1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
4 <!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
12 <!entity p-version "2.9.15">
13 <!entity p-status "beta">
14 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
15 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
16 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
17 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
18 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
19 <!entity % p-config "IGNORE">
20 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
23 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
26 This file belongs into
27 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
29 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa Exp $
31 Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 the SourceForge
32 Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
34 Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
35 by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
36 Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
39 ========================================================================
40 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
41 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
42 ========================================================================
49 <title>Privoxy User Manual</title>
51 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa Exp $</pubdate>
56 <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
62 Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
63 But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave commented
64 unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
65 statement will be in copyright.smgl.
69 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
71 text goes here ........
81 <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
90 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
91 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
92 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
98 The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
100 url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
103 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
105 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
108 You can find the latest version of the user manual at <ulink
109 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
110 Please see the <ulink url="contact.html">Contact section</ulink> on how to
111 contact the developers.
115 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
121 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
122 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
124 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
125 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
126 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
127 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
128 configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
129 completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over
130 earlier versions. The target release date for
131 stable v3.0 is <quote>soon</quote> ;-)]]>.
134 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
137 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
138 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
139 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
144 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
145 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
147 In addition to <application>Internet Junkbuster's</application> traditional
148 features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
149 <application>Privoxy</application> provides new features<![%p-not-stable;[,
150 some of them currently under development]]>:
152 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
154 <!-- end boilerplate -->
159 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
162 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
163 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
166 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
167 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
168 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
169 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
174 Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
175 <application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
176 will need to remove it. Some platforms do this for you as part
177 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform).
178 In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration
179 if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the
180 <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section
184 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
185 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
187 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
190 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
191 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and SuSE RPMs</title>
194 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
195 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
196 of configuration files.
200 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
201 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
202 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
203 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
204 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
208 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
209 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm;</literal>. This
210 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
214 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
215 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
216 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
217 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
221 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
222 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
228 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
229 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
232 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
233 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
234 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
235 use the registry of Windows.
239 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
240 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
243 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
244 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
249 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
250 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
253 First, make sure that no previous installations of
254 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
255 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
256 system. You can do this by
260 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
261 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
262 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
263 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
267 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
268 into will contain all of the configuration files.
272 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
273 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
275 Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
276 in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
277 double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
279 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
280 <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
281 <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
282 automatically on system bring-up via
283 <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
287 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
288 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
290 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
291 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
292 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
293 remove this directory.
296 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
297 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
298 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
299 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
300 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
301 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
302 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
307 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
308 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
311 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
312 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
317 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
318 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
319 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
320 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
321 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
325 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
327 <!-- end boilerplate -->
335 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
337 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
338 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
339 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
341 There are very significant changes from earlier
342 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
343 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
344 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
345 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
346 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
347 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
348 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
349 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
350 are now combined into the <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions
351 files</quote></ulink>.
352 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
353 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
356 A <ulink url="filter-file.html"><quote>filter file</quote></ulink> (typically
357 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
358 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
359 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
362 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
363 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
364 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
365 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
366 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
367 recommended to use the new configuration files.
370 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
378 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
384 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
385 important configuration files!
390 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
391 at the special URL: <ulink
392 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
393 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
394 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
395 <application>Privoxy</application>.
400 The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner
401 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
402 configuration is in the <ulink url="actions-file.html">actions
403 files</ulink>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
404 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
405 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
410 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
411 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
412 Some installers may not automatically start
413 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
421 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
422 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
428 If upgrading, please back up any configuration files. See
429 the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
434 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
435 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> for platform specific
442 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
443 not done this already. See the section <link linkend="startup">Starting
444 <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
450 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and HTTPS
451 proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
452 <literal>localhost</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
453 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
454 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
455 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
461 Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images.
467 Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. You may want to customize the
468 <link linkend="actions-file"><filename>user.action</filename></link> file to
469 personalize your new browsing experience. See the <link
470 linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more configuration
471 options, and how to further customize your installation.
477 If you experience problems with sites that <quote>misbehave</quote>, see
478 the <link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an Action</link> section in the
485 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
486 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
496 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
498 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
500 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
501 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
502 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
503 localhost for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions used port
504 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
508 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
509 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under <literal>Edit
510 -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy</literal>.
511 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>: <literal>Tools ->
512 Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting</literal>. Then,
513 check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info (Address:
514 localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too.
518 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
519 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
520 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
521 <application>Privoxy</application>!
525 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
526 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
527 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
528 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
529 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
532 <sect2 id="start-redhatdebian">
533 <title>RedHat and Debian</title>
535 We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
536 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its
537 main configuration file. FIXME: Debian??
541 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
546 <sect2 id="start-suse">
549 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
550 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
560 <sect2 id="start-windows">
561 <title>Windows</title>
563 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
564 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
565 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
566 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
570 <sect2 id="start-unices">
571 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
573 Example Unix startup command:
577 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
582 <sect2 id="start-os2">
589 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
590 <title>MAX OSX</title>
597 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
598 <title>AmigaOS</title>
607 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
611 must find a better place for this paragraph
614 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
615 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
616 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
617 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
618 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
619 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
623 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
624 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
625 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
626 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
627 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
628 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
629 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
630 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
631 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
635 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
636 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
637 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
639 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
640 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
641 popups (explained below).
645 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
646 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
647 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
648 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
649 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
650 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
651 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
652 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
653 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
657 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
658 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
659 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
660 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
661 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
662 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
663 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
664 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
665 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
669 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
670 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
671 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
672 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
673 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
674 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
675 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
679 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
680 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
681 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
682 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
683 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
684 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
689 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
690 url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
691 or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
696 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
697 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
698 section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
699 Developers</quote></ulink> below.
704 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
705 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
706 <title>Command Line Options</title>
708 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
709 command-line options:
717 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
720 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
725 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
728 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
733 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
736 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
737 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
742 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
746 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
747 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
748 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
749 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
754 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
758 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
759 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
760 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
765 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
768 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
769 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
770 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
771 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
772 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
773 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
784 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
787 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
788 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
790 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
791 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
792 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
793 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
797 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
800 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
802 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
803 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
804 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
805 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
806 You will see the following section:
810 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
813 <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
817 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
820 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
823 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
826 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
829 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
837 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
838 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
839 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
840 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
841 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
842 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
846 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
847 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
848 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
849 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
850 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
851 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
852 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
853 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
859 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
864 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
866 <sect2 id="confoverview">
867 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
869 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
870 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
871 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
872 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
873 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
874 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
878 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
879 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
880 principle configuration files are:
888 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
889 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
890 on Windows. This is a required file.
896 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
897 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
898 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
899 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
900 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
901 as many websites as possible.
904 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
905 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
906 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
907 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most propably want
908 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
909 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
910 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
911 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
914 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
916 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
918 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
919 various actions files.
925 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
926 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
927 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
928 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
929 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
937 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
938 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
939 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
940 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
941 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
942 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
947 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
948 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
953 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
954 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
955 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
956 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
957 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
958 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
959 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
964 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
965 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
966 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
967 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
973 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
976 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
979 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
982 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
983 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
984 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
985 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
993 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
999 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
1000 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
1001 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
1005 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
1006 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
1007 for what happens if you leave them unset.
