block pattern section below the one for the
+ generic patterns so for requests that are matched in both, the block
+ reason for the domain is shown which is usually more useful than showing
+ the one for the generic pattern.
+
+
+
+
+ Remove -prevent-compression from the fragile alias. It's no longer
+ used anywhere by default and isn't known to break stuff anyway.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a (disabled) section to block various Facebook tracking URLs.
+ Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421764.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a (disabled) section to rewrite and redirect click-tracking
+ URLs used on news.google.com.
+ Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421755.
+
+
+
+
+ Unblock linuxcounter.net/.
+ Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3422612.
+
+
+
+
+ Block 'www91.intel.com/' which is used by Omniture.
+ Reported by Adam Piggott in #3167370.
+
+
+
+
+ Disable the handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok option and mark it as deprecated.
+ Reminded by tceverling in #2790091.
+
+
+
+
+ Add ".ivwbox.de/" to the "Cross-site user tracking" section.
+ Reported by Nettozahler in #3172525.
+
+
+
+
+ Unblock and fast-redirect ".awin1.com/.*=http://".
+ Reported by Adam Piggott in #3170921.
+
+
+
+
+ Block "b.collective-media.net/".
+
+
+
+
+ Widen the Debian popcon exception to "qa.debian.org/popcon".
+ Seen in Debian's 05_default_action.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
+
+
+
+
+ Block ".gemius.pl/" which only seems to be used for user tracking.
+ Reported by johnd16 in #3002731. Additional input from Lee and movax.
+
+
+
+
+ Disable banners-by-size filters for '.thinkgeek.com/'.
+ The filter only seems to catch pictures of the inventory.
+
+
+
+
+ Block requests for 'go.idmnet.bbelements.com/please/showit/'.
+ Reported by kacperdominik in #3372959.
+
+
+
+
+ Unblock adainitiative.org/.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a fast-redirects exception for '.googleusercontent.com/.*=cache'.
+
+
+
+
+ Add a fast-redirects exception for webcache.googleusercontent.com/.
+
+
+
+
+ Unblock http://adassier.wordpress.com/ and http://adassier.files.wordpress.com/.
+
+
+
-
-
- www[1-9a-ez].example.c*
- matches www1.example.com,
- www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy,
- wwwz.example.com etc., but not
- wwww.example.com.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The Path Pattern
-
-
- Privoxy uses modern POSIX 1003.2
- Regular
- Expressions for matching the path portion (after the slash),
- and is thus more flexible.
-
-
-
- There is an Appendix 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 man re_format).
-
-
-
- Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the /,
- i.e. it matches as if it would start with a ^ (regular expression speak
- for the beginning of a line).
-
-
-
- Please also note that matching in the path is CASE INSENSITIVE
- by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
- (?-i) switch: www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match
- only documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in
- exactly this capitalization.
-
-
-
-
- .example.com/.*
+ Filter file improvements:
+
+
+
+ Let the yahoo filter hide '.ads'.
+
+
+
+
+ Let the msn filter hide overlay ads for Facebook 'likes' in search
+ results and elements with the id 's_notf_div'. They only seem to be
+ used to advertise site 'enhancements'.
+
+
+
+
+ Let the js-events filter additionally disarm setInterval().
+ Suggested by dg1727 in #3423775.
+
+
+
+
+
- Is equivalent to just .example.com, since any documents
- within that domain are matched with or without the .*
- regular expression. This is redundant
+ Documentation improvements:
+
+
+
+ Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support.
+ Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
+
+
+
+
+ Point out that the SourceForge messaging system works like a black
+ hole and should thus not be used to contact individual developers.
+
+
+
+
+ Mention some of the problems one can experience when not explicitly
+ configuring an IP addresses as listen address.
+
+
+
+
+ Explicitly mention that hostnames can be used instead of IP addresses
+ for the listen-address, that only the first address returned will be
+ used and what happens if the address is invalid.
+ Requested by Calestyo in #3302213.
+
+
+
-
-
- .example.com/.*/index.html$
- Will match any page in the domain of example.com that is
- named index.html, and that is part of some path. For
- example, it matches www.example.com/testing/index.html but
- NOT www.example.com/index.html because the regular
- expression called for at least two /'s, thus the path
- requirement. It also would match
- www.example.com/testing/index_html, because of the
- special meta-character ..
+ Log message improvements:
+
+
+
+ If only the server connection is kept alive, do not pretend to
+ wait for a new client request.
+
+
+
+
+ Remove a superfluous log message in forget_connection().
+
+
+
+
+ In chat(), properly report missing server responses as such
+ instead of calling them empty.
+
+
+
+
+ In forwarded_connect(), fix a log message nobody should ever see.
+
+
+
+
+ Fix a log message in socks5_connect(), a failed write operation
+ was logged as failed read operation.
+
+
+
+
+ Let load_one_actions_file() properly complain about a missing
+ '{' at the beginning of the file.
