X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=a882281eca2854cbd3eab826aca3ffe38c140dee;hb=20269c138d782591788097e1dbe0906788122145;hp=76fcb620347976afe3fb3cf51f8ac24ae0ef3198;hpb=4755c62ad98c26bebd21d2c649689300809a7d76;p=privoxy.git
diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
index 76fcb620..a2981fb3 100644
--- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
+++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@
-
-
+
+
-
+
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
+
+Privoxy">
]>
- Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
- Privoxy Developers
+ Copyright &my-copy; 2001-2011 by
+ Privoxy Developers
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.125 2002/06/03 00:28:17 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.141 2011/11/20 12:41:22 fabiankeil Exp $
@@ -97,9 +88,9 @@ Hal.
]]>
- The User Manual gives users information on how to
+ The Privoxy User Manual gives users information on how to
install, configure and use Privoxy.
+ url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy.
@@ -107,9 +98,9 @@ Hal.
- You can find the latest version of the User Manual at Privoxy User Manual at http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/.
- Please see the Contact section on how to
+ Please see the Contact section on how to
contact the developers.
@@ -124,32 +115,33 @@ Hal.
Introduction
This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
- Privoxy, v.&p-version;Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>.
+ configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
+ completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
+ earlier versions]]>.
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 Internet Junkbuster's traditional
- features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
- Privoxy provides new features:
+ In addition to the core
+ features of ad blocking and
+ cookie management,
+ Privoxy provides many supplemental
+ features,
+ that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
&newfeatures;
@@ -173,27 +165,27 @@ Hal.
- Note: If you have a previous Junkbuster or
- Privoxy installation on your system, you
- will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
- of their installation procedure. (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.
+ 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:
+
+
-Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs
+Red Hat and Fedora RPMs
RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm,
- and will use /etc/privoxy for the location
+ and will use /etc/privoxy for the location
of configuration files.
@@ -201,31 +193,29 @@ 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. Note that SuSE will
-automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
+ 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.
Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed
on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
Otherwise, RPM will try to remove Junkbuster
- automatically, before installing Privoxy.
+ automatically if found, before installing Privoxy.
-Debian
+Debian and Ubuntu
- DEBs can be installed with dpkg -i
- privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb, and will use
- /etc/privoxy for the location of configuration
- files.
+ DEBs can be installed with apt-get install privoxy,
+ and will use /etc/privoxy for the location of
+ configuration files.
@@ -235,13 +225,45 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
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. We do not
- use the registry of Windows.
+ in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in.
+
+
+ Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full Windows service
+ functionality. On Windows only, the Privoxy
+ program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
+ Privoxy as a service.
+
+
+
+ Arguments:
+
+
+ --install[:service_name]
+
+
+ --uninstall[:service_name]
+
+
+
+
+
+ After invoking Privoxy with
+ --install, you will need to bring up the
+ Windows service console to assign the user you
+ want Privoxy to run under, and whether or not you
+ want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
+ Windows services console with the following
+ 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
+ write to its log and configuration files.
+
-Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX
+Solaris
Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and
@@ -255,7 +277,7 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
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
@@ -277,29 +299,77 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
-Max OSX
-
- Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
- in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
- double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
- process.
- Privoxy will be installed in the subdirectory
- /Applications/Privoxy.app.
- Privoxy will set itself up to start
- automatically on system bring-up via
- /System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
+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.
+
+
+ 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 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).
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.
+
+
+FreeBSD
+
+
+ Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
+ it with cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean.
+
+
+ If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
+ the package with pkg_add -r privoxy.
+
+
+ The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
+ File Release
+ Page, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
+ beta releases which are only available there.
+
+
+
+
+Gentoo
+
+ Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for Privoxy are
+ contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
+ but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
+ Privoxy Version is added to the Portage Tree).
+
+
+ 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
+ documentation is in /usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;
+ and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
+
+
+
@@ -307,7 +377,8 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources
- is to download the source tarball from our project
+ is to download the source tarball from our
+ project download
page.
@@ -315,9 +386,13 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
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 or simply download the nightly CVS
+ CVS repository.
+
@@ -325,343 +400,1453 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Note to Upgraders
-
- There are very significant changes from earlier
- Junkbuster versions to the current
- Privoxy. The number, names, syntax, and
- purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
- Junkbuster 2.0.x configuration
- files will not migrate, Junkbuster 2.9.x
- and Privoxy configurations will need to be
- ported. The functionalities of the old blockfile,
- cookiefile and imagelist
- are now combined into the actions
- files.