1011 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
1012 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
1013 where you may be surfing).
1017 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1019 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
1020 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
1023 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
1024 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
1025 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
1026 where to find those other files.
1030 The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all
1031 configuration files, and write permission to any files that would
1032 be modified, such as log files.
1035 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
1039 <term>Specifies:</term>
1041 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
1045 <term>Type of value:</term>
1047 <para>Path name</para>
1051 <term>Default value:</term>
1053 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1057 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1059 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1066 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1069 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
1070 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
1071 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
1072 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
1073 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
1081 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
1085 <term>Specifies:</term>
1088 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
1089 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
1094 <term>Type of value:</term>
1096 <para>Path name</para>
1100 <term>Default value:</term>
1102 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1106 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1108 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1115 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1122 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
1125 <anchor id="default.action">
1126 <anchor id="standard.action">
1127 <anchor id="user.action">
1128 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
1131 <term>Specifies:</term>
1134 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
1139 <term>Type of value:</term>
1141 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
1145 <term>Default value:</term>
1149 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
1152 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
1155 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
1161 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1164 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
1172 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
1175 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
1176 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
1177 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
1178 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
1181 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
1182 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
1183 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
1184 least one actions file.
1191 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
1192 <anchor id="default.filter">
1195 <term>Specifies:</term>
1198 The <link linkend="filter">filter</link> file to use
1203 <term>Type of value:</term>
1205 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1209 <term>Default value:</term>
1211 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
1215 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1218 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
1219 <literal>+filter{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
1220 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
1228 The <quote>default.filter</quote> file contains content modification rules
1229 that use <quote>regular expressions</quote>. These rules permit powerful
1230 changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
1231 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
1232 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
1233 it appears on a Web page.
1240 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
1244 <term>Specifies:</term>
1252 <term>Type of value:</term>
1254 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1258 <term>Default value:</term>
1260 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
1264 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1267 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>stderr</literal>).
1275 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
1278 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
1279 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
1280 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
1281 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
1282 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
1285 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
1286 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
1287 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
1288 script has been included.
1291 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
1292 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
1293 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
1294 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
1297 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
1298 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
1305 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
1309 <term>Specifies:</term>
1312 The file to store intercepted cookies in
1317 <term>Type of value:</term>
1319 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1323 <term>Default value:</term>
1325 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
1329 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1332 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
1340 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
1347 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
1350 <term>Specifies:</term>
1353 The trust file to use
1358 <term>Type of value:</term>
1360 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1364 <term>Default value:</term>
1366 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
1370 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1373 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
1381 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
1382 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
1385 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
1386 access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
1387 You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
1388 the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
1389 trusted referrer was used.
1390 The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
1391 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
1394 If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
1402 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1406 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1408 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
1409 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
1412 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
1413 that just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
1414 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies etc.
1417 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
1420 <term>Specifies:</term>
1423 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
1428 <term>Type of value:</term>
1430 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
1434 <term>Default value:</term>
1436 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1440 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1443 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
1444 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
1452 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
1453 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you propably want
1454 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
1455 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
1461 Unix, in local filesystem:
1464 <screen>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
1467 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
1470 <screen>user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
1474 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config file</emphasis>, because
1475 it is used while the config file is being read.
1483 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
1487 <term>Specifies:</term>
1490 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
1495 <term>Type of value:</term>
1501 <term>Default value:</term>
1503 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
1507 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1510 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
1518 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
1519 activated. (See <literal>trustfile</literal> above.)
1522 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
1523 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
1524 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
1527 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
1528 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
1535 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
1539 <term>Specifies:</term>
1542 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
1547 <term>Type of value:</term>
1549 <para>Email address</para>
1553 <term>Default value:</term>
1555 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1559 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1562 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1570 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1571 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1579 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
1583 <term>Specifies:</term>
1586 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
1587 configuration or policies.
1592 <term>Type of value:</term>
1598 <term>Default value:</term>
1600 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1604 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1607 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1615 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1616 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1620 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
1628 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1630 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1632 <sect2 id="debugging">
1633 <title>Debugging</title>
1636 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
1637 Note that you might also want to invoke
1638 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
1639 command line option when debugging.
1642 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
1646 <term>Specifies:</term>
1649 Key values that determine what information gets logged.
1654 <term>Type of value:</term>
1656 <para>Integer values</para>
1660 <term>Default value:</term>
1662 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
1666 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1669 Nothing gets logged.
1677 The available debug levels are:
1681 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
1682 debug 2 # show each connection status
1683 debug 4 # show I/O status
1684 debug 8 # show header parsing
1685 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
1686 debug 32 # debug force feature
1687 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
1688 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
1689 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
1690 debug 512 # Common Log Format
1691 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
1692 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
1693 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
1697 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
1698 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
1701 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
1702 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
1703 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
1704 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
1705 a hell of an output (especially 16).
1709 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
1710 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
1713 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
1714 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
1721 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1725 <term>Specifies:</term>
1728 Whether to run only one server thread
1733 <term>Type of value:</term>
1735 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1739 <term>Default value:</term>
1741 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1745 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1748 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1749 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1757 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1758 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1767 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1769 <sect2 id="access-control">
1770 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1773 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1774 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1777 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1781 <term>Specifies:</term>
1784 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1785 listen for client requests.
1790 <term>Type of value:</term>
1792 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1797 <term>Default value:</term>
1799 <para>localhost:8118</para>
1803 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1806 Bind to localhost (127.0.0.1), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1807 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1816 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1819 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1820 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1821 will need to override the default.
1824 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1825 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1826 from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's)
1827 (see <quote>ACLs</quote> below), or a firewall.
1832 <term>Example:</term>
1835 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1836 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1837 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1838 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1842 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1850 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1854 <term>Specifies:</term>
1857 Initial state of "toggle" status
1862 <term>Type of value:</term>
1868 <term>Default value:</term>
1874 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1877 Act as if toggled on
1885 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1886 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1887 proxy. See <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal>
1888 below. This is not really useful anymore, since toggling is much easier
1889 via <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web
1890 interface</ulink> than via editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1893 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1894 if this option is present.
1902 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1905 <term>Specifies:</term>
1908 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1909 feature</ulink> may be used
1914 <term>Type of value:</term>
1920 <term>Default value:</term>
1926 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1929 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1937 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1938 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1942 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1943 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1944 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1945 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1946 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1947 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1950 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1951 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1959 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1962 <term>Specifies:</term>
1965 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1966 file editor</ulink> may be used
1971 <term>Type of value:</term>
1977 <term>Default value:</term>
1983 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1986 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1994 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1995 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1996 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1997 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1998 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1999 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
2002 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
2003 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
2010 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
2011 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
2012 <anchor id="permit-acces">
2013 <anchor id="deny-acces">
2017 <term>Specifies:</term>
2020 Who can access what.
2025 <term>Type of value:</term>
2028 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
2029 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
2032 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
2033 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
2034 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
2035 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
2036 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
2037 destination part are optional.