+ Simply stating that a line is invalid isn't particularly helpful.
+
+
+
+
+ Do not claim to listen on a socket until Privoxy actually does.
+ Patch submitted by Petr Pisar #3354485
+
+
+
+
+ Prevent a duplicated LOG_LEVEL_CLF message when sending out
+ the "no-server-data" response.
+
+
+
+
+ Also log the client socket when dropping a connection.
+
+
+
+
+ Include the destination host in the 'Request ... marked for
+ blocking. limit-connect{...} doesn't allow CONNECT ...' message
+ Patch submitted by Saperski in #3296250.
+
+
+
+
+ Prevent a duplicated log message if none of the resolved IP
+ addresses were reachable.
+
+
+
+
+ In connect_to(), do not pretend to retry if forwarded-connect-retries
+ is zero or unset.
+
+
+
+
+ When a specified user or group can't be found, put the name in
+ single-quotes when logging it.
+
+
+
+
+ In rfc2553_connect_to(), explain getnameinfo() errors better.
+
+
+
+
+ Remove a useless log message in chat().
+
+
+
+
+ When retrying to connect, also log the maximum number of connection
+ attempts.
+
+
+
+
+ Rephrase a log message in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list().
+ Divide the error code and its meaning with a colon. Call the pcrs
+ job dynamic and not the filter. Filters may contain dynamic and
+ non-dynamic pcrs jobs at the same time. Only mention the name of
+ the filter or tagger, but don't claim it's a filter when it could
+ be a tagger.
+
+
+
+
+ In a fatal error message in load_one_actions_file(), cover both
+ URL and TAG patterns.
+
+
+
+
+ In pcrs_strerror(), properly report unknown positive error code
+ values as such. Previously they were handled like 0 (no error).
+
+
+
+
+ In compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list(), also log the actual error code as
+ pcrs_strerror() doesn't handle all errors reported by pcre.
+
+
+
+
+ Don't bother trying to continue chatting if the client didn't ask for it.
+ Reduces log noise a bit.
+
+
+
+
+ Make two fatal error message in load_one_actions_file() more descriptive.
+
+
+
+
+ In cgi_send_user_manual(), log when rejecting a file name due to '/' or '..'.
+
+
+
+
+ In load_file(), log a message if opening a file failed.
+ The CGI error message alone isn't too helpful.
+
+
+
+
+ In connection_destination_matches(), improve two log messages
+ to help understand why the destinations don't match.
+
+
+
+
+ Rephrase a log message in serve(). Client request arrival
+ should be differentiated from closed client connections now.
+
+
+
+
+ In serve(), log if a client connection isn't reused due to a
+ configuration file change.
+
+
+
+
+ Let mark_server_socket_tainted() always mark the server socket tainted,
+ just don't talk about it in cases where it has no effect. It doesn't change
+ Privoxy's behaviour, but makes understanding the log file easier.
+
+
+
-
-
- .example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$
- This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
- named index.html regardless of path which in this case can
- have one or more /'s. And this one must contain exactly
- .html (but does not have to end with that!).
+ configure:
+
+
+
+ Added a --disable-ipv6-support switch for platforms where support
+ is detected but doesn't actually work.
+
+
+
+
+ Do not check for the existence of strerror() and memmove() twice
+
+
+
+
+ Remove a useless test for setpgrp(2). Privoxy doesn't need it and
+ it can cause problems when cross-compiling.
+
+
+
+
+ Rename the --disable-acl-files switch to --disable-acl-support.
+ Since about 2001, ACL directives are specified in the standard
+ config file.
+
+
+
+
+ Update the URL of the 'Removing outdated PCRE version after the
+ next stable release' posting. The old URL stopped working after
+ one of SF's recent site "optimizations". Reported by Han Liu.
+
+
+
-
-
- .example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)
- This regular expression will match any path of example.com
- that contains any of the words ads, banner,
- banners (because of the ?) or junk.
- The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
+ Privoxy-Regression-Test:
+
+
+
+ Added --shuffle-tests option to increase the chances of detection race conditions.
+
+
+
+
+ Added a --local-test-file option that allows to use Privoxy-Regression-Test without Privoxy.
+
+
+
+
+ Added tests for missing socks4 and socks4a forwarders.
+
+
+
+
+ The --privoxy-address option now works with IPv6 addresses containing brackets, too.
+
+
+
+
+ Perform limited sanity checks for parameters that are supposed to have numerical values.
+
+
+
+
+ Added a --sleep-time option to specify a number of seconds to
+ sleep between tests, defaults to 0.
+
+
+
+
+ Disable the range-requests tagger for tests that break if it's enabled.
+
+
+
+
+ Log messages use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
+
+
+
+
+ Fix spelling in two error messages.
+
+
+
+
+ In the --help output, include a list of supported tests and their default levels.