- default.action, is the main actions file. Local
- exceptions should best be put into user.action.
-
-
- A filter file (typically
- default.filter) is new as of Privoxy
- 2.9.x, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
- below). config is much the same as before.
-
-
- If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
- files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
- When porting personal rules over from the old blockfile
- to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
- changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
- recommended to use the new configuration files.
-
+Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date
- A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
+ As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
+ of both the main actions file (as a separate
+ package) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
+ download.
-
-
-
-
- The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
- service (NAS).
-
-
-
-
- Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
- important configuration files!
-
-
-
-
- Privoxy is controllable with a web browser
- at the special URL: http://config.privoxy.org/
- (Shortcut: http://p.p/). Many
- aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
- Privoxy.
-
-
-
-
- The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
- blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy
- configuration are the actions
- files. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
- actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
- should go into user.action.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Some installers may not automatically start
- Privoxy after installation.
-
-
-
-
+ If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
+ Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe
+ to our announce mailing list, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
-
-
-Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
-
-
-
- If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
- files. See the Note to Upgraders Section.
-
-
-
-
-
- Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
- information.
-
-
-
-
-
- Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy
- service to more than just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the security-relevant options. These are
- off by default.
-
-
-
-
-
- Start Privoxy, if the installation program has
- not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
- Starting Privoxy.
-
-
-
-
-
- Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and
- HTTPS proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
- 127.0.0.1 and port 8118.
- (Junkbuster and earlier versions of
- Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting Privoxy below
- for more details on this.
-
-
-
-
-
- Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
-
-
-
-
-
- A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
- most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
- configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
- to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
-
-
- See the Configuration section for more
- configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
- next section for a quick
- introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and
- banners.]]>
-
-
+ 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
+ user.filter for your local
+ customizations of Privoxy. See the Chapter on actions files for details.
+
-
-
- If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
- blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
- Privoxy's behaviour, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might
- find the richly commented examples
- helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The
- Appendix Anatomy of an
- Action has hints how to debug actions that
- misbehave.
-
-
+
-
-
- Please see the section Contacting the
- Developers on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
- help.
-
-
-
-
- Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
-
-
-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. 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.
-
-
+
+What's New in this Release
- The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image, and
- set-image-blocker:
+ Privoxy 3.0.18 is a stable release.
+ The changes since 3.0.17 stable are:
-
-
-
- block - 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.
-
-
-
-
-
- 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.
-
-
-
-
-
- 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).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 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. Select the
- appropriate actions file, and click
+
+
+ Bug fixes:
+
+
+
+ If the redirect URL contains characters RFC 3986 doesn't permit,
+ they are (re)encoded. Not doing this makes Privoxy versions from
+ 3.0.5 to 3.0.17 susceptible to HTTP response splitting (CWE-113)
+ attacks if the +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action is used.
+
+
+
+
+ Fix a logic bug that could cause Privoxy to reuse a server
+ socket after it got tainted by a server-header-tagger-induced
+ block that was triggered before the whole server response had
+ been read. If keep-alive was enabled and the request following
+ the blocked one was to the same host and using the same forwarding
+ settings, Privoxy would send it on the tainted server socket.
+ While the server would simply treat it as a pipelined request,
+ Privoxy would later on fail to properly parse the server's
+ response as it would try to parse the unread data from the
+ first response as server headers for the second one.
+ Regression introduced in 3.0.17.
+
+
+
+
+ When implying keep-alive in client_connection(), remember that
+ the client didn't. Fixes a regression introduced in 3.0.13 that
+ would cause Privoxy to wait for additional client requests after
+ receiving a HTTP/1.1 request with "Connection: close" set
+ and connection sharing enabled.
+ With clients which terminates the client connection after detecting
+ that the whole body has been received it doesn't really matter,
+ but with clients that don't the connection would be kept open until
+ it timed out.
+
+
+
+
+ Fix a subtle race condition between prepare_csp_for_next_request()
+ and sweep() A thread preparing itself for the next client request
+ could briefly appear to be inactive.
+ If all other threads were already using more recent files,
+ the thread could get its files swept away under its feet.
+ So far this has only been reproduced while stress testing in
+ valgrind while touching action files in a loop. It's unlikely
+ to have caused any actual problems in the real world.
