1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
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5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
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10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
12 <!entity GPLv2 SYSTEM "../../LICENSE">
13 <!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
14 <!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
15 <!entity changelog SYSTEM "changelog.sgml">
16 <!entity p-version "3.0.25">
17 <!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
18 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
19 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
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21 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
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23 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
25 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
26 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
27 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
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30 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
33 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
36 This file belongs into
37 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
39 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.207 2016/03/17 18:20:42 fabiankeil Exp $
41 Copyright (C) 2001-2014 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
44 ========================================================================
45 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
46 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
47 ========================================================================
54 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
58 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
59 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
60 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2014 by
61 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
65 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.207 2016/03/17 18:20:42 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
69 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
70 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
71 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
72 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
85 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
86 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
87 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
93 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
94 install, configure and use <ulink
95 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
98 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
100 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
103 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
104 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
105 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
106 contact the developers.
110 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
116 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
117 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
119 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
120 <application>Privoxy</application>, &p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
121 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
122 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
123 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
124 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
128 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
131 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
132 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
133 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
138 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
139 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
141 In addition to the core
142 features of ad blocking and
143 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
144 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
145 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
146 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
148 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
150 <!-- end boilerplate -->
155 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
158 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
159 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
162 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
163 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
164 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
165 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
171 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
172 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
173 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
174 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
177 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
178 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
180 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
183 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
185 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
186 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
188 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
189 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
194 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
195 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
198 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
199 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
200 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
203 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
204 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
205 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
206 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
210 <term>Arguments:</term>
213 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
216 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
222 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
223 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
224 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
225 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
226 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
227 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
228 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
229 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
230 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
231 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
232 write to its log and configuration files.
237 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
238 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
241 First, make sure that no previous installations of
242 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
243 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
244 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
245 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
251 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
252 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
253 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
254 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
258 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
259 into will contain all of the configuration files.
263 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
264 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
266 Installation instructions for the OS X platform depend upon whether
267 you downloaded a ready-built installation package (.pkg or .mpkg) or have
268 downloaded the source code.
271 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="OS-X-install-from-package">
272 <title>Installation from ready-built package</title>
274 The downloaded file will either be a .pkg (for OS X 10.5 upwards) or a bzipped
275 .mpkg file (for OS X 10.4). The former can be double-clicked as is and the
276 installation will start; double-clicking the latter will unzip the .mpkg file
277 which can then be double-clicked to commence the installation.
280 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
281 (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
282 configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
283 proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
286 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
287 starts up, remove or rename the file <literal>/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist</literal>
288 (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
289 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal> (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
292 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the scripts startPrivoxy.sh
293 and stopPrivoxy.sh supplied in /Applications/Privoxy. They must be run from an
294 administrator account, using sudo.
297 To uninstall, run /Applications/Privoxy/uninstall.command as sudo from an
298 administrator account.
301 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="OS-X-install-from-source">
302 <title>Installation from source</title>
304 To build and install the Privoxy source code on OS X you will need to obtain
305 the macsetup module from the Privoxy Sourceforge CVS repository (refer to
306 Sourceforge help for details of how to set up a CVS client to have read-only
307 access to the repository). This module contains scripts that leverage the usual
308 open-source tools (available as part of Apple's free of charge Xcode
309 distribution or via the usual open-source software package managers for OS X
310 (MacPorts, Homebrew, Fink etc.) to build and then install the privoxy binary
311 and associated files. The macsetup module's README file contains complete
312 instructions for its use.
315 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
316 (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
317 configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
318 proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
321 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
322 starts up, remove or rename the file <literal>/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist</literal>
323 (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
324 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal> (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
327 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
328 for Mac OS X (also part of the macsetup module). This application can start
329 and stop the privoxy service and display its log and configuration files.
332 To uninstall, run the macsetup module's uninstall.sh as sudo from an
333 administrator account.
337 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
338 <sect3 id="installation-freebsd"><title>FreeBSD</title>
341 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
342 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
348 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
349 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
352 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
353 is to download the source tarball from our
354 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
359 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
360 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
361 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
362 CVS repository</ulink>.
364 deprecated...out of business.