+
+
+
+
+ Adjust the tests to properly deal with FEATURE_TOGGLE being disabled.
+
+
+
-
-
- .example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$
- This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
- .jpg, .jpeg, .gif or .png. So this
- one is limited to common image formats.
+ Privoxy-Log-Parser:
+
+
+
+ Perform limited sanity checks for command line parameters that
+ are supposed to have numerical values.
+
+
+
+
+ Implement a --unbreak-lines-only option to try to revert MUA breakage.
+
+
+
+
+ Accept and highlight: Added header: Content-Encoding: deflate
+
+
+
+
+ Accept and highlight: Compressed content from 29258 to 8630 bytes.
+
+
+
+
+ Accept and highlight: Client request arrived in time on socket 21.
+
+
+
+
+ Highlight: Didn't receive data in time: a.fsdn.com:443
+
+
+
+
+ Accept log messages with ISO 8601 time stamps, too.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ uagen:
+
+
+
+ Bump generated Firefox version to 8.0.
+
+
+
+
+ Only randomize the release date if the new --randomize-release-date
+ option is enabled. Firefox versions after 4 use a fixed date string
+ without meaning.
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
- There are many, many good examples to be found in default.action,
- and more tutorials below in Appendix on regular expressions.
+
-
-
-
-
-The Tag Pattern
-
-
- Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
- request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
- client-header-tagger
- or the server-header-tagger action.
-
-
-
- Tag patterns have to start with TAG:, so &my-app;
- 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 (&my-app; doesn't silently add a ^,
- you have to do it yourself if you need it).
-
-
-
- To match all requests that are tagged with foo
- your pattern line should be TAG:^foo$,
- TAG:foo would work as well, but it would also
- match requests whose tags contain foo somewhere.
- TAG: foo wouldn't work as it requires white space.
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
- For example you could tag client requests which use the
- POST 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.
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
+Note to Upgraders
-
-Actions
- All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
- somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
- +, and turned off if preceded with a -. So a
- +action means do that action, e.g.
- +block means please block URLs that match the
- following patterns, and -block means don't
- block URLs that match the following patterns, even if +block
- previously applied.
-
-
-
-
- Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
- separated by whitespace, like in
- {+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}},
- 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.
-
-
-
- Actions fall into three categories:
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of Privoxy:
+
-
- Boolean, i.e the action can only be enabled or
- disabled. Syntax:
-
-
- +name # enable action name
- -name # disable action name
+ 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.
-
- Example: +handle-as-image
+
+ 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.
-
-
-
- Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
- Syntax:
-
-
-
- +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param,
- # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
- -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
-
- Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
- the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
-
-
- Example: +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}
+ Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
+ including configuration files, therefore you should really save
+ any important configuration files!
-
-
- Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
- but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
- same URL, but with different parameters, all the parameters
- from all matches are remembered. This is used for actions
- that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
- headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
-
-
- +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters
- -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters
- # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
- -name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list
-
-
- Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and
- +filter{html-annoyances}
+ 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.
-
-
-
-
- If nothing is specified in any actions file, no actions are
- taken. So in this case Privoxy would just be a
- normal, non-blocking, non-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).
-
-
-
- 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 user.action). 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 config (the default
- installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
- URL to match more than one pattern (because of wildcards and
- regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
- match wins.
-
-
-
-
- The list of valid Privoxy actions are:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-add-header
-
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Confuse log analysis, custom applications
-
-
-
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
-
-
-
-
-
- Type:
-
-
- Multi-value.
-
-
-
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
- It is recommended that you use the X- prefix
- for custom headers.
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
- headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
- HTTP headers are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
- one.
-
-
-
-
-
- Example usage:
-
-
- +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-block
-
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Block ads or other unwanted content
+
+
+ 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.
+
-
-
- Effect:
+
+
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
-
- Parameter:
-
- A block reason that should be given to the user.
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
- Privoxy sends a special BLOCKED 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).
-
-
- A very important exception occurs if both
- block and handle-as-image,
- apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
- set-image-blocker
- (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
- if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
+ The default setting has filtering turned off, which
+ subsequently means that compression is on. Remember
+ that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
+ use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
- It is important to understand this process, in order
- to understand how Privoxy deals with
- ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
- upon which various other features depend.
+
+ { +filter{google} +prevent-compression }
+ .google.
- The filter
- action can perform a very similar task, by blocking
- banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
- document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
- Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
+ Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
+ to turn off compression for all sites in
+ default.action (or
+ user.action).
+
-
-
- Example usage (section):
-
- {+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$
-
+
+ Also, session-cookies-only is
+ off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
+ to turn it back on in user.action now.
+
-
-
-
+
+
+ Some installers may not automatically start
+ Privoxy after installation.
+
+
+-->
+
+
+
+
+
-
-change-x-forwarded-for
+Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.
-
-
+
+
+ Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
+ information.