+
+
+
+
+ Disable filters if SDCH compression is used unless filtering is forced.
+ If SDCH was combined with a supported compression algorithm, Privoxy
+ previously could try to decompress it and ditch the Content-Encoding
+ header even though the SDCH compression wasn't dealt with.
+ Reported by zebul666 in #3225863.
+
+
+
+
+ Make a copy of the --user value and only mess with that when splitting
+ user and group. On some operating systems modifying the value directly
+ is reflected in the output of ps and friends and can be misleading.
+ Reported by zepard in #3292710.
+
+
+
+
+ If forwarded-connect-retries is set, only retry if Privoxy is actually
+ forwarding the request. Previously direct connections would be retried
+ as well.
+
+
+
+
+ Fixed a small memory leak when retrying connections with IPv6 support
+ enabled.
+
+
+
+
+ Remove an incorrect assertion in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list()
+ It could be triggered by a pcrs job with an invalid pcre
+ pattern (for example one that contains a lone quantifier).
+
+
+
+
+ If the --user argument user[.group] contains a dot, always bail out
+ if no group has been specified. Previously the intended, but undocumented
+ (and apparently untested), behaviour was to try interpreting the whole
+ argument as user name, but the detection was flawed and checked for '0'
+ instead of '\0', thus merely preventing group names beginning with a zero.
+
+
+
+
+ In html_code_map[], use a numeric character reference instead of '
+ which wasn't standardized before XHTML 1.0.
+
+
+
+
+ Fix an invalid free when compiled with FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION
+ and shut down through http://config.privoxy.org/die
+
+
+
+
+ In get_actions(), fix the "temporary" backwards compatibility hack
+ to accept block actions without reason.
+ It also covered other actions that should be rejected as invalid.
+ Reported by Billy Crook.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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/
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Note to Upgraders
+
+
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of Privoxy:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
+ configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
+ is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
+ diff and maybe patch.
+
+
+ There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
+ most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
+ files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
+ to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
+ &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
+
+
+
+
+ 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
@@ -671,1151 +1856,2688 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
- A quick and simple step by step example:
+ 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
+
+
+
+
+
@@ -4847,75 +8595,77 @@ Requests
-
- Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
+
+ Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
editing of actions files:
-
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
+
-
+
Show the source code version numbers:
-
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-version
-
+
-
+
Show the browser's request headers:
-
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
-
+
-
+
Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
-
+ http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
-
+
-
- Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, Privoxy continues
- to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
+
+ 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:
-
+ http://config.privoxy.org/toggle
- Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
+ Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
-
+ http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable
-
+ http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable
-
+
@@ -4940,7 +8690,7 @@ Requests
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.
+ Toolbar (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
@@ -4951,46 +8701,47 @@ Requests
Privoxy - Enable
-
+
Privoxy - Disable
-
+
Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
-
+
Privoxy- View Status
-
-
+
+
Privoxy - Why?
-
+
Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
- www.bookmarklets.com. They
- have more information about bookmarklets.
+ www.bookmarklets.com. They
+ have more information about bookmarklets.
@@ -5003,53 +8754,57 @@ Requests
Chain of Events
- Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
- requested by your browser and Privoxy is on duty:
+ 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:
- 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:
+ 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.
+ 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
+ Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL
matches any +block patterns. If
so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
- +handle-as-image
- is then checked and if it does not match, an
- HTML BLOCKED page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
- an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of +set-image-blocker
+ +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
@@ -5058,76 +8813,77 @@ Requests
etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
their parameters.
-
+
- Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
- data).
+ 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 deterimined by the
+ filtered as determined by the
+crunch-incoming-cookies,
+session-cookies-only,
and +downgrade-http-version
actions.
-
-
-
- If the +kill-popups
- action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
- response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
-
-
+
- If a +filter
+ 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) are processed against the buffered
- content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
- default.filter file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
- reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
+ 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.
+ Privoxy back to your browser.
- If neither +filter
+ If neither a +filter action
or +deanimate-gifs
- matches, then Privoxy passes the raw data through
+ matches, then Privoxy passes the raw data through
to the client browser as it becomes available.
-
+
- As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
+ 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 new
- request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
- complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
+ 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.
-
-
+
+
+
+ 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.
+
-Anatomy of an Action
+Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action
- The way Privoxy applies
+ 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
@@ -5136,18 +8892,28 @@ Requests
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.
+ always so obvious.
- 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!).