365 or simply download <ulink
366 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
371 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
373 <!-- end boilerplate -->
376 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
377 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
380 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
381 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
382 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
383 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
387 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
388 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
389 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
390 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
391 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
392 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
400 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
402 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
403 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
404 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
408 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
410 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
411 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
414 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
415 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
423 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
424 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
425 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
426 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
429 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
430 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
431 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
432 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
433 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
438 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
439 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
440 any important configuration files!
445 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
446 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
451 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
452 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
453 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
454 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
461 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
462 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
463 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
464 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
465 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
466 be aware of the security issues involved.
473 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
474 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
475 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
476 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
477 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
478 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
479 settings as yet (see above).
486 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
487 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
488 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
489 standards and past practices. See <ulink
490 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
491 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
492 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
498 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
499 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
500 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
501 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
505 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
509 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
510 to turn off compression for all sites in
511 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
512 <filename>user.action</filename>).
519 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
520 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
521 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
528 Some installers may not automatically start
529 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
540 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
541 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
547 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
548 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
555 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
556 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
557 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
558 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
565 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
566 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
567 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
573 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
574 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
575 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
576 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
577 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
578 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
579 browser from using these protocols.
585 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
586 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
587 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
588 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
594 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
595 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
596 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
597 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
599 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
600 Be sure to read the warnings first.
603 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
604 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
605 You might also want to look at the <link
606 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
607 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
614 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
615 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
616 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
617 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
618 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
619 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
620 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
621 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
622 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
623 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
629 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
630 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
637 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
645 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
647 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
648 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
650 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
651 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
654 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
655 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
656 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
659 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
660 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
661 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
664 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
665 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
666 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
667 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
668 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
669 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
670 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
671 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
672 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
673 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
674 habits and preferences.
677 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
678 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
679 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
680 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
681 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
682 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
683 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
684 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
685 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
686 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
689 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
690 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
691 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
692 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
693 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
696 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
697 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
698 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
699 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
700 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
701 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
702 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
703 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
704 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
705 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
706 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
711 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
712 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
713 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
715 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
716 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
724 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
725 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
726 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
727 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
728 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
729 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
730 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
731 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
737 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
738 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
739 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
740 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
741 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
742 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
743 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
744 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
745 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
746 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
747 an entire HTML page in most situations.
753 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
754 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
755 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
756 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
763 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
764 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
765 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
766 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
767 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
768 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
771 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
775 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
776 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
781 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
782 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
787 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
788 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
797 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
798 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
799 are very different from <literal><link
800 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
801 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
802 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
803 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
804 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
805 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
806 some pitfalls to be wary off.
810 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
811 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
812 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
813 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
814 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
818 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
819 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
820 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
821 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
822 cases it's safe to enable again.
826 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
827 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
828 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
829 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
830 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
831 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
832 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
833 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
837 A quick and simple step by step example:
845 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
846 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
854 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
859 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
860 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
863 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
865 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
868 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
871 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
880 You should have a section with only
881 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
882 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
883 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
884 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
885 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
886 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
887 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
888 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
894 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
895 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
896 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
897 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
898 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
899 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
904 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
905 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
913 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
914 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
915 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
916 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
921 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
922 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
923 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
926 There are also various
927 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
928 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
929 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
930 depth in later sections.
937 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
940 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
942 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
944 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
945 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
946 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
947 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
948 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
949 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
953 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
954 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
957 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
959 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
960 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
963 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
966 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
974 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
978 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
983 Or optionally on some platforms:
987 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
993 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
994 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
999 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1000 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1001 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1006 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
1010 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1014 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1015 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1016 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1017 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1018 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1021 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1023 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1024 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1027 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1030 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1038 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1039 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1040 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1041 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1042 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1043 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1047 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1048 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1049 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1050 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1051 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1054 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1055 <title>Debian</title>
1057 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1058 default. It will use the file
1059 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1064 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1069 <sect2 id="start-freebsd">
1070 <title>FreeBSD and ElectroBSD</title>
1072 To start <application>Privoxy</application> upon booting, add
1073 "privoxy_enable='YES'" to <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>.