2042 <term>Default value:</term>
2044 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2048 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2051 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
2059 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
2060 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
2061 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
2062 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost or internal (home)
2063 network address by means of the <literal>listen-address</literal> option.
2066 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
2067 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
2071 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
2072 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
2073 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
2074 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
2075 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
2078 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
2079 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
2080 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
2081 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
2082 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
2083 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
2086 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
2087 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
2088 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
2089 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
2092 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
2093 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
2098 <term>Examples:</term>
2101 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
2102 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
2103 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
2104 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
2108 permit-access localhost
2112 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
2113 nothing but www.example.com:
2117 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
2121 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
2122 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
2126 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
2127 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
2135 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
2139 <term>Specifies:</term>
2142 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
2147 <term>Type of value:</term>
2149 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
2153 <term>Default value:</term>
2159 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2162 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
2170 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
2171 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
2172 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
2173 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
2174 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
2178 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
2179 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
2180 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
2181 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
2182 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
2192 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2195 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2197 <sect2 id="forwarding">
2198 <title>Forwarding</title>
2201 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
2203 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
2204 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
2205 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
2206 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
2207 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
2208 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
2209 runs on has no direct Internet access.
2213 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
2214 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
2217 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
2220 <term>Specifies:</term>
2223 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
2228 <term>Type of value:</term>
2231 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2232 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2235 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2236 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2237 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is the address of the parent HTTP proxy
2238 as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or <quote>.</quote> to denote
2239 <quote>no forwarding</quote>, and the optional
2240 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer
2241 values from 1 to 64535
2246 <term>Default value:</term>
2248 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2252 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2255 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
2263 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2264 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
2267 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2272 <term>Examples:</term>
2275 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
2279 forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
2284 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
2285 to that ISP's sites:
2289 forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
2290 forward .example-isp.net .
2298 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
2299 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
2300 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
2301 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
2305 <term>Specifies:</term>
2308 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
2313 <term>Type of value:</term>
2316 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2317 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2318 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2321 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2322 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2323 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
2324 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
2325 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
2326 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
2331 <term>Default value:</term>
2333 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2337 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2340 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
2348 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2351 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
2352 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
2353 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
2356 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2357 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
2363 <term>Examples:</term>
2366 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
2367 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
2368 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
2373 forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
2374 forward .example.com .
2378 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
2382 forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
2390 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
2393 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
2394 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
2395 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
2396 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
2400 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
2401 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
2402 configuration can look like this:
2412 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
2423 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
2428 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
2429 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
2430 of both isp-a and isp-b.
2434 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
2435 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
2436 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
2440 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
2441 run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this:
2446 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
2447 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
2449 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
2452 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
2453 always_direct allow ftp
2455 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
2456 never_direct allow all</screen>
2460 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
2461 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
2468 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2471 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2473 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
2474 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
2476 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
2477 Windows GUI interface:
2480 <anchor id="activity-animation">
2482 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
2483 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
2484 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
2491 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
2497 <anchor id="log-messages">
2499 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2500 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
2508 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
2514 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
2516 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
2517 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
2518 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
2522 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
2523 eat up all your memory!
2530 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
2536 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
2538 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
2539 in the log buffer. See above.
2546 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
2552 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
2554 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2555 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
2556 messages with a bold-faced font:
2563 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
2569 <anchor id="log-font-name">
2571 The font used in the console window:
2578 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
2584 <anchor id="log-font-size">
2586 Font size used in the console window:
2593 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
2599 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
2601 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
2602 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
2610 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
2616 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
2618 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
2619 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
2620 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
2627 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2633 <anchor id="hide-console">
2635 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2636 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2637 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2645 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2654 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2658 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2660 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2663 The actions files are used to define what actions
2664 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
2665 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2666 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
2667 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
2668 version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
2675 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
2676 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
2677 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
2678 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
2679 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
2685 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
2686 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
2687 provide a base level of functionality for
2688 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
2689 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
2690 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
2696 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2697 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2698 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2699 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2706 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2707 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
2708 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
2709 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2713 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2714 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2715 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2716 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2717 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2718 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2719 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2720 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2721 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2722 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2723 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2724 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2728 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2729 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2730 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2731 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2732 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2736 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2738 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2740 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2741 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2742 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2743 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
2744 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2745 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2746 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
2747 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2748 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
2749 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2753 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2754 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2755 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2756 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2760 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2762 <title>How to Edit</title>
2764 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2765 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2766 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2767 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
2768 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
2769 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
2773 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2774 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
2781 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
2783 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2784 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will be discussed later. For now
2785 let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split
2786 up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions,
2787 separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there
2788 is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
2792 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2793 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
2794 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
2795 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
2796 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
2797 the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the
2798 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
2799 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> actions).
2804 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
2805 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2809 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2810 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
2814 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2816 <title>Patterns</title>
2818 Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
2819 where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
2820 are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
2825 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2828 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2829 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
2834 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2837 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2843 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2846 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2847 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2852 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
2855 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2856 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
2861 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2864 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2865 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
2872 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2873 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2876 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2877 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2883 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2886 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
2887 <literal>.example.com</literal>
2892 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2895 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2896 <literal>www.</literal>
2901 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2904 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
2905 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
2912 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2913 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
2914 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
2915 any single character, you can define character classes in square
2916 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
2921 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2924 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2925 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2930 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2933 matches all of the above, and then some.
2938 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2941 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2942 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2947 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2950 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2951 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2952 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2953 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2961 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2964 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2965 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2968 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
2969 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2974 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2975 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2976 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2977 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2978 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2979 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
2983 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2984 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2985 for the beginning of a line).
2989 Please also note that matching in the path is case
2990 <emphasis>INSENSITIVE</emphasis> by default, but you can switch to case
2991 sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2992 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch:
2993 <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match only
2994 documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2995 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
3001 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3004 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3006 <sect2 id="actions">
3007 <title>Actions</title>
3009 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
3010 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
3011 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
3012 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
3013 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
3014 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
3015 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
3016 previously applied.</quote>
3021 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
3022 separated by whitespace, like in
3023 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
3024 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
3025 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
3026 of the actions file.
3030 There are three classes of actions:
3037 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
3038 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
3042 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
3043 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
3046 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
3053 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
3058 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
3059 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
3060 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
3063 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
3064 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
3067 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
3073 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
3074 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
3075 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3076 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3077 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3078 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3082 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3083 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3084 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3085 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3088 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3089 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3097 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3098 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3099 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
3100 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3101 files will give a good starting point).
3105 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
3106 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3107 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
3108 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
3109 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
3110 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
3111 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
3112 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
3115 <!-- start actions listing -->
3117 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3121 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3122 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3123 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3125 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3128 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3130 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3131 <title><emphasis>+add-header</emphasis></title>
3136 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3138 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3143 <term>Purpose and typical uses:</term>
3146 Send a user defined HTTP header to the web server. Can be used to confuse log analysis.
3152 <term>Possible values:</term>
3155 Any value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3156 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3163 <term>Example usage:</term>
3166 <emphasis>{+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}}</emphasis>
3167 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis></literallayout>
3175 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3176 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3177 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3186 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3187 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3188 <title><emphasis>+block</emphasis></title>
3193 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3195 <para>Boolean.</para>
3200 <term>Purpose and typical uses:</term>
3203 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
3204 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
3205 as determined by the <link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> and
3206 <link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link> actions.
