1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN">
3 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/faq.sgml,v $
7 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
9 $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9 Exp $
11 Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 the SourceForge
12 IJBSWA team. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net
14 Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
15 by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
16 Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
21 <title>Junkbuster Frequently Asked Questions</title>
23 <pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
28 <orgname>By: Junkbuster Developers</orgname>
35 The FAQ document gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked
36 questions about the Internet Junkbuster. <application>Internet
37 Junkbuster</application> is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities
38 for protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies,
39 controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious
40 Internet Junk. Junkbuster has a very flexible configuration and can be
41 customized to suit individual needs and tastes. <application>Internet
42 Junkbuster</application> has application for both stand-alone systems and
46 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink url="http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/">http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/</ulink>.
47 Please see the Contact section in the user-manual if you want to contact the developers.
51 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
57 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
60 <sect1 id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
66 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
68 <sect1 id="questions"><title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
70 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
72 <sect2 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
74 <sect3 id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
76 The original <application>Internet Junkbuster</application> (tm) is a
77 coyrighted product of <ulink url="http://www.junkbusters.com">Junkbusters
78 Corporation</ulink>. Development of this effort stopped some time ago as of
79 version 2.0.2. Stefan Walherr started the ijbswa project on <ulink
80 url="http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net">Sourceforge</ulink> to rekindle
81 development. Other developers subsequently joined with Stefan, and have
82 since added many new features, refinements and enhancements.
85 The new <application>Junkbuster</application> started with the same
86 code base, but has changed significantly at this point.
91 <sect3 id="differs"><title>How does it differ from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></title>
93 All the old features remain. The new <application>Junkbuster</application>
94 still blocks ads and banners, still manages cookies, and protects
95 your privacy. But, these are all enhanced, and many new features have been
96 added, all in the same vein.
99 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
100 users will notice right off the bat. The <quote>blocklist</quote> file does
101 not exist any more. This is replaced by <quote>actions</quote> files, such
102 as <filename>ijb.actions</filename>. This is where most of the per site
103 configuration is now.
108 <sect3 id="features"><title>What are some of the new features?</title>
110 The section is in both user-manual and faq. Please keep in sync!!!
117 Integrated browser based configuration and control utility (<ulink
118 url="http://i.j.b">http://i.j.b</ulink>). Browser-based tracing of rule
125 Modularized configuration that will allow for system wide settings, and
126 individual user settings. (not implemented yet, probably a 3.1 feature)
132 Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
138 HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
144 Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and
145 generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
158 Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
159 invisible <quote>web-bugs</quote>, JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse,
166 Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
173 Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
179 Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
185 User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
191 Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
197 Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux
198 (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS.
205 In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile over-all.
214 <sect3 id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
215 <application>Junkbuster</application> work? </title>
217 When you connect to a web site with <application>Junkbuster</application>,
218 you are really connecting to your locally running version of
219 <application>Junkbuster</application>. <application>Junkbuster</application>
220 intercepts your requests for the web page, and relays that to the
221 <quote>real</quote> web site. The web site sends the HTTP data stream
222 back to <application>Junkbuster</application>, where
223 <application>Junkbuster</application> can work its magic before it
224 relays this data back to your web browser.
229 Since <application>Junkbuster</application> sits between you and the
230 WWW, it is in a position to intercept and completely manage all web traffic and
231 HTTP content before it gets to your browser.
232 <application>Junkbuster</application> uses various programming methods to do
233 this, all of which is under your control via the various configuration
239 <sect3 id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
240 Junkbuster. Why should I use Junkbuster at all?</title>
242 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
243 functionality as <application>Junkbuster</application>. Maybe this is
244 adequate for you. But <application>Junkbuster</application> is much more
245 verstatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
248 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
249 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
250 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
251 for possibly many browsers.
258 <sect3 id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
259 warranty? Registration?</title>
261 <application>Junkbuster</application> is licensed under the
262 GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free to use, copy,
263 modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this license.
265 url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html</ulink>
269 There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That is
270 something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
271 <application>Junkbuster</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
280 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
282 <sect2 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
283 <sect3 id="newinstall"><title>Can I install the new
284 <application>Junkbuster</application> over the old one?</title>
286 We recommend you uninstall the old <application>Junkbuster</application>
287 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
288 save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
289 is substantially changed.
292 See the user-manual for platform specific installation instructions.
293 [FIXME: This is meant for after the name change!]
298 <sect3 id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of Junkbuster?</title>
300 If you set up the <application>Junkbuster</application> to run on
301 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
302 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <quote>localhost</quote>
303 (which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
304 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have told the Internet
305 Junkbuster to run on a different port with the
306 <emphasis>listen-address</emphasis> config option).