1074 <application>Privoxy</application> will use
1075 <filename>/usr/local/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main
1079 If you installed <application>Privoxy</application> into a jail, the
1080 paths above are relative to the jail root.
1083 To start <application>Privoxy</application> manually, run:
1087 # service privoxy onestart
1092 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1093 <title>Windows</title>
1095 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1096 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1097 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1098 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1102 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1103 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1104 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1105 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1106 instructions</link> for details.
1110 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1111 <title>Generic instructions for Unix derivates (Solaris, NetBSD, HP-UX etc.)</title>
1113 Example Unix startup command:
1117 # /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1121 Note that if you installed <application>Privoxy</application> through
1122 a package manager, the package will probably contain a platform-specific
1123 script or configuration file to start <application>Privoxy</application>
1128 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1131 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1132 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1133 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1134 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1138 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1139 <title>Mac OS X</title>
1141 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
1142 (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
1143 configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
1144 proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
1147 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
1148 starts up, remove or rename the file <literal>/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist</literal>
1149 (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
1150 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal> (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
1153 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the scripts startPrivoxy.sh
1154 and stopPrivoxy.sh supplied in /Applications/Privoxy. They must be run from an
1155 administrator account, using sudo.
1163 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1167 must find a better place for this paragraph
1170 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1171 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1172 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1173 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1174 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1175 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1179 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1180 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1181 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1182 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1183 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1184 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1185 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1186 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1187 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1191 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1192 sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
1193 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
1194 because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1195 popups (explained below).
1199 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1200 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1201 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1202 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1203 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1204 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1205 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1206 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1207 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1211 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1212 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1213 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1214 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1215 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1216 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1217 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1218 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1219 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1223 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1224 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1225 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1226 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1227 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1228 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1229 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1233 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1234 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1235 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1236 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1237 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1238 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1243 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1244 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1245 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1250 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1251 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1252 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1253 Developers</quote></link> below.
1258 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1259 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1260 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1262 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1263 command-line options:
1271 <emphasis>--config-test</emphasis>
1274 Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to
1275 the listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the
1276 configuration files have been successfully loaded.
1279 If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
1280 is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration files have been
1281 successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can
1282 currently only be detected at run time).
1285 This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with
1286 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis> is recommended if a configured
1287 log file shouldn't be used.
1292 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1295 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1300 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1303 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1308 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1311 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1312 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1317 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1320 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1321 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1322 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1323 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1328 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1331 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1332 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1333 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1338 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1341 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1342 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1343 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1344 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1350 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1353 Specifies a hostname (for example www.privoxy.org) to look up before doing a chroot.
1354 On some systems, initializing the resolver library involves reading config files from
1355 /etc and/or loading additional shared libraries from /lib.
1356 On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1357 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1360 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1361 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1362 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1363 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1369 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1372 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1373 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1374 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1375 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1376 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1377 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1385 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1386 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1387 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1388 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1396 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1399 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1400 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1402 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1403 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1404 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1405 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1409 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1411 <sect2 id="control-with-webbrowser">
1412 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1414 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1415 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1416 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1417 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1418 You will see the following section:
1422 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1425 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1429 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1432 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1435 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1438 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1441 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1444 ▪ <ulink
1445 url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1453 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1454 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1455 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1456 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1457 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1458 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1462 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1463 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1464 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1465 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1466 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1467 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy.
1471 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
1472 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
1474 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
1475 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
1480 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1485 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1487 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1488 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1490 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1491 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1492 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1493 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1494 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1495 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1499 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1500 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1501 principle configuration files are:
1509 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1510 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1511 on Windows. This is a required file.
1517 <filename>match-all.action</filename> is used to define which <quote>actions</quote>
1518 relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie handling
1519 etc should be applied by default. It should be the first actions file loaded.
1522 <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
1523 from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
1524 It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
1527 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1528 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1529 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1530 <filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1531 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1532 where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
1533 installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
1536 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1538 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1540 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1541 various actions files.