3207 It is typically used to block ads or other obnoxious content.
3213 <term>Possible values:</term>
3220 <term>Example usage:</term>
3223 <emphasis>{+block}</emphasis>
3224 <emphasis>.banners.example.com</emphasis>
3225 <emphasis>.ads.r.us</emphasis>
3234 If a URL matches one of the blocked patterns, <application>Privoxy</application>
3235 will intercept the URL and display its special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3236 instead. If there is sufficient space, a large red banner will appear with
3237 a friendly message about why the page was blocked, and a way to go there
3238 anyway. If there is insufficient space a smaller <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
3239 page will appear without the red banner.
3240 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Click here</ulink>
3241 to view the default blocked HTML page (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running
3242 for this to work as intended!).
3246 A very important exception is if the URL <emphasis>matches both</emphasis>
3247 <quote>+block</quote> and <ulink
3248 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
3249 then it will be handled by
3250 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
3251 (see below). It is important to understand this process, in order
3252 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> is able to deal with
3253 ads and other objectionable content.
3256 The <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
3257 action can also perform some of the
3258 same functionality as <quote>+block</quote>, but by virtue of very
3259 different programming techniques, and is most often used for different
3269 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3270 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3271 <title><emphasis>+deanimate-gifs</emphasis></title>
3276 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3278 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3283 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3286 To stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
3292 <term>Possible values:</term>
3295 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3301 <term>Example usage:</term>
3304 <emphasis>{+deanimate-gifs{last}}</emphasis>
3305 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3314 De-animate all animated GIF images, i.e. reduce them to their last frame.
3315 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3316 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3317 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3318 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3319 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3320 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3328 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3329 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3330 <title><emphasis>+downgrade-http-version</emphasis></title>
3335 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3337 <para>Boolean.</para>
3342 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3345 <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to
3346 HTTP/1.0 and downgrade the responses as well.
3352 <term>Possible values:</term>
3361 <term>Example usage:</term>
3364 <emphasis>{+downgrade-http-version}</emphasis>
3365 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3374 Use this action for servers that use HTTP/1.1 protocol features that
3375 <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 is
3376 only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. This is
3377 an infrequently needed action, and is used to help with rare problem sites only.
3385 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3386 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3387 <title><emphasis>+fast-redirects</emphasis></title>
3392 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3394 <para>Boolean.</para>
3399 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3402 The <quote>+fast-redirects</quote> action enables interception of
3403 <quote>redirect</quote> requests from one server to another, which
3404 are used to track users.<application>Privoxy</application> can cut off
3405 all but the last valid URL in a redirect request and send a local redirect
3406 back to your browser without contacting the intermediate site(s).
3412 <term>Possible values:</term>
3421 <term>Example usage:</term>
3424 <emphasis>{+fast-redirects}</emphasis>
3425 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3434 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3435 will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a
3436 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3437 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3438 <emphasis>http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else</emphasis>.
3441 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3442 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3443 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3444 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3445 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3449 This is a normally <quote>on</quote> feature, and often requires exceptions
3450 for sites that are sensitive to defeating this mechanism.
3459 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3460 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3461 <title><emphasis>+filter</emphasis></title>
3466 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3468 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3473 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3476 Apply page filtering as defined by named sections of the
3477 <filename>default.filter</filename> file to the specified site(s).
3478 <quote>Filtering</quote> can be any modification of the raw
3479 page content, including re-writing or deletion of content.
3485 <term>Possible values:</term>
3488 <quote>+filter</quote> must include the name of one of the section identifiers
3489 from <filename>default.filter</filename> (or whatever
3490 <emphasis>filterfile</emphasis> is specified in <filename>config</filename>).
3496 <term>Example usage (from the current <filename>default.filter</filename>):</term>
3500 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3501 <emphasis>+filter{html-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
3506 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3507 <emphasis>+filter{js-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
3512 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3513 <emphasis>+filter{content-cookies}</emphasis>: Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
3518 <anchor id="filter-popups">
3519 <emphasis>+filter{popups}</emphasis>: Kill all popups in JS and HTML
3524 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3525 <emphasis>+filter{frameset-borders}</emphasis>: Give frames a border and make them resizable
3530 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3531 <emphasis>+filter{webbugs}</emphasis>: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
3536 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3537 <emphasis>+filter{refresh-tags}</emphasis>: Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
3542 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3543 <emphasis>+filter{fun}</emphasis>: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
3548 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
3549 <emphasis>+filter{nimda}</emphasis>: Remove Nimda (virus) code.
3554 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3555 <emphasis>+filter{banners-by-size}</emphasis>: Kill banners by size (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)
3560 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3561 <emphasis>+filter{shockwave-flash}</emphasis>: Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
3566 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3567 <emphasis>+filter{crude-parental}</emphasis>: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"
3577 This is potentially a very powerful feature! And requires a knowledge
3578 of regular expressions if you want to <quote>roll your own</quote>.
3579 Filtering operates on a line by line basis throughout the entire page.
3582 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3583 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3584 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3585 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3586 noticeable on slower connections.
3589 Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
3590 <ulink url="actions-file#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
3591 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. In the overall
3592 scheme of things, filtering is one of the first things <quote>Privoxy</quote>
3593 does with a web page. So other most other actions are applied to the
3594 already <quote>filtered</quote> page.
3603 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3604 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
3605 <title><emphasis>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis></title>
3610 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3612 <para>Boolean.</para>
3617 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3620 Block any existing X-Forwarded-for HTTP header, and do not add a new one.
3626 <term>Possible values:</term>
3635 <term>Example usage:</term>
3638 <emphasis>{+hide-forwarded-for-headers}</emphasis>
3639 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3648 It is fairly safe to leave this on. It does not seem to break many sites.
3657 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3658 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
3659 <title><emphasis>+hide-from-header</emphasis></title>
3664 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3666 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3671 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3674 To block the browser from sending your email address in a <quote>From:</quote>
3681 <term>Possible values:</term>
3684 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
3690 <term>Example usage:</term>
3693 <emphasis>{+hide-from-header{block}}</emphasis>
3694 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3703 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
3704 (not to be confused with the <ulink
3705 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> action).
3706 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to send to the web
3716 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3717 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referer">
3718 <title><emphasis>+hide-referer</emphasis></title>
3719 <anchor id="hide-referrer">
3723 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3725 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3730 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3733 Don't send the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header to the web site.
3734 Or, alternately send a forged header instead.
3740 <term>Possible values:</term>
3743 Prevent the header from being sent with the keyword, <quote>block</quote>.
3744 Or, <quote>forge</quote> a URL to one from the same server as the request.
3745 Or, set to user defined value of your choice.
3751 <term>Example usage:</term>
3754 <emphasis>{+hide-referer{forge}}</emphasis>
3755 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3764 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
3765 not send images back otherwise.