309 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
310 the word <quote>localhost</quote> in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote>
311 and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and then the number <quote>8118</quote>
312 for <quote>port</quote>.
315 <application>Junkbuster</application> can also be used to proxy for
316 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
317 address of the LAN host where <application>Junkbuster</application>
318 is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
322 <application>Junkbuster</application> does not currently handle
323 protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
331 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
333 <sect2 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
335 <sect3 id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
337 No. These will not work. You will need to re-enter your old
338 data into the new configuration structure.
343 <sect3 id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo account work?</title>
349 <sect3 id="hotmail"> <title>How can I make my Hotmail account work?</title>
355 <sect3 id="gmx"> <title>How can I make my GMX account work?</title>
361 <sect3 id="configfiles"> <title>What are the differences between
362 ijb-intermediate.action, ijb-basic.action, etc.?</title>
364 Configuring the Internet Junkbuster is not easy. To help you get started, we
365 provide you with three different default configurations. The following table
366 shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
369 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
370 <tgroup cols=5 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
378 <entry>Feature</entry>
379 <entry>ijb.action</entry>
380 <entry>ijb-basic.action</entry>
381 <entry>ijb-intermediate.action</entry>
382 <entry>ijb-advanced.action</entry>
388 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
389 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
390 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
391 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
392 <!-- <entry>f5</entry> -->
399 <entry>ad-filtering</entry>
407 <entry>blank image</entry>
415 <entry>de-animate GIFs</entry>
423 <entry>referer forging</entry>
431 <entry>jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only)</entry>
439 <entry>no-popup windows</entry>
447 <entry>fast redirects</entry>
455 <entry>hide-referrer</entry>
463 <entry>hide-useragent</entry>
471 <entry>content-modification</entry>
479 <entry>feature-x</entry>
487 <entry>feature-y</entry>
495 <entry>feature-z</entry>
508 <sect3 id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration with a
509 browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
511 What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as a
512 regular user, while the whole /etc/junkbuster hierarchy belongs to the user
513 "junkbuster", with only 644 perms.
516 When you use the browser-based editor, JunkBuster itself is writing to the
517 config files. Because JunkBuster is running as the user "junkbuster", it can
518 update the config files.
521 If you don't like this, setting "enable-edit-actions 0" in the config file
522 will disable the browser-based editor. If you're that paranoid, you should
523 also consider setting "enable-remote-toggle 0" to prevent browser-based
524 enabling/disabling of JunkBuster.
527 Note that normally only local users can connect to JunkBuster, so this is not
528 (normally) a security problem.
534 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
536 <sect2 id="misc"><title>Misc</title>
538 <sect3 id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
539 delays in page requests compared to the old IJB. What's wrong?</title>
541 Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable delays in
542 page requests compared to the old IJB. Loading pages with large contents
543 seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering all the content at once.
546 The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
547 sent to the browser during this time. The loading time does not really
548 change in real numbers, but the feeling is different, because most
549 browsers are able to start rendering incomplete content, giving the
550 user a feeling of "it works".
553 To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again, etc.) and
554 not just replace ads, the Internet Junkbuster needs to download the entire
555 page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the browser.
560 <sect3 id="configurl"><title>What is the "http://i.j.b/"?</title>
562 Since JunkBuster sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can be
563 programmed to handle certain pages specially.
567 With recent versions of JunkBuster (version 2.9.x), you can get some
568 information about JunkBuster and change some settings by going to
569 http://i.j.b/ or, equivalently, http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/
570 (Note that i.j.b is far easier to type but may not work in some
575 These pages are *not* forwarded to a server on the internet - instead they are
576 handled by a special web server which is built in to JunkBuster.
580 If you are not running JunkBuster, then http://i.j.b/ will fail, and
581 http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/ will return a web page telling you
582 you're not running JunkBuster.
586 If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
587 http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and you
588 should really consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
593 <sect3 id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
599 <sect3 id="proxy-chaining"><title>How do I chain Junkbuster with other proxies
600 (e.g. squid)?</title>
606 <sect3 id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
608 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
609 RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account on sourceforge.net
610 and mail your id to the developer mailing list. Once we have added you to
611 the team, you'll have write access to the CVS repository, and together
612 we'll find a suitable task for you.
616 <sect3 id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
618 No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the versions
619 2.9.x. Once we have released the new version, there will again be
620 blocklists that you can update automatically.
624 <sect3 id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
626 As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
627 have released the new version, there will again be a form on the website,
628 which you can use to contribute new ads.
632 <sect3 id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
634 You cannot hide your IP address with Junkbuster or any other software, since
635 the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to you.