1547 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1548 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1549 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1550 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1551 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1552 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1553 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1554 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1555 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1556 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1557 locally defined filters or customizations.
1565 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
1566 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
1567 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
1571 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1572 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1573 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1574 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1575 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1576 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1577 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1581 The actions files and filter files
1582 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1583 maximum flexibility.
1587 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1588 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1589 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1590 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1591 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1592 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1593 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1598 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1599 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1600 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1601 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1607 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1610 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1612 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1613 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1614 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1616 <!-- end include -->
1619 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1623 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1625 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1629 XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
1630 We should only describe them at one place.
1633 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1634 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1635 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1636 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1637 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1638 Each action does something a little different.
1639 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1640 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
1641 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
1645 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1652 <filename>match-all.action</filename> - is used to define which
1653 <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1654 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
1655 It should be the first actions file loaded
1660 <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
1661 positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
1662 in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
1663 work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
1664 be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
1669 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1670 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1671 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1672 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1677 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
1680 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1681 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1682 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
1683 <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
1684 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
1685 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
1686 not working as they should.
1689 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1690 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1691 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1692 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
1693 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
1694 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
1695 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
1696 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
1697 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
1698 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
1699 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
1700 lower sections of this internal page.
1703 While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
1704 actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
1705 to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
1708 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1709 <filename>default.action</filename> are:
1712 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1713 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1714 <colspec colname=c1>
1715 <colspec colname=c2>
1716 <colspec colname=c3>
1717 <colspec colname=c4>
1720 <entry>Feature</entry>
1721 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1722 <entry>Medium</entry>
1723 <entry>Advanced</entry>
1728 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1729 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1730 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1731 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1737 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1738 <entry>medium</entry>
1744 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1751 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1757 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1758 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1759 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1760 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1764 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
1766 <entry>medium</entry>
1767 <entry>medium/high</entry>
1771 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
1773 <entry>session-only</entry>
1778 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
1785 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
1792 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
1799 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
1806 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
1813 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
1820 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
1836 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1837 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
1838 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
1839 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
1841 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1842 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
1843 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
1844 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
1845 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
1846 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
1847 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
1848 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
1852 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
1853 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
1854 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
1855 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
1856 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
1857 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
1858 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
1859 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
1860 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
1861 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
1862 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
1863 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
1867 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
1868 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
1869 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
1870 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
1871 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
1875 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1876 <sect2 id="right-mix">
1877 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
1879 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
1880 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
1881 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
1882 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
1883 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
1884 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
1885 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
1886 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
1887 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
1888 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
1889 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
1893 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
1894 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
1895 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
1896 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
1900 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1901 <sect2 id="how-to-edit">
1902 <title>How to Edit</title>
1904 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
1905 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
1906 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1907 Note: the config file option <link
1908 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
1909 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
1910 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
1911 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
1912 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
1913 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
1914 Experienced users only!
1918 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
1919 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
1920 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
1926 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
1927 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
1929 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
1930 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
1931 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
1932 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
1933 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
1934 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
1938 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
1939 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
1940 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
1941 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
1942 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
1946 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
1947 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
1948 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
1949 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
1950 then later another one with just <literal>{
1951 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
1952 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
1953 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
1959 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
1960 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
1962 media.example.com/.*banners
1963 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
1967 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
1968 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
1972 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
1973 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
1977 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1978 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
1979 <title>Patterns</title>
1981 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
1982 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
1983 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
1984 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
1985 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
1986 against many similar patterns.
1990 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
1991 <literal><host><port>/<path></literal>, where the
1992 <literal><host></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
1993 and the <literal><path></literal> are optional. (This is why the special
1994 <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
1995 portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <literal>http://</literal>) should
1996 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
1999 The pattern matching syntax is different for the host and path parts of
2000 the URL. The host part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2001 while the path part uses more flexible
2002 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2003 Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
2006 The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
2007 (<literal>:</literal>). If the host part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
2008 it has to be put into angle brackets
2009 (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
2014 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2017 is a host-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2018 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2019 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2020 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2025 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2028 means exactly the same. For host-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2034 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2037 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2038 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2043 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2046 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2047 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2052 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2055 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2056 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2061 <term><literal>/</literal></term>
2064 Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
2065 domain or the path to match anything.