3768 <quote>+hide-referrer</quote> is an alternate spelling of
3769 <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. It has the exact same parameters, and can be freely
3770 mixed with, <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
3771 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
3772 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
3781 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3782 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
3783 <title><emphasis>+hide-user-agent</emphasis></title>
3788 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3790 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3795 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3798 To change the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> header so web servers can't tell
3799 your browser type. Who's business is it anyway?
3805 <term>Possible values:</term>
3808 Any user defined string.
3814 <term>Example usage:</term>
3817 <emphasis>{+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}}</emphasis>
3818 <emphasis>.msn.com</emphasis>
3827 Warning! This breaks many web sites that depend on this in order
3828 to determine how the target browser will respond to various
3829 requests. Use with caution.
3837 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3838 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
3839 <title><emphasis>+handle-as-image</emphasis></title>
3844 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3846 <para>Boolean.</para>
3851 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3854 To define what <application>Privoxy</application> should treat
3855 automatically as an image, and is an important ingredient of how
3862 <term>Possible values:</term>
3871 <term>Example usage:</term>
3874 <emphasis>{+handle-as-image}</emphasis>
3875 <emphasis>/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)</emphasis>
3884 This only has meaning if the URL (or pattern) also is
3885 <quote>+block</quote>ed, in which case a user definable image can
3886 be sent rather than a HTML page. This is integral to the whole concept of
3887 ad blocking: the URL must match <emphasis>both</emphasis> a <ulink
3888 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> rule,
3889 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <quote>+handle-as-image</quote>.
3891 url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
3892 below for control over what will actually be displayed by the browser.)
3895 There is little reason to change the default definition for this action.
3904 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3905 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
3906 <title><emphasis>+set-image-blocker</emphasis></title>
3911 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3913 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3918 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3921 Decide what to do with URLs that end up tagged with <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3922 <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
3924 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
3925 e.g an advertisement.
3931 <term>Possible values:</term>
3934 There are four available options: <quote>-set-image-blocker</quote> will send a HTML
3935 <quote>blocked</quote> page, usually resulting in a <quote>broken
3937 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>blank</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
3938 1x1 transparent GIF image.
3939 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>pattern</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
3940 checkerboard type pattern (the default). And finally,
3941 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>http://xyz.com</emphasis>}</quote> will
3942 send a HTTP temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the
3943 advantage of the icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed
3950 <term>Example usage:</term>
3953 <emphasis>{+set-image-blocker{blank}}</emphasis>
3954 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3963 If you want <emphasis>invisible</emphasis> ads, they need to meet
3964 criteria as matching both <emphasis>images</emphasis> and <emphasis>blocked</emphasis>
3965 actions. And then, <quote>image-blocker</quote> should be set to
3966 <quote>blank</quote> for invisibility. Note you cannot treat HTML pages as
3967 images in most cases. For instance, frames require an HTML page to
3968 display. So a frame that is an ad, typically cannot be treated as an image.
3969 Forcing an <quote>image</quote> in this situation just will not work
3978 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3979 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
3980 <title><emphasis>+limit-connect</emphasis></title>
3985 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3987 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3992 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3995 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
3996 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
3997 <quote>+limit-connect</quote> to disable this altogether, or to allow
4004 <term>Possible values:</term>
4007 Any valid port number, or port number range.
4013 <term>Example usages:</term>
4015 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
4016 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
4017 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
4019 <emphasis>+limit-connect{443}</emphasis> # This is the default and need not be specified.
4020 <emphasis>+limit-connect{80,443}</emphasis> # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
4021 <emphasis>+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-}</emphasis> # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4030 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4031 (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
4032 to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
4033 connections to the client <emphasis>and</emphasis> to the remote proxy.
4034 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
4035 abused as TCP relays very easily.
4038 If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid
4039 CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and
4040 port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and
4044 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
4053 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4054 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
4055 <title><emphasis>+prevent-compression</emphasis></title>
4060 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4062 <para>Boolean.</para>
4067 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4070 Prevent the specified websites from compressing HTTP data.
4076 <term>Possible values:</term>
4085 <term>Example usage:</term>
4088 <emphasis>{+prevent-compression}</emphasis>
4089 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4098 Some websites do this, which can be a problem for
4099 <application>Privoxy</application>, since
4100 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>,
4101 <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
4103 url="actions-file.html#GIF-DEANIMATE"><quote>+gif-deanimate</quote></ulink>
4104 will not work on compressed data. This will slow down connections to those
4105 websites, though. Default typically is to turn
4106 <quote>prevent-compression</quote> on.
4114 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4115 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
4116 <title><emphasis>+session-cookies-only</emphasis></title>
4121 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4123 <para>Boolean.</para>
4128 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4131 Allow cookies for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>.
4137 <term>Possible values:</term>
4146 <term>Example usage (disabling):</term>
4149 <emphasis>{-session-cookies-only}</emphasis>
4150 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4159 If websites set cookies, <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> will make sure
4160 they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes
4161 profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
4162 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
4163 sites, and is the recommended setting.
4166 <quote>+prevent-*-cookies</quote> actions should be turned off as well (see
4167 below), for <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> to work. Or, else no cookies
4168 will get through at all. For, <quote>persistent</quote> cookies that survive
4169 across browser sessions, see below as well.
4178 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4179 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-reading-cookies">
4180 <title><emphasis>+prevent-reading-cookies</emphasis></title>
4185 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4187 <para>Boolean.</para>
4192 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4195 Explicitly prevent the web server from reading any cookies on your
4202 <term>Possible values:</term>
4211 <term>Example usage:</term>
4214 <emphasis>{+prevent-reading-cookies}</emphasis>
4215 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4224 Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote> to
4225 disable cookies completely. Note that
4226 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
4227 requires these to both be disabled (or else it never gets any cookies to cache).
4230 For <quote>persistent</quote> cookies to work (i.e. they survive across browser
4231 sessions and reboots), all three cookie settings should be <quote>off</quote>
4232 for the specified sites.
4241 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4242 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-setting-cookies">
4243 <title><emphasis>+prevent-setting-cookies</emphasis></title>
4248 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4250 <para>Boolean.</para>
4255 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4258 Explicitly block the web server from storing cookies on your
4265 <term>Possible values:</term>
4274 <term>Example usage:</term>
4277 <emphasis>{+prevent-setting-cookies}</emphasis>
4278 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4287 Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-reading-cookies</quote> to
4288 disable cookies completely (see above).
4297 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4298 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popup">
4299 <title><emphasis>+kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popups"></emphasis></title>
4303 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4305 <para>Boolean.</para>
4310 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4313 Stop those annoying JavaScript pop-up windows!
4319 <term>Possible values:</term>
4328 <term>Example usage:</term>
4331 <emphasis>{+kill-popups}</emphasis>
4332 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4341 <quote>+kill-popups</quote> uses a built in filter to disable pop-ups
4342 that use the <literal>window.open()</literal> function, etc. This is
4343 one of the first actions processed by <application>Privoxy</application>
4344 as it contacts the remote web server. This action is not always 100% reliable,
4345 and is supplemented by <quote>+filter{<emphasis>popups</emphasis>}</quote>.