+ 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.
- Privoxy also provides the
+ 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.
@@ -5155,11 +8921,11 @@ Requests
First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
- Privoxy will tell us
+ Privoxy will tell us
how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
help with filtering effects (i.e. the +filter action) from
- the default.filter file since this is handled very
+ 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
@@ -5171,46 +8937,30 @@ Requests
- Let's try an example, google.com,
- and look at it one section at a time:
+ 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):
- Matches for http://google.com:
+ Matches for http://www.google.com:
In file: default.action [ View ][ Edit ]
-{-add-header
- -block
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects
- -filter{popups}
- -filter{fun}
- -filter{shockwave-flash}
- -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances}
- +filter{js-annoyances}
- +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs}
- +filter{refresh-tags}
- +filter{nimda}
- +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -handle-as-image
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
+ {+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}
/
{ -session-cookies-only }
@@ -5220,51 +8970,63 @@ Requests
.google.com
In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
-(no matches in this file)
+(no matches in this file)
- This tells us how we have defined our
+ This is telling us how we have defined our
actions, and
- which ones match for our example, google.com. The first listing
- is any matches for the standard.action file. No hits at
- all here on standard. Then next is default, or
- 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
- -- /.
-
-
-
- But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
- rules, and then 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 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 -- / .
+
+
+
+ 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. The
- second turns off any
- 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. So, apparently, we have these two actions
- defined somewhere in the lower part of our default.action
- file, and google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter
- sections.
+ 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.
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,
And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
- Privoxy is applying all its actions
+ Privoxy is applying all its actions
to google.com:
@@ -5273,43 +9035,70 @@ In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
Final results:
-
- -add-header
- -block
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- -fast-redirects
- -filter{popups}
- -filter{fun}
- -filter{shockwave-flash}
- -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances}
- +filter{js-annoyances}
- +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs}
- +filter{refresh-tags}
- +filter{nimda}
- +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -handle-as-image
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- -session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{pattern}
-
-
-
- Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
- fast-redirects and session-cookies-only.
+ -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}
+
+
+
+ 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.
@@ -5319,93 +9108,127 @@ In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- .ad.doubleclick.net
-
- { +block +handle-as-image }
+ { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
ad*.
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- .doubleclick.net
+ { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
+ .ad.
+
+ { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
- We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
- matched three different times. Each as an +block +handle-as-image,
- which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
- +imageblock. (+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
+ the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
than one action.)
- 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
+ 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 +imageblock just simplifies the process and make
- it more readable.
+ linkend="BLOCK">+block{}
+ and an
+ +handle-as-image.
+ The custom alias +block-as-image just
+ simplifies the process and make it more readable.
- One last example. Let's try http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/.
+ 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 ...
- Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
In file: default.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- {-add-header
- -block
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- +deanimate-gifs
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects
- +filter{html-annoyances}
- +filter{js-annoyances}
- +filter{kill-popups}
- +filter{webbugs}
- +filter{nimda}
- +filter{banners-by-size}
- +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -handle-as-image
- +kill-popups
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- +session-cookies-only
+ {-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} }
/
- { +block +handle-as-image }
+ { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
/ads
- Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads! But
- we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
- now add a new action below this that explicitly does not
- block ({-block}) paths with adsl. There are
- various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
+ 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:
@@ -5417,36 +9240,41 @@ In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
- making such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload.
+ 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.
- But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
+ But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
we did with:
- { +block +handle-as-image }
+ { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
/ads
- That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
- was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
- rules in the first section 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. Try
- adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off +filter:
+ 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:
- {shop}
+ { shop }
.quietpc.com
.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
.jungle.com
@@ -5456,8 +9284,8 @@ In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- {shop} is an alias that expands to
- { -filter -session-cookies-only }.
+ { shop } is an alias that expands to
+ { -filter -session-cookies-only }.
Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
@@ -5465,21 +9293,55 @@ In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ]
- {-filter}
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
.forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
- This would probably be most appropriately put in user.action,
- for local site exceptions.
+ 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.
+
+
+
+ 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).
+
+
+
+ { 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.
+
+
+
+
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com
+
+
+ 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.
+
- {fragile} is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
- used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! 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.
+ 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.
@@ -5488,7 +9350,7 @@ In file: user.action [ View ][ Edit ][ View ][ Edit ][ View ][ Edit ][ View ][ Edit ][ View ][ Edit ]