2070 <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
2073 Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
2078 <term><literal>10.0.0.1/</literal></term>
2081 Matches any URL with the host address <literal>10.0.0.1</literal>.
2082 (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
2087 <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
2090 Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
2091 (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
2096 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2099 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2100 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2108 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2109 <sect3 id="host-pattern"><title>The Host Pattern</title>
2112 The matching of the host part offers some flexible options: if the
2113 host pattern starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2114 The host pattern is often referred to as domain pattern as it is usually
2115 used to match domain names and not IP addresses.
2121 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2124 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
2125 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
2126 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2127 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
2128 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
2133 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2136 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2137 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
2138 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
2143 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2146 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2147 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2148 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2149 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2150 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2151 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2152 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2160 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2161 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2162 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2164 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2165 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2166 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2167 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2168 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2169 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2174 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2177 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2178 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2183 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2186 matches all of the above, and then some.
2191 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2194 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2195 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2200 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2203 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2204 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2205 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2206 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2213 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2218 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2221 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2222 <sect3 id="path-pattern"><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2225 <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
2226 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2227 Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
2228 and is thus more flexible.
2232 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2233 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
2234 on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
2238 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2239 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2240 for the beginning of a line).
2244 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2245 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2246 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2247 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2248 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2253 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2256 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2257 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2258 regular expression. This is redundant
2263 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2266 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2267 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2268 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2269 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2270 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2271 requirement. It also would match
2272 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2273 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2278 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2281 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2282 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2283 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2284 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2289 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2292 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2293 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2294 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2295 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2300 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2303 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2304 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2305 one is limited to common image formats.
2312 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2313 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2318 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2321 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2322 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Request Tag Pattern</title>
2325 Request tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2326 request's tags. Tags can be created based on HTTP headers with either
2327 the <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2328 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2332 Request tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2333 can tell them apart from other patterns. Everything after the colon
2334 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2335 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2336 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2337 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2341 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2342 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2343 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2344 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2345 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2349 Sections can contain URL and request tag patterns at the same time,
2350 but request tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2351 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2355 Once a new request tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2356 of the request tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2357 request tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2358 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2362 For example you could tag client requests which use the
2363 <literal>POST</literal> method,
2364 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2365 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
2366 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
2367 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
2368 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2369 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2370 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
2374 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2375 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2376 make too much sense.
2381 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2382 <sect3 id="negative-tag-patterns"><title>The Negative Request Tag Patterns</title>
2385 To match requests that do not have a certain request tag, specify a negative tag pattern
2386 by prefixing the tag pattern line with either <quote>NO-REQUEST-TAG:</quote>
2387 or <quote>NO-RESPONSE-TAG:</quote> instead of <quote>TAG:</quote>.
2391 Negative request tag patterns created with <quote>NO-REQUEST-TAG:</quote> are checked
2392 after all client headers are scanned, the ones created with <quote>NO-RESPONSE-TAG:</quote>
2393 are checked after all server headers are scanned. In both cases all the created
2394 tags are considered.
2397 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2398 <sect3 id="client-tag-pattern"><title>The Client Tag Pattern</title>
2400 <!-- XXX: This section contains duplicates content from the
2401 client-specific-tag documentation. -->
2405 This is an experimental feature. The syntax is likely to change in future versions.
2410 Client tag patterns are not set based on HTTP headers but based on
2411 the client's IP address. Users can enable them themselves, but the
2412 Privoxy admin controls which tags are available and what their effect
2417 After a client-specific tag has been defined with the
2418 <link linkend="client-specific-tag">client-specific-tag</link>,
2419 directive, action sections can be activated based on the tag by using a
2420 CLIENT-TAG pattern. The CLIENT-TAG pattern is evaluated at the same priority
2421 as URL patterns, as a result the last matching pattern wins. Tags that
2422 are created based on client or server headers are evaluated later on
2423 and can overrule CLIENT-TAG and URL patterns!