4349 An alternate spelling is <quote>+kill-popup</quote>, which is
4360 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4361 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
4362 <title><emphasis>+send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis></title>
4367 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4369 <para>Boolean.</para>
4374 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4377 Sends a cookie for every site stating that you do not accept any copyright
4378 on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track you.
4384 <term>Possible values:</term>
4393 <term>Example usage:</term>
4396 <emphasis>{+send-vanilla-wafer}</emphasis>
4397 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4406 This action only applies if you are using a <filename>jarfile</filename>
4407 for saving cookies. Of course, this is a (relatively) unique header and
4408 could conceivably be used to track you.
4417 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4418 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
4419 <title><emphasis>+send-wafer</emphasis></title>
4424 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4426 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4431 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4434 This allows you to send an arbitrary, user definable cookie.
4440 <term>Possible values:</term>
4443 User specified cookie name and corresponding value.
4449 <term>Example usage:</term>
4452 <emphasis>{+send-wafer{name=value}}</emphasis>
4453 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4462 This can be specified multiple times in order to add as many cookies as you
4472 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4474 <title>Summary</title>
4476 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
4477 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
4478 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
4479 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
4480 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
4481 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
4487 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4488 <sect3 renderas="sect2" id="act-examples">
4489 <title>Sample Actions Files</title>
4491 Remember that the meaning of any of the above references is reversed by preceding
4492 the action with a <quote>-</quote>, in place of the <quote>+</quote>. Also,
4493 that some actions are turned on in the default section of the actions file,
4494 and require little to no additional configuration. These are just <quote>on</quote>.
4498 But, other actions that are turned on in the default section <emphasis>do
4499 typically require</emphasis> exceptions to be listed in the latter sections of
4500 one of our actions file. For instance, by default no URLs are
4501 <quote>blocked</quote> (i.e. in the default definitions of
4502 <filename>default.action</filename>). We need exceptions to this in order to
4503 <emphasis>enable</emphasis> ad blocking in the lower sections. But we need to
4504 be very selective about what we do block. Thus, the default is <quote>off</quote>
4509 Below is a liberally commented sample <filename>default.action</filename> file
4510 to demonstrate how all the pieces come together. And to show how exceptions
4511 to the default policies can be handled. This is followed by a brief
4512 <filename>user.action</filename> with similar examples.
4519 # Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
4521 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
4523 for-privoxy-version=3.0
4526 ##########################################################################
4527 # <ulink url="actions-file.html#ALIASES">Aliases</ulink> must be defined *before* they are used. These are
4528 # easier to remember, and can combine several actions into one. Once
4529 # defined they can be used just like any built-in action -- but within
4530 # this file only! Aliases do not require a + or - sign.
4531 ##########################################################################
4533 # Some useful aliases.
4534 # Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
4535 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
4536 -session-cookies-only
4538 # Alias to both block and treat as if an image for ad blocking
4540 +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
4542 # Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
4543 fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
4544 -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
4546 # Shops should be allowed to set persistent cookies
4547 shop = -filter -prevent-cookies -session-cookies-only
4550 ##########################################################################
4551 # Begin default action settings. Anything in this section will match
4552 # all URLs -- UNLESS we have exceptions that also match, defined below this
4553 # section. We will show all potential actions here whether they are on
4554 # or off. We could omit any disabled action if we wanted, since all
4555 # actions are 'off' by default anyway. Shown for completeness only.
4556 # Actions are enabled if preceded by a '+', otherwise they are disabled
4557 # (unless an alias has been defined without this).
4558 ##########################################################################
4560 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ADD-HEADER">-add-header</ulink> \
4561 <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> \
4562 <ulink url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">-deanimate-gifs</ulink> \
4563 <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">-downgrade-http-version</ulink> \
4564 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">+fast-redirects</ulink> \
4565 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">+filter{html-annoyances}</ulink> \
4566 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">+filter{js-annoyances}</ulink> \
4567 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">-filter{content-cookies}</ulink> \
4568 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> \
4569 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-WEBBUGS">+filter{webbugs}</ulink> \
4570 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">-filter{refresh-tags}</ulink> \
4571 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN">-filter{fun}</ulink> \
4572 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-NIMDA">+filter{nimda}</ulink> \
4573 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">+filter{banners-by-size}</ulink> \
4574 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">-filter{shockwave-flash}</ulink> \
4575 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">-filter{crude-prental}</ulink> \
4576 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">+hide-forwarded-for-headers</ulink> \
4577 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER">+hide-from-header{block}</ulink> \
4578 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER">-hide-referrer</ulink> \
4579 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT">-hide-user-agent</ulink> \
4580 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">-handle-as-image</ulink> \
4581 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">+set-image-blocker{pattern}</ulink> \
4582 <ulink url="actions-file.html#LIMIT-CONNECT">-limit-connect</ulink> \
4583 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">+prevent-compression</ulink> \
4584 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">-session-cookies-only</ulink> \
4585 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-READING-COOKIES">-prevent-reading-cookies</ulink> \
4586 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES">-prevent-setting-cookies</ulink> \
4587 <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> \
4588 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">-send-vanilla-wafer</ulink> \
4589 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-WAFER">-send-wafer</ulink> \
4591 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
4593 ##########################################################################
4594 # Default behavior is now set. Now we will define some exceptions to our
4595 # default action policies.
4596 ##########################################################################
4598 # These sites are very complex and require very minimal interference.
4599 # We'll disable most actions with our 'fragile' alias:
4601 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
4602 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4605 # Shopping sites - not as fragile but require some special
4606 # handling. We still want to block ads, and we will allow
4607 # persistant cookies via the 'shop' alias:
4610 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4615 # These sites require pop-ups too :( We'll combine our 'shop'
4616 # alias with two other actions into one rule to allow all popups.
4617 { shop <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> }
4622 # The 'Fast-redirects' action breaks some sites. Disable this action
4623 # for these known sensitive sites:
4624 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">-fast-redirects</ulink> }
4626 edit.europe.yahoo.com
4628 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
4629 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
4633 # Define which file types will be treated as images. Important
4635 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">+handle-as-image</ulink> }
4636 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)
4639 # Now lets list some domains that are known ad generators. And
4640 # our alias that we use here will block these as well as force
4641 # them to be treated as images. This combination of actions is
4642 # important for ad blocking. What the browser will show instead is
4643 # determined by the setting of <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
4647 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4648 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4652 ad.*.doubleclick.net
4655 # These will just simply be blocked. They will generate the BLOCKED
4656 # banner page, if matched. Heavy use of wildcards and regular
4657 # expressions in this example. Enable block action:
4658 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
4663 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
4664 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
4668 # The above block section will probably inadvertantly catch some
4669 # sites we DO NOT want blocked via the wildcards and regular expressions.
4670 # Now let's set exceptions to the exceptions so the good guys get better
4671 # treatment. Disable block action:
4672 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
4677 # Let's just trust all .edu top level domains.