+
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Deletes the X-Forwarded-For: HTTP header from the client request,
- or adds a new one.
-
-
-
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
+
+
+ Start Privoxy, if the installation program has
+ not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
+ Starting Privoxy.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and
+ HTTPS (SSL) proxy
+ by setting the proxy configuration for address of
+ 127.0.0.1 and port 8118.
+ 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
+ cookies,
+ you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
+
+
+
+
+
+ A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
+ most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
+ configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
+ to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
+ to enable the
+ web-based action editor though.
+ Be sure to read the warnings first.
+
+
+ See the Configuration section for more
+ configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
+ You might also want to look at the next section for a quick
+ introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and
+ banners.
+
+
+
+
+
+ If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
+ blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
+ Privoxy's behavior, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might
+ find the richly commented examples
+ helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The
+ Appendix Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
+
+
+
+
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
-
- block to delete the header.
-
-
-
- add to create the header (or append
- the client's IP address to an already existing one).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- It is safe and recommended to use block.
-
-
- Forwarding the source address of the request may make
- sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
-
-
-
-
- Example usage:
-
-
- +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
-
-
-
-
-
-
-client-header-filter
-
-
- Typical use:
-
-
- Rewrite or remove single client headers.
-
-
-
+
+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
+ user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
+
+
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform
+ some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
+ Privoxy to take some action. Each
+ action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
+ actions in Privoxy's
+ arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. Actions, and action
+ configuration files, are explained in depth below.
+
+
+ Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration,
+ 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.
+
+
+ When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
+ of the sections as defined in Privoxy's configuration,
+ or not. If so, then Privoxy will perform the
+ respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
+ pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
+ use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
+ original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
+ embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
+ or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
+ such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
+ instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
+ server are blocked.
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
- the specified regular expression based substitutions.
-
-
-
+
+ The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image,
+ handle-as-empty-document,and
+ set-image-blocker:
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
+
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
- filter files.
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- 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.
-
-
- Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
- and use their output as input.
-
-
- If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; 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.
-
-
- Please refer to the filter file chapter
- to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
- create your own.
-
+
+
+ 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,
+ but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
+ stops any communication with the remote server and sends
+ Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
+ let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
+
+
-
-
+
+
+ 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
+ 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.
+
+
-
- Example usage (section):
-
-
-
-# Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
-{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
-/
-
-
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+ set-image-blocker - tells
+ Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image that
+ has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
+ block action somewhere in the
+ configuration, and, it must also match an
+ handle-as-image action.
+
+
+ The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
+
+
+
+ pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
+ replacement is obvious. This is the default.
+
+
+
+
+ blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
+ This is the so-called invisible configuration option.
+
+
+
+
+ http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere
+ of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
+
+
-
-
-
+
+
+
+
+ Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
+ filters as well. Filters
+ are very different from blocks.
+ A block blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
+ are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
+ filter usage: a text replacement of no-no for
+ nasty-word. That is a very simple example. This process can be
+ used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
+ some pitfalls to be wary off.
+
+
+
+ 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
+ is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
+
+
+ Note that as of Privoxy 3.0.7 beta the
+ action editor is disabled by default. Check the
+ enable-edit-actions
+ section in the configuration file to learn why and in which
+ cases it's safe to enable again.
+
-
-
-client-header-tagger
+
+ If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
+ actions file, and click
+ Edit. It is best to put personal or
+ local preferences in user.action since this is not
+ meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
+ other files. Here you can insert new actions, and URLs for ad
+ blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
+ Privoxy will detect these changes automatically.
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
-
- Block requests based on their headers.
-
-
-
+
+ A quick and simple step by step example:
+
+
+
+
-
- Effect:
- 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.
+ Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
+ Copy Link Location from the
+ pop-up menu.
-
-
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
-
-
- Parameter:
- The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
- filter files.
+ Set your browser to
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
-
-
- Notes:
- Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
- and as the header isn't modified, each tagger sees
- the original.
-
-
- Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
- and their tags can be used to control every other action.
+ Find user.action in the top section, and click
+ on Edit:
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
- Example usage (section):
-
-
-
-# Tag every request with the User-Agent header
-{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
-/
+
+
+ You should have a section with only
+ block listed under
+ Actions:.
+ If not, click a Insert new section below
+ button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
+ Edit button right under the word Actions:.
+ This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
+ block near the top, and click
+ in the Enabled column, then Submit
+ just below the list.
+
+
+
+
+ Now, in the block actions section,
+ click the Add button, and paste the URL the
+ browser got from Copy Link Location.
+ Remove the http:// at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
+ Submit (or
+ OK if in a pop-up window).
+
+
+
+
+ Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload
+ (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
+
+
-# 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/
-
-
-
-
+
+
-
-
+
+ This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
+ wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
+ site. For a more extensive explanation of patterns, and
+ the entire actions concept, see the Actions
+ section.
