[privoxy.git] / doc / source / contacting.sgml

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 Copyright (C) 2001-2011 Privoxy Developers https://www.privoxy.org/
 See LICENSE.

 ======================================================================
  This file used for inclusion with other documents only.
 ======================================================================

 This file is included into:

  faq
  developer-manual
  README
  user-manual
  webserver/index.sgml
  announce.sgml

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<!-- READ: -->
<!-- Careful of the literallayout tags and finished formatting -->

<para>
 We value your feedback. In fact, we rely on it to improve
 <application>Privoxy</application> and its configuration.
 However, please note the following hints, so we can
 provide you with the best support.
</para>

<sect2 id="sufficient-information"><title>Please provide sufficient information</title>
<para>
 A lot of support requests don't contain enough information and can't
 be solved without a lot of back and forth which causes unnecessary
 delays. Reading this section should help to prevent that.
</para>
<para>
  Before contacting us to report a problem, please try to verify that it is a
  <application>Privoxy</application> problem, and not a browser or site problem
  or documented behaviour that just happens to be different than what you expected.
  If unsure,
  try <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">toggling
  off</ulink> <application>Privoxy</application>, and see if the problem persists.
</para>

<para>
  If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the default
  configuration to see if the problem is configuration related.
  If you're having problems with a feature that is disabled by default,
  please ask around on the mailing list if others can reproduce the problem.
</para>

<para>
  If you aren't using the latest Privoxy version, the problem may have been found
  and fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time
  to <ulink url="https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/installation.html">upgrade
  to the latest version</ulink> and verify that the problem still exists.
</para>
<para>
  Please be sure to provide the following information when reporting problems
  or requesting support:
</para>
<para>
 <itemizedlist>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    The exact <application>Privoxy</application> version you are using.
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    The operating system and versions you run
    <application>Privoxy</application> on, e.g. <application>Windows
    XP SP2</application>.
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    The name, platform, and version of the <application>browser</application>
    you were using (e.g. <application>Internet Explorer v5.5</application> for Mac).
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
    problem (e.g. <literal>http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123</literal>).
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    Whether your version of <application>Privoxy</application> is one supplied
    by the <application>Privoxy</application> developers via SourceForge,
    or if you got your copy somewhere else.
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    Whether you are using <application>Privoxy</application> together with
    another proxy such as <application>Tor</application>. If so, please
    temporary disable the other proxy to see if the symptoms change.
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does
    <application>Privoxy</application> work without it?
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
    or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each
    action taken). To get a meaningful logfile, please make sure that the
    <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">logfile directive</ulink>
    is being used and the following <ulink
    url="../user-manual/config.html#DEBUG">debug options</ulink> are enabled
    (all of them):
    <literallayout>debug     1 # Log the destination for each request Privoxy let through. See also debug 1024.
debug     2 # show each connection status
debug     4 # show I/O status
debug     8 # show header parsing
debug   128 # debug redirects
debug   256 # debug GIF de-animation
debug   512 # Common Log Format
debug  1024 # Log the destination for requests Privoxy didn't let through, and the reason why.
debug  4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
debug  8192 # Non-fatal errors
debug 65536 # Log applying actions</literallayout>
   </para>
   <para>
    If you are having trouble with a filter, please additionally enable
    <literallayout>debug    64 # debug regular expression filters</literallayout>
    If you suspect that Privoxy interprets the request or the response
    incorrectly, please enable
    <literallayout>debug 32768 # log all data read from the network</literallayout>
   </para>
   <para>
    It's easy for us to ignore log messages that aren't relevant but missing
    log messages may make it impossible to investigate a problem. If you aren't
    sure which of the debug directives are relevant, please just enable all of them
    and let us worry about it.
   </para>
   <para>
    Note that Privoxy log files may contain sensitive information so please don't
    submit any logfiles you didn't read first. You can mask sensitive information
    as long as it's clear that you removed something.
   </para>
  </listitem>

</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
 You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem
 report, but if you don't, please use a nickname so we can differentiate
 between your messages and the ones entered by other "anonymous" users that
 may respond to your request if they have the same problem or already
 found a solution. Note that due to spam the trackers may not always
 allow to post without being logged into SourceForge. If that's the
 case, you are still free to create a login that isn't directly linked
 to your name, though.
</para>

<para>
 Please also check the status of your request a few days after submitting
 it, as we may request additional information. If you use a SF id,
 you should automatically get a mail when someone responds to your request.
 Please don't bother to add an email address when using the tracker.
 If you prefer to communicate through email, just use one of the mailing
 lists directly.
</para>