2426 The tag is set for all requests that come from clients that requested
2427 it to be set. Note that "clients" are differentiated by IP address,
2428 if the IP address changes the tag has to be requested again.
2431 Clients can request tags to be set by using the CGI interface <ulink
2432 url="http://config.privoxy.org/client-tags">http://config.privoxy.org/client-tags</ulink>.
2441 # If the admin defined the client-specific-tag circumvent-blocks,
2442 # and the request comes from a client that previously requested
2443 # the tag to be set, overrule all previous +block actions that
2444 # are enabled based on URL to CLIENT-TAG patterns.
2446 CLIENT-TAG:^circumvent-blocks$
2448 # This section is not overruled because it's located after
2450 {+block{Nobody is supposed to request this.}}
2451 example.org/blocked-example-page</screen>
2456 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2459 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2461 <sect2 id="actions">
2462 <title>Actions</title>
2464 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2465 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2466 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2467 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2468 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2469 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2470 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2471 previously applied.</quote>
2476 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2477 separated by whitespace, like in
2478 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2479 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2480 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2481 of the actions file.
2485 Actions fall into three categories:
2492 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2493 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2497 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2498 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2501 Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
2508 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2513 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2514 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2515 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2518 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2519 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2522 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</literal>
2528 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2529 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2530 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2531 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2532 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2533 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2537 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2538 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2539 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2540 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2543 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2544 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2552 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2553 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2554 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
2555 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2556 files will give a good starting point).
2560 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
2561 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2562 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2563 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2564 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2565 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2566 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2567 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
2568 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
2572 <!-- start actions listing -->
2574 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2578 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2579 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2580 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2582 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2585 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2587 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2588 <title>add-header</title>
2592 <term>Typical use:</term>
2594 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2599 <term>Effect:</term>
2602 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2609 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2611 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2616 <term>Parameter:</term>
2619 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2620 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2630 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2631 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2632 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2636 Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
2642 <term>Example usage:</term>
2645 <screen># Add a DNT ("Do not track") header to all requests,
2646 # event to those that already have one.
2648 # This is just an example, not a recommendation.
2650 # There is no reason to believe that user-tracking websites care
2651 # about the DNT header and depending on the User-Agent, adding the
2652 # header may make user-tracking easier.
2653 {+add-header{DNT: 1}}
2662 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2663 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2664 <title>block</title>
2668 <term>Typical use:</term>
2670 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2675 <term>Effect:</term>
2678 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2679 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2680 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2682 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2684 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2686 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2694 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2696 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2701 <term>Parameter:</term>
2703 <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
2711 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2712 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
2713 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
2714 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
2718 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2719 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2720 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2721 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2722 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2723 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2726 It is important to understand this process, in order
2727 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2728 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2729 upon which various other features depend.
2732 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2733 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2734 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2735 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2736 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2742 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2745 <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
2746 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2747 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2749 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
2750 # Block and replace with image
2754 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
2755 # Block and then ignore
2756 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
2766 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2767 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
2768 <title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
2772 <term>Typical use:</term>
2774 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
2779 <term>Effect:</term>
2782 Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
2790 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2792 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2797 <term>Parameter:</term>
2801 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
2805 <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
2806 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
2817 It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
2820 Forwarding the source address of the request may make
2821 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
2826 <term>Example usage:</term>
2829 <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
2836 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2837 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
2838 <title>client-header-filter</title>
2842 <term>Typical use:</term>
2845 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2851 <term>Effect:</term>
2854 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2855 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2862 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2864 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2869 <term>Parameter:</term>
2872 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2873 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2882 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2883 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2884 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2885 You can do that by using tags though.
2888 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2889 and use their output as input.
2892 If the request URI gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
2893 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2894 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2897 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
2898 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2906 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2910 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2911 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2922 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2923 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
2924 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
2928 <term>Typical use:</term>
2931 Block requests based on their headers.
2937 <term>Effect:</term>
2940 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2941 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
2949 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2951 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2956 <term>Parameter:</term>
2959 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
2960 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2969 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
2970 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
2974 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
2975 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
2981 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2985 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
2986 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
2989 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
2990 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
2992 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
2993 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
2994 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
2995 -hide-if-modified-since \
2996 -overwrite-last-modified \
3001 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
3002 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
3003 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
3004 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
3005 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
3006 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
3011 # Tag all requests with the Range header set
3012 {+client-header-tagger{range-requests}}
3015 # Disable filtering for the tagged requests.