+
+
+ For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
+ to now go to the Actions Files Tutorial.
+ 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
+ fall into the advanced usage category, and are explained in
+ depth in later sections.
+
-
-
-content-type-overwrite
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode
-
-
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Replaces the Content-Type: HTTP server header.
-
-
-
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- Any string.
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- The Content-Type: 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.
-
-
- The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
- the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as text/html,
- many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
- If it is send as application/xml, browsers with
- XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
-
-
- If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
- Content-Type: text/html, you can use &my-app;
- to overwrite it with application/xml and validate
- the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
- If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
-
-
- 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
- text/html and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
-
-
- By default content-type-overwrite only replaces
- Content-Type: headers that look like some kind of text.
- If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
- force-text-mode.
- This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
-
-
- Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
- server-header filter.
- 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.
-
-
- Of course you can apply content-type-overwrite
- to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
- more work to get the same precision.
-
-
-
+
+
+Starting Privoxy
+
+ Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you
+ will want to configure your browser(s) to use
+ 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
+ HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
- Example usage (sections):
-
-
- # 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
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
+ With Firefox, this is typically set under:
+
+
+ Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network ->Connection -> Settings
-
-
-
-crunch-client-header
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Remove a client header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
-
-
+
+ Or optionally on some platforms:
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
-
-
-
+
+ Edit -> Preferences -> General -> Connection Settings -> Manual Proxy Configuration
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- Any string.
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
- Privoxy action exists.
- Privoxy will remove every client header that
- contains the string you supplied as parameter.
-
-
- Regular expressions are not supported and you can't
- use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
- they contain the same string.
-
-
- crunch-client-header 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
- client-header filter.
-
-
-
- Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
-
-
-
-
-
- Example usage (section):
-
-
- # Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
-{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
-/
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
+ With Netscape (and
+ Mozilla), this can be set under:
+
-
-
-crunch-if-none-match
-
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
-
-
+
+
+
+ Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Deletes the If-None-Match: HTTP client header.
-
-
-
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Boolean.
-
-
+
+ For Internet Explorer v.5-7:
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- N/A
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- Removing the If-None-Match: HTTP client header
- is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
- reload instead of getting status code 304 which
- would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
-
-
- It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
- replacement (unlikely but possible).
-
-
- Blocking the If-None-Match: header shouldn't cause any
- caching problems, as long as the If-Modified-Since: header
- isn't blocked or missing as well.
-
-
- It is recommended to use this action together with
- hide-if-modified-since
- and
- overwrite-last-modified.
-
-
-
+
+ Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings
+
-
- Example usage (section):
-
-
- # 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}
-/
-
-
-
-
-
+
+ Then, check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info
+ (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
+ proxy support too (sometimes labeled Secure). Make sure any
+ checkboxes like Use the same proxy server for all protocols is
+ UNCHECKED. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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
+ any cookies,
+ if you want Privoxy to manage that. You are now
+ ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
+ Privoxy!
+
+
+
+ Privoxy itself is typically started by specifying the
+ main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
+ file is specified on the command line, Privoxy
+ will look for a file named config in the current
+ directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt.
+
+
+
+Red Hat and Fedora
+
+ A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
+ the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
+ file.
+
+
+
+ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+
+
+
+ Or ...
+
+
+
+ # service privoxy start
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+
+
+
-
-
-crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+Windows
+
+Click on the &my-app; Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
+ specified on the command line, Privoxy will look
+ for a file named config.txt. Note that Windows will
+ automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
+ when installing.
+
+
+ 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
+ Windows Installation
+ instructions for details.
+
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
-
- Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
-
-
-
+
+Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others
+
+Example Unix startup command:
+
+
+
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+
+
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies.
-
-
-
+
+OS/2
+
+ During installation, Privoxy is configured to
+ start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
+ double-clicking on the Privoxy icon in the
+ Privoxy folder.
+
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Boolean.
-
-
+
+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. 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 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.
+
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- N/A
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- This action is only concerned with incoming HTTP cookies. For
- outgoing HTTP cookies, use
- crunch-outgoing-cookies.
- Use both to disable HTTP cookies completely.
-
-
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction
- with the session-cookies-only action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
- filter-content-cookies.
-
-
-
-
- Example usage:
-
-
- +crunch-incoming-cookies
-
-
-
-
-
+
+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).
+
+
+
+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
+
+
+
-
-
-crunch-server-header
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Remove a server header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
-
-
-
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
-
-
-
-
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
-
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- Any string.
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
- Privoxy action exists. Privoxy
- will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
-
-
- Regular expressions are not supported and you can't
- use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
- they contain the same string.
-
-
- crunch-server-header 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
- server-header filter.
-
-
-
- Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
-
-
-
-
-
- Example usage (section):
-
-
- # Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
-{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
-/
-
-
-
-
-
+
+ See the section Command line options for
+ further info.