<para>
 If you are new to reporting problems, you might be interested in
  <ulink url="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html"
  >How to Report Bugs Effectively</ulink>.
</para>

<para>
  The <ulink url="https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">appendix
  of the Privoxy User Manual</ulink> also has helpful information
  on understanding <literal>actions</literal>, and <literal>action</literal> debugging.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="contact-support"><title>Get Support</title>
<para>
 All users are welcome to discuss their issues on the <ulink
 url="https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo/privoxy-users">users
 mailing list</ulink>, where the developers also hang around.
</para>

<para>
 Please don't send private support requests to individual Privoxy
 developers, either use the mailing lists or the support trackers.
</para>

<para>
 If you have to contact a Privoxy developer directly for other reasons,
 please send a real mail and do not bother with SourceForge's messaging
 system. Answers to SourceForge messages are usually bounced by SourceForge's
 mail server in which case the developer wasted time writing a response you
 don't get. From your point of view it will look like your message has
 been completely ignored, so this is frustrating for all parties involved.
</para>

<para>
 Note that the Privoxy mailing lists are moderated. Posts from unsubscribed
 addresses have to be accepted manually by a moderator. This may cause a
 delay of several days and if you use a subject that doesn't clearly
 mention Privoxy or one of its features, your message may be accidentally
 discarded as spam.
</para>

<para>
 If you aren't subscribed, you should therefore spend a few seconds
 to come up with a proper subject. Additionally you should make it clear
 that you want to get CC'd. Otherwise some responses will be directed to
 the mailing list only, and you won't see them.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="reporting"><title>Reporting Problems</title>
<para>
<quote>Problems</quote> for our purposes, come in two forms:
</para>
 <itemizedlist>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that
    don't function properly due to one <application>Privoxy</application>
    <quote>action</quote> or another being turned <quote>on</quote>.
   </para>
  </listitem>

  <listitem>
   <para>
    <quote>Bugs</quote> in the programming code that makes up
    <application>Privoxy</application>, such as that might cause a crash.
    Documentation issues, for example spelling errors and unclear descriptions,
    are bugs, too.
   </para>
  </listitem>
</itemizedlist>


<sect3 id="contact-ads"><title>Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems</title>
<para>
 Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images that were
 blocked, sites that don't work properly, and other configuration related problem of
 <filename>default.action</filename> file, to
 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&amp;atid=460288">
 https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&amp;atid=460288</ulink>,
 the Actions File Tracker.
</para>

</sect3>


<sect3 id="contact-bugs"><title>Reporting Bugs</title>

<para>
  Before reporting bugs, please make sure that the bug has <emphasis>not already been submitted</emphasis>
  and observe the additional hints at the top of the <ulink
  url="https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&amp;group_id=11118&amp;atid=111118">submit
  form</ulink>. If already submitted, please feel free to add any info to the
  original report that might help to solve the issue.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="security-contact"><title>Reporting security problems</title>
<para>
 If you discovered a security problem or merely suspect that a bug might
 be a security issue, please mail Fabian Keil &lt;fk@fabiankeil.de>
 (OpenPGP fingerprint: 4F36 C17F 3816 9136 54A1 E850 6918 2291 8BA2 371C).
</para>
<para>
 Usually you should get a response within a day, otherwise it's
 likely that either your mail or the response didn't make it.
 If that happens, please mail to the developer list to request a
 status update.
</para>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="mailing-lists"><title>Mailing Lists</title>
<para>
If you prefer to communicate through email, instead of using a web interface,
feel free to use one of the mailing lists.
To discuss issues that haven't been completely diagnosed yet, please use the Privoxy
users list. Technically interested users and people who wish to contribute to
the project are always welcome on the developers list.
You can find an overview of all <application>Privoxy</application>-related mailing lists,
including list archives, at:
<ulink url="https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo">https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo</ulink>.
The lists hosted on privoxy.org have been created in 2016, the previously-used
lists hosted at SourceForge are deprecated but the archives may still be useful:
<ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118">https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="sf-trackers"><title>SourceForge support trackers</title>
<para>
 The
 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&#38;atid=211118">SourceForge support trackers</ulink>
 may be used as well, but have various technical problems that are unlikely to
 be fixed anytime soon. If you don't get a timely response, please try the
 mailing list as well.
</para>

</sect2>