4679 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
4680 # We'll need to access to path names containing 'download'
4683 # 'adv' is for globalintersec and means advanced, not advertisement
4684 www.globalintersec.com/adv
4687 # Don't filter *anything* from our friends at sourceforge.
4688 # Notice we don't have to name the individual filter
4689 # identifiers -- we just turn them all off in one fell swoop.
4690 # Disable all filters for this one site:
4691 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER">-filter</ulink> }
4699 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies.
4700 The above would be a reasonable starting point for many situations. Now,
4701 we want to be more specific and have customized rules that are more suitable
4702 to our personal habits and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined
4703 situations like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in
4704 <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
4705 actions files and should not be clobbered by upgrades. So any settings here,
4706 will have the last word and over-ride any previously defined actions.
4710 Now a few examples of some things that one might do with a
4711 <filename>user.action</filename> file.
4714 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
4720 # Sample user.action file.
4722 # Any aliases you want to use need to be re-defined here.
4723 # Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
4724 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
4725 -session-cookies-only
4727 # Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
4728 fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
4729 -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
4731 # Allow persistent cookies for a few regular sites that we
4732 # trust via our above alias. These will be saved from one browser session
4733 # to the next. We are explicity turning off any and all cookie handling,
4734 # even though the prevent-*-cookie settings were disabled in our above
4735 # default.action anyway. So cookies from these domains will come through
4737 { -prevent-cookies }
4744 # My ISP uses obnoxious self promoting images on many pages.
4745 # Nuke them :) Note that <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink> need not be specified,
4746 # since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
4747 # general rules in default.action anyway.
4748 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
4749 www.my-isp-example.com/logo[0-9].gif
4752 # Say the site where you do your homebanking needs to open
4753 # popup windows, but you have chosen to kill popups by
4754 # default. This will allow it for your-example-bank.com:
4756 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> }
4757 .my-example-bank.com
4760 # This site is delicate, and requires kid-glove
4772 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4775 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4776 <sect2 id="aliases">
4777 <title>Aliases</title>
4779 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
4780 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other <quote>actions</quote>.
4781 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in <quote>actions</quote>.
4782 Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, <quote>=</quote>,
4783 <quote>{</quote> or <quote>}</quote>. But please use only <quote>a</quote>-
4784 <quote>z</quote>, <quote>0</quote>-<quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and
4785 <quote>-</quote>. Alias names are not case sensitive, and
4786 <emphasis>must be defined before other actions</emphasis> in the
4787 actions file! And there can only be one set of <quote>aliases</quote>
4788 defined per file. Each actions file may have its own aliases, but they are
4789 only visible within that file. Aliases do not requir a <quote>+</quote> or
4790 <quote>-</quote> sign in front, since they are merely expanded.
4794 Now let's define a few aliases:
4801 # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first!
4803 +prevent-cookies = +prevent-setting-cookies +prevent-reading-cookies
4804 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies
4805 fragile = -block -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4806 shop = -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects
4807 +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
4809 # Aliases defined from other aliases, for people who don't like to type
4811 c0 = +prevent-cookies
4812 c1 = -prevent-cookies
4813 #... etc. Customize to your heart's content.
4820 Some examples using our <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote>
4821 aliases from above. These would appear in the lower sections of an
4822 actions file as exceptions to the default actions (as defined in the
4830 # These sites are very complex and require
4831 # minimal interference.
4833 .office.microsoft.com
4834 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4837 # Shopping sites - but we still want to block ads.
4840 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4843 # These shops require pop-ups also
4853 The <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> aliases are often used for
4854 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require most actions to be disabled
4855 in order to function properly.
4862 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4866 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4868 <sect1 id="filter-file">
4869 <title>The Filter File</title>
4871 Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This
4872 modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content,
4873 including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is
4874 oddly enough <filename>default.filter</filename>, located in the config
4879 This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both
4880 <quote>regular expression</quote> and HTML in order create custom
4881 filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with
4882 <application>Privoxy</application> for many common situations.
4886 The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins
4887 with the <literal>FILTER</literal> keyword, followed by the identifier
4888 for that section, e.g. <quote>FILTER: webbugs</quote>. Each section performs
4889 a similar type of filtering, such as <quote>html-annoyances</quote>.
4893 This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the
4894 target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some
4895 examples from the included default <filename>default.filter</filename>:
4899 Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by
4900 deleting such references:
4907 FILTER: html-annoyances
4909 # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and status
4912 s/resizable="?(no|0)"?/resizable=1/ig s/noresize/yesresize/ig
4913 s/location="?(no|0)"?/location=1/ig s/status="?(no|0)"?/status=1/ig
4914 s/scrolling="?(no|0|Auto)"?/scrolling=1/ig
4915 s/menubar="?(no|0)"?/menubar=1/ig
4917 # The <BLINK> tag was a crime!
4919 s*<blink>|</blink>**ig
4923 #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig
4924 #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi
4931 Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of <quote>Microsoft</quote> with
4932 <quote>MicroSuck</quote>, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords:
4941 s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig
4945 s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig
4952 Kill those pesky little web-bugs:
4959 # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
4962 s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig
4969 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4971 <title>The <emphasis>+filter</emphasis> Action</title>
4973 Filters are enabled with the <ulink
4974 url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action from within
4975 one of the actions files. <quote>+filter</quote> requires one parameter, which
4976 should match one of the section identifiers in the filter file itself. Example:
4980 +filter{html-annoyances}
4984 This would activate that particular filter. Similarly, <quote>+filter</quote>
4985 can be turned off for selected sites as:
4986 <quote>-filter{html-annoyances}</quote>. Remember too, all actions are off by
4987 default, unless they are explicity enabled in one of the actions files.
4994 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4998 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5000 <sect1 id="templates">
5001 <title>Templates</title>
5003 When <application>Privoxy</application> displays one of its internal
5004 pages, such as a <ulink url="http://bogus_404_page.com">404 Not Found error page</ulink>
5005 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for link to work as
5006 intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these
5007 are located in <filename>/etc/privoxy/templates</filename> by default. These
5008 may be customized, if desired. <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> is used to
5009 control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
5013 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Blocked
5014 (<application>Privoxy</application> needs to be running for page to display)</ulink>
5015 banner page with the bright red top
5016 banner, is called just <quote><filename>blocked</filename></quote>. This
5017 may be customized or replaced with something else if desired.
5022 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5026 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5028 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
5031 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
5033 <!-- end boilerplate -->
5038 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5039 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Copyright, License and History</title>
5041 <sect2><title>Copyright</title>
5042 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5044 <!-- end copyright -->
5046 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5048 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5049 <sect2><title>License</title>
5050 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5052 <!-- end copyright -->
5054 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5057 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5059 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
5060 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
5062 <!-- end history -->
5066 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5067 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
5068 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
5070 <!-- end seealso -->
5075 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5076 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
5079 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5081 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
5083 <application>Privoxy</application> can use <quote>regular expressions</quote>
5084 in various config files. Assuming support for <quote>pcre</quote> (Perl
5085 Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such
5086 configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be
5087 used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against
5092 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
5093 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
5094 introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-)
5098 <quote>Regular expressions</quote> is a way of matching one character
5099 expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the
5100 <quote>expressions</quote> is a literal string of readable characters
5101 (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal
5102 characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called
5103 meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have special meanings and
5104 are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible
5105 Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language
5106 with backward compatibility.