+
+must find a better place for this paragraph
-
-
-crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+ The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
+ point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
+ actions files. These are
+ where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
+ aspects of Privoxy configuration. There are several
+ such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
-
- Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
-
-
-
+
+ You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
+ persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
+ default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
+ session (aka session cookies), unless you add them to the
+ configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
+ to edit user.action (or through the web based interface)
+ and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
+ more sense to let Privoxy handle this. In which
+ case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests.
-
-
-
+
+ Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
+ sites is the popup-killing (through +filter{popups}),
+ because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
+ popups (explained below).
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Boolean.
-
-
+
+ Privoxy does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
+ features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
+ with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
+ (like Mozilla or recent versions of I.E.), you might
+ try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under Edit ->
+ Preferences -> Debug -> Networking.
+ Alternatively, set the +downgrade-http-version config option in
+ default.action which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
+ requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- N/A
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- This action is only concerned with outgoing HTTP cookies. For
- incoming HTTP cookies, use
- crunch-incoming-cookies.
- Use both to disable HTTP cookies completely.
-
-
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction
- with the session-cookies-only action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
-
-
-
+
+ After running Privoxy for a while, you can
+ start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
+ preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
+ be customized. Actions
+ can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
+ http://config.privoxy.org/
+ (shortcut: http://p.p/),
+ and then follow the link to View & Change the Current Configuration.
+ (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
+
-
- Example usage:
-
-
- +crunch-outgoing-cookies
-
-
-
+
+ In fact, various aspects of Privoxy
+ configuration can be viewed from this page, including
+ current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
+ the browser's request headers, and actions that apply
+ to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
+ editor mentioned above, Privoxy can also
+ be turned on and off (toggled) from this page.
+
-
-
+
+ If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
+ Privoxy. If that helps, enter the URL where
+ you have the problems into the browser
+ based rule tracing utility. See which rules apply and why, and
+ then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
+ is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
+ again.
+
+
+ If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to read more about the actions concept
+ or even dive deep into the Appendix
+ on actions.
+
-
-
-deanimate-gifs
+
+ If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
+ Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
+ section Contacting the
+ Developers below.
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
-
-
+-->
-
- Effect:
-
-
- De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
-
-
-
+
+
+Command Line Options
+
+ Privoxy may be invoked with the following
+ command-line options:
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
+
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- last or first
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
- the option first is given, the first frame of the animation
- is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last
- frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
- most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
- last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
-
-
- You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
- objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
- a GIF.
-
-
-
+
+
+ --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
+
+
+ Print version info and exit. Unix only.
+
+
+
+
+ --help
+
+
+ Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
+
+
+
+
+ --no-daemon
+
+
+ Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
+ leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
+
+
+
+
+ --pidfile FILE
+
+
+ On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the
+ FILE on exit. Failure to create or delete the
+ FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE
+ option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
+
+
+
+
+ --user USER[.GROUP]
+
+
+ After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
+ USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
+ privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
+
+
+
+
+ --chroot
+
+
+ Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option,
+ chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+ --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
+ the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
+
+
+ For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
+ your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
+ (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
+ but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
+
+
-
- Example usage:
-
-
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
+ configfile
+
+
+ If no configfile is included on the command line,
+ Privoxy will look for a file named
+ config in the current directory (except on Win32
+ where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify
+ full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
+ Privoxy will fail to start.
+
+
-
-
-downgrade-http-version
+
+
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1
-
-
+
+ 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.
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
-
-
-
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Boolean.
-
-
+
-
- Parameter:
-
-
- N/A
-
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
-
-
- This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy
- didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
- unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
- out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
- so there is a chance you might need this action.
-
-
-
+
-
- Example usage (section):
-
-
- {+downgrade-http-version}
-problem-host.example.com
-
-
-
-
-
+
+Privoxy Configuration
+
+ All Privoxy configuration is stored
+ in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
+ Many important aspects of Privoxy can
+ also be controlled easily with a web browser.
+
+
-
-fast-redirects
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.
-
-
+
+Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+
+ Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special
+ URL http://config.privoxy.org/
+ (shortcut: http://p.p/),
+ which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
+ You will see the following section:
-
- Effect:
-
-
- Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
- the redirection server first.
-
-
-
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
+
+
+
+ Privoxy Menu
-
- Parameter:
-
-
-
-
- simple-check to just search for the string http://
- to detect redirection URLs.
-
-
-
-
- check-decoded-url to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
- for redirection URLs.
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
+ ▪ View & change the current configuration
+
+
+ ▪ View the source code version numbers
+
+
+ ▪ View the request headers.
+
+
+ ▪ Look up which actions apply to a URL and why
+
+
+ ▪ Toggle Privoxy on or off
+
+
+ ▪ Documentation
+
+
+
+
-
- Notes:
-
-
- Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
- will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
- parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
- resulting from this scheme typically look like:
- http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/.
-
-
- 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.