638 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
639 solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
640 the web server, shared by many people and thus letting your requests "drown"
641 in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
644 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
645 authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact
646 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
647 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
650 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
651 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
656 <!-- <sect3 id="image"><title>What is the imagefile (simage.ini, etc.) for?</title> -->
658 <!-- Anytime the Junkbuster determines (with the help of the blocklist) that a URL -->
659 <!-- contains an advertisement, it has to decide whether this advertisement is an -->
660 <!-- image or not. The Junkbuster uses the imagefile for that purpose. -->
665 <title id="anonforsure">Can Junkbuster guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
667 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
668 are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that
669 everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
672 <application>Junkbuster</application> can remove various information about you,
673 and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
674 you can trust. But it's still possible that web sites can find out who you
675 are. Here's one way this can happen.
678 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
679 as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Junkbuster</application>
680 does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
681 mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
682 consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
685 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
686 out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
687 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
688 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
689 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
696 <title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information is
697 being altered?</title>
700 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
701 display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled,
702 so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
706 <quote>USER AGENT</quote> in particular is often used in this way to identify
707 the browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now is not
708 recommended, since so many sites do look for this. You may get undesirable
709 results by changing this.
713 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
714 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
715 User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
716 operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
717 to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
718 something closer. Some page access counters work by looking at the
719 <quote>REFERER</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
720 weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
721 <quote>REFERER</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. There
722 are many, many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a
727 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
728 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
729 be required, but by no means the only one.
737 <title id="caching">Can Junkbuster act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
738 speed up web browsing?</title>
740 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
741 <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> for this. And, yes,
742 before you ask, <application>Junkbuster</application> can co-exist
743 with other kinds of proxies like <quote>Squid</quote>.
749 <title id="logo">The Junkbuster logo that replaces ads is very blocky
750 looking. Can't a better font be used?</title>
753 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
754 <application>Junkbuster</application> on the fly. So as not waste
755 memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness comes when the
756 image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be done
757 about this, other than to use one of the other
758 <quote>imageblocker</quote> directives: <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>,
759 <emphasis>blank</emphasis>, or a URL of your chosing.
766 <title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces now where ads used to be.
767 Why does Junkbuster leave these large gaps?</title>
769 It would be easy enough to just eliminate this space altogether, rather than
770 fill it with blank space. But, this would create problems with many pages
771 that use the overall size of the ad to help organize the page layout and
772 hold the various components of the page where they were intended to be. It is
781 <title id="blank">Now I see the ugly Junkbuster logo (or checkboard pattern) in
782 place of ads. How can I get rid of this? I don't want to see anything.</title>
791 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
794 <title id="trouble">Troubleshooting</title>
797 <title id="refused">I just upgraded and am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
798 with every web page?</title>
800 Either <application>Junkbuster</application> is not running, or your
801 browser is configured for a different port than what
802 <application>Junkbuster</application> is using.
806 The old <application>Junkbuster</application> used port 8000 by
807 default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict
808 with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't,
809 you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately
810 change <application>Junkbuster's</application> <quote>listen-address</quote>
811 setting in the <filename>config</filename> file used to start
812 <application>Junkbuster</application>.
818 <title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
819 still getting through. How?</title>
821 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
822 held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
823 the need for any request to the server. The best thing to do is try flusing
824 the browser's caches. And then try again.
828 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
829 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
830 url="http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info">http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info</ulink>
831 and see if any actions match your new rule.
841 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
842 <sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
848 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
849 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contact the developers</title>
850 <para>Please see the user manual for information on how to contact the developers.
854 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
855 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Copyright and History</title>
856 <para>Please see the user manual for information on Copyright and History.
860 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
861 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
862 <para>Please see the user manual for information on references.
868 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
870 Last modified: Mon Sep 10 19:22:09 CEST 2001
872 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
873 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
874 Public License as published by the Free Software
875 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
876 your option) any later version.
878 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
879 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
880 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
881 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
882 License for more details.
884 The GNU General Public License should be included with
885 this file. If not, you can view it at
886 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
887 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
888 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
891 Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
892 A little more added ...
894 Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
895 Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
897 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
900 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
903 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
904 correct feedback channels
906 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
907 more info on not hiding ip address
909 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
910 added default config section
912 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
915 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
916 Committing changes by Stefan
918 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
919 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
921 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
922 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
923 will work - no other changes are needed.
925 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
926 upload process established. run make webserver and
927 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
928 are now linked correctly.
930 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
931 merged standards into developer manual
933 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
934 source files for junkbuster documentation
936 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
937 first proposal of a structure.
939 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
940 docs should have an author.
942 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
943 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.