3017 # With filtering enabled Privoxy would remove the Range headers
3018 # to be able to filter the whole response. The downside is that
3019 # it prevents clients from resuming downloads or skipping over
3020 # parts of multimedia files.
3021 {-filter -deanimate-gifs}
3032 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3033 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3034 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3038 <term>Typical use:</term>
3040 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3045 <term>Effect:</term>
3048 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3055 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3057 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3062 <term>Parameter:</term>
3074 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3075 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3076 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3077 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3078 supported by the browser.
3081 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3082 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3083 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3084 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3085 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3088 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3089 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3090 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3091 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3092 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3095 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3096 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3097 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3098 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3101 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3102 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3103 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3104 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3105 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3108 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3109 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3110 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3111 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3114 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3115 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3116 more work to get the same precision.
3122 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3125 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3126 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3129 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3130 {-content-type-overwrite}
3131 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3132 www.example.net/.*style
3141 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3142 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3146 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3150 <term>Typical use:</term>
3152 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3157 <term>Effect:</term>
3160 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3167 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3169 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3174 <term>Parameter:</term>
3186 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3187 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3188 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3189 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3192 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3193 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3194 they contain the same string.
3197 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3198 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3199 parts of them, you should use a
3200 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3204 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3211 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3214 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3215 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3225 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3226 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3227 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3233 <term>Typical use:</term>
3235 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3240 <term>Effect:</term>
3243 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3250 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3252 <para>Boolean.</para>
3257 <term>Parameter:</term>
3269 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3270 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3271 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3272 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3275 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3276 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3279 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3280 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3281 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3284 It is recommended to use this action together with
3285 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3287 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3293 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3296 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3297 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3298 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3299 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3300 +crunch-if-none-match}
3309 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3310 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3311 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3315 <term>Typical use:</term>
3318 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3324 <term>Effect:</term>
3327 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3334 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3336 <para>Boolean.</para>
3341 <term>Parameter:</term>
3353 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3354 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3355 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3356 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3359 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3360 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3361 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3362 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3368 <term>Example usage:</term>
3371 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3379 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3380 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3381 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3387 <term>Typical use:</term>
3389 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3394 <term>Effect:</term>
3397 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3404 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3406 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3411 <term>Parameter:</term>
3423 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3424 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3425 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3428 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3429 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3430 they contain the same string.
3433 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3434 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3435 parts of them, you should use a custom
3436 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3440 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3447 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3450 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3451 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3460 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3461 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3462 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3466 <term>Typical use:</term>
3469 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3475 <term>Effect:</term>
3478 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3485 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3487 <para>Boolean.</para>
3492 <term>Parameter:</term>
3504 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3505 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3506 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3507 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3510 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3511 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3512 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3518 <term>Example usage:</term>
3521 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3530 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3531 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3532 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3536 <term>Typical use:</term>
3538 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3543 <term>Effect:</term>
3546 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3553 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3555 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3560 <term>Parameter:</term>
3563 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3572 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3573 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3574 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3575 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3576 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3577 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3580 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3581 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3588 <term>Example usage:</term>
3591 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3598 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3599 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3600 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3604 <term>Typical use:</term>
3606 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3611 <term>Effect:</term>
3614 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3621 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3623 <para>Boolean.</para>
3628 <term>Parameter:</term>
3640 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3641 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3642 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1-related problems with some server
3646 Note that enabling this action is only a workaround. It should not
3647 be enabled for sites that work without it. While it shouldn't break
3648 any pages, it has an (usually negative) performance impact.
3651 If you come across a site where enabling this action helps, please report it,
3652 so the cause of the problem can be analyzed. If the problem turns out to be
3653 caused by a bug in <application>Privoxy</application> it should be
3654 fixed so the following release works without the work around.
projects / privoxy.git / blob