-
-
- 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:
-
-
- 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.
- fast-redirects 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.
-
-
- Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
- The URL:
- http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar.
- contains the redirection URL http://www.example.net/,
- followed by another parameter. fast-redirects doesn't know that
- and will cause a redirect to http://www.example.net/&foo=bar.
- Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
- or lead to a page not found error. You can prevent this problem by
- first using the redirect action
- to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
-
-
- To detect a redirection URL, fast-redirects only
- looks for the string http://, either in plain text
- (invalid but often used) or encoded as http%3a//.
- 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
- fast-redirects is fooled and the request reaches the
- redirection server where it probably gets logged.
-
-
-
-
- Example usage:
-
-
-
- { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
- one.example.com
+
+ This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
+ actions files, which is where the ad, banner,
+ cookie, and URL blocking magic is 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.
+
+
+
+ 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
+ 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.
+
+
+
+ Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
+ in Privoxy 3.0.7 beta and later.
+ Check the
+ configuration file to learn why
+ and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
+
+
+
+
+
- { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
- another.example.com/testing
-
-
-
-
-
-
-filter
-
-
- Typical use:
-
- Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
- do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.
-
-
+
+Configuration Files Overview
+
+ For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
+ /etc/privoxy/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
+ AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
+ Privoxy executable.
+
-
- Effect:
-
-
- 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
- text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
-
-
-
+
+ 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:
+
+
+
+
-
- Type:
-
-
- Parameterized.
-
-
-
-
- Parameter:
- The name of a content filter, as defined in the filter file.
- Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
- filterfile
- option in the config file.
- default.filter is the collection of filters
- supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
- in their own file, such as user.filter.
+ The main configuration file is named config
+ on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt
+ on Windows. This is a required file.
-
- When used in its negative form,
- and without parameters, all filtering is completely disabled.
-
-
-
-
- Notes:
+
- For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
- in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
- a list.
-
-
- Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
- slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
- passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
- since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
- noticeable on slower connections.
-
-
- Rolling your own
- filters requires a knowledge of
- Regular
- Expressions and
- HTML.
- This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
- Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
- action is not available.
-
-
- The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
- buffer-limit
- option in the main config file. The
- default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
- data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
-
-
- Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
- (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
- (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
- the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
- be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
- by defining appropriate -filter exceptions.
-
-
- Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
- is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
- in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
- it.
-
-
- If you use a &my-app; 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 prevent-compression
- action in conjunction with filter.
+ match-all.action is used to define which actions
+ 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.
- Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
- block
- action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
- works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
- based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
- standardized.
+ default.action defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
+ from the default set of actions that's configured in match-all.action.
+ It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
- Feedback with suggestions for new or
- improved filters is particularly welcome!
+ 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.
- The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
- predefined filter. There are more
- verbose explanations of what these filters do in the filter file chapter.
+ 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.
-
-
- Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file).
- See the Predefined Filters section for
- more explanation on each:
-
- +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
-
-
-
- +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).
-
-
-
- +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
-
-
-
- +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.
-
-
-
- +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).
-
-
-
- +filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.
-
-
-
- +filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.
-
-
-
- +filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.
-
-
-
- +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.
-
-
-
- +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.
-
-
-
- +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).
-
-
-
- +filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.
-
-
-
- +filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.
-
-
-
- +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.
-
-
-
- +filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.
-
-
-
- +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.
-
-
-
- +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.
+ Filter files (the filter
+ file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
+ viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
+ lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
+ whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
+ 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
+ Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
+
+
+
+
+ All files use the # character to denote a
+ comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
+ through placing a backslash ("\") as the very last character
+ in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it looses
+ its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise
+ valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
+ out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
+
+
+
+ The actions files and filter files
+ can use Perl style regular expressions for
+ 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
+ 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
+ must obviously be sent to the old listening address.
+
+
+
+ While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
+ The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
+ Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so
+ please check all your configuration files on important issues.
+
+]]>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ &config;
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Actions Files
+
+
+
+
+ The actions files are used to define what actions
+ Privoxy 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.
+
+
+ There
+ are three action files included with Privoxy with
+ differing purposes:
+
+
+
+
-
- +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
+ match-all.action - is used to define which
+ actions 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
+
+
-
- +filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.
+ default.action - defines many exceptions (both
+ positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
+ in match-all.action. 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.
+
+
-
- +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.
+ user.action - is intended to be for local site
+ preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
+ has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
+ thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
+
+
-
- +filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!
+ EditSet to CautiousSet to MediumSet to Advanced
-
- +filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.
+ 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
+ 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
+ not working as they should.
-
- +filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.
+ 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
+ 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
+ other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
+ Advanced 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
+ Edit button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
+ lower sections of this internal page.
-
- +filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.
+ 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.
-
- +filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.
+ The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
+ default.action are:
-
- +filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.
-
+
Default Configurations
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Feature
+ Cautious
+ Medium
+ Advanced
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Ad-blocking Aggressiveness
+ medium
+ high
+ high
+
+
+
+ Ad-filtering by size
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ Ad-filtering by link
+ no
+ no
+ yes
+
+
+ Pop-up killing
+ blocks only
+ blocks only
+ blocks only
+
+
+
+ Privacy Features
+ low
+ medium
+ medium/high
+
+
+
+ Cookie handling
+ none
+ session-only
+ kill
+
+
+
+ Referer forging
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ GIF de-animation
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ Fast redirects
+ no
+ no
+ yes
+
+
+
+ HTML taming
+ no
+ no
+ yes
+
+
+
+ JavaScript taming
+ no
+ no
+ yes
+
+
+
+ Web-bug killing
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ Image tag reordering
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+
+
-
- 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 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
- Add AmigaOS install stuff.
+
+
+ Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
+ editing of actions files:
+
+
+
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
+
+
+
- Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
- Updated Mac OS X installation section
- Added a few English tweaks here an there
+
+
+ Show the source code version numbers:
+
+
+
- Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
- Fix ugly typo (mine).
+
+
+ Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
+
+
+
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
+
+
+
- Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
- Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
+
+
+ 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 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
- Added RPM install detail
+
+
- Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
- Cosmetics
+
+ These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
- Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
- Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
+
- Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
- Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
+
+Bookmarklets
+
+ Below are some bookmarklets to allow you to easily access a
+ mini version of some of Privoxy's
+ special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
+ equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
+ JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
+ clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
+
+
+ To save them, right-click the link and choose Add to Favorites
+ (IE) or Add Bookmark (Netscape). You will get a warning that
+ the bookmark may not be safe - just click OK. Then you can run the
+ Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
+ you can put them on the Links bar (IE) or the Personal
+ Toolbar (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
+
- Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
- Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
+
+
- Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
- Proofreading part 2
+
+
+ Privoxy - Enable
+
+
- Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
- Proofreading, part one
+
+
+ Privoxy - Disable
+
+
- Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
- -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
- -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
+
+
+ Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
+
+
- Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
- Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
+
+
+ Privoxy- View Status
+
+
+
+
+
+ Privoxy - Why?
+
+
+
+
- Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
- Add small section on submitting actions.
+
+ Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+ www.bookmarklets.com. They
+ have more information about bookmarklets.
+
- Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
- generated
- Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
- Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
+
- Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
- Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
+
- Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
- ?
- 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.
+
+
+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 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
- consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
+
+
+
+
+ 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 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
- more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
+
+
+
+ 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 1.66 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.
+
- Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
- enhance squid section due to user suggestion
- Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
- A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
+
+
+Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action
- Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
- Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
+
+ 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 1.62 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.
+
+ 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. See the Bookmarklets section on a quick
+ and easy way to do this (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 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
- Minor update.
+
+ 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 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
- Added more to Anatomy section.
+
+ 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 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
- Touch up intro for new name.
+
+ 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 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
- we have a new homepage!
+
+
+ Matches for http://www.google.com:
- Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
- A few minor catch ups with name change.
+ In file: default.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
- configure needs to be generated.
+ {+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 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
- we are too lazy to make a block-built
- privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
- name change related issue.
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
- name change. changed filenames.
+In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
+(no matches in this file)
+
+
- Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
- name change
+
+ 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 1.51 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.
+
+ 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 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
- Touch up.
+
+ 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 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
- New section in Appendix.
+
+ And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
+ Privoxy is applying all its actions
+ to google.com:
- Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
- Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
+
- Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
- correct feedback channels
+
+
- Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
- Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
+ Final results:
- Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
- more distros
+ -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 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
- New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
+
+ 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 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
- Added imageblock{pattern}.
+
+ Now another example, ad.doubleclick.net:
+
- Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
- looks better
+
+
- Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
- Fix a few markup problems for jade.
+ { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
+ ad*.
- Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
- provide correct feedback channels
+ { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
+ .ad.
- Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
- Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
+ { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+
+
- Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
- Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
+
+ 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 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
- jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
+
+ 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 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
- Add new - - user option.
+
+ 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 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
- Added section on command line options.
+
+
- Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
- Changed default port to 8118
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
- Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
- Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
+ In file: default.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- 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.
+ {-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 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
- Just tweaking
+ { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
+
- Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
- Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
+
+ 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 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
- Update OS/2 build section
+
+
- 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.
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+
+
- Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
- Added a very short section on Templates
+
+ 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 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
- Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
+
+ But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
+ we did with:
+
- Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
- Touch ups for *.action files.
+
+
- Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
- Fix typo.
+ { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
+
- Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
- Updates for recent changes.
+
+ 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 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
- Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
+
+
- Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
- Correct 2 minor errors
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+
+
- Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
- *** empty log message ***
+
+ { shop } is an alias that expands to
+ { -filter -session-cookies-only }.
+ Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
- Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
- Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
+
- Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
- wrong url in documentation
+
+
- 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
+