5110 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
5111 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
5112 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
5113 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
5114 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
5115 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
5116 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
5117 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
5121 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
5122 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
5123 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
5124 and then some examples:
5129 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
5130 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
5132 </simplelist></para>
5136 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
5139 </simplelist></para>
5143 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
5146 </simplelist></para>
5150 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
5153 </simplelist></para>
5157 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
5158 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
5159 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
5160 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
5161 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
5162 meta-character meaning of any single character).
5164 </simplelist></para>
5168 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
5169 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
5170 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
5171 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
5173 </simplelist></para>
5177 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
5178 or multiple sub-expressions.
5180 </simplelist></para>
5184 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
5185 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
5186 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
5187 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
5188 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
5189 example</quote>, and nothing else.
5191 </simplelist></para>
5195 <emphasis>s/string1/string2/g</emphasis> - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
5196 <quote>string1</quote> is replaced by <quote>string2</quote> in this
5197 example. There must of course be a match on <quote>string1</quote> first.
5199 </simplelist></para>
5202 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
5203 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
5204 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
5205 be more illuminating:
5209 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
5210 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
5211 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
5212 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
5213 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
5214 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
5215 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
5216 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
5217 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
5218 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
5219 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
5220 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
5221 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
5222 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
5227 A now something a little more complex:
5231 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
5232 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
5233 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
5234 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
5235 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
5236 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
5237 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
5242 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
5243 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
5244 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
5245 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
5246 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
5247 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
5248 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
5249 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
5250 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
5251 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
5252 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
5253 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
5254 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
5255 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
5256 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
5257 changing our regular expression to:
5258 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
5263 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
5264 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
5265 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
5266 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
5267 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
5268 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
5269 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
5270 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
5271 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
5272 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
5273 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
5274 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
5275 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
5276 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
5277 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
5278 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
5279 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
5280 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
5281 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
5282 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
5283 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
5284 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
5285 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
5286 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
5287 in the expression anywhere).
5291 <emphasis><literal>s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i</literal></emphasis> - This is
5292 a substitution. <quote>MicroSuck</quote> will replace any occurrence of
5293 <quote>microsoft</quote>. The <quote>i</quote> at the end of the expression
5294 means ignore case. The <quote>(?!.com)</quote> means
5295 the match should fail if <quote>microsoft</quote> is followed by
5296 <quote>.com</quote>. In other words, this acts like a <quote>NOT</quote>
5297 modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-).
5301 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
5302 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
5303 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
5304 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
5305 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
5310 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
5311 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
5316 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5319 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5321 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
5324 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
5325 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
5326 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
5327 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
5328 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
5329 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
5330 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
5336 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
5337 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
5338 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
5339 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
5352 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
5356 Alternately, this may be reached at <ulink
5357 url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>, but this
5358 variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
5364 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
5365 editing of actions files:
5369 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
5376 Show the source code version numbers:
5380 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
5387 Show the browser's request headers:
5391 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
5398 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
5402 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5409 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
5410 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
5414 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
5418 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
5422 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
5427 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
5436 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
5440 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
5441 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
5443 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
5444 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
5445 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
5446 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
5447 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
5448 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
5451 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
5452 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
5453 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
5454 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
5455 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
5456 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
5465 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
5472 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
5479 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
5486 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
5492 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions','Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback</ulink>
5502 Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
5503 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
5504 have more information about bookmarklets.
5513 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5515 <title>Chain of Events</title>
5517 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
5518 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
5525 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
5526 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
5527 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
5533 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
5534 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
5539 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
5541 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> patterns. If
5542 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
5543 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
5544 is then checked and if it does not match, an
5545 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
5546 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <ulink
5547 url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
5548 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
5553 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
5554 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
5559 If the URL pattern matches the <ulink
5560 url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink> action,
5561 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
5566 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
5567 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <ulink
5568 url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></ulink>,
5569 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
5575 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
5581 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
5582 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
5583 filtered as deterimed by the
5584 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES"><quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote></ulink>,
5585 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>,
5586 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></ulink>
5592 If the <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
5593 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
5594 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
5599 If a <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
5601 url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
5602 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
5603 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
5604 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
5605 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
5606 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
5607 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
5608 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
5609 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
5612 If neither <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
5614 url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
5615 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
5616 to the client browser as it becomes available.
5621 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
5622 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
5623 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
5624 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
5625 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
5626 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
5636 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5637 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
5638 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
5641 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
5642 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>
5643 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>filters</quote></ulink>
5644 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
5645 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
5646 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
5647 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
5648 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
5649 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
5650 <quote>regular expressions</quote> whose consequences are not always
5655 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
5656 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
5657 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
5658 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!).
5662 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
5663 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5664 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
5665 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
5669 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
5670 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
5671 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
5672 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <ulink
5673 url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action) from
5674 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
5675 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
5676 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
5677 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
5678 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
5679 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
5680 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
5681 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
5686 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
5687 and look at it one section at a time:
5692 Matches for http://google.com:
5694 --- File standard ---
5695 (no matches in this file)
5697 --- File default ---
5699 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
5700 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
5701 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
5702 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
5703 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
5704 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
5705 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
5706 -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
5709 { -session-cookies-only }
5716 (no matches in this file)
5721 This tells us how we have defined our
5722 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>, and
5723 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
5724 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
5725 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
5726 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
5727 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
5728 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
5729 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
5730 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
5731 -- <quote>/</quote>.
5735 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
5736 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
5737 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
5738 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
5739 which was for <ulink
5740 url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
5741 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
5742 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
5744 url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink>
5745 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
5746 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
5747 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
5748 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
5749 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
5750 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
5755 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
5759 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
5760 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
5761 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
5769 -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
5770 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
5771 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
5772 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
5773 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
5774 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
5775 +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
5776 -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
5781 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
5782 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
5786 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
5792 { +block +handle-as-image }
5795 { +block +handle-as-image }
5798 { +block +handle-as-image }
5804 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
5805 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
5806 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
5807 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<ulink
5808 url="actions-file.html#ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></ulink> are defined in
5809 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
5814 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
5815 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
5816 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
5817 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
5818 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
5819 is done here -- as both a <ulink
5820 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
5821 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
5823 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>.
5824 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
5829 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
5830 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
5836 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
5838 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
5839 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
5840 +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
5841 +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
5842 +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
5843 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-setting-cookies
5844 -prevent-reading-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
5847 { +block +handle-as-image }
5853 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
5854 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
5855 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
5856 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
5857 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
5869 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
5870 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
5874 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
5881 { +block +handle-as-image }
5887 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
5888 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
5889 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
5890 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
5891 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. Try
5892 adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
5900 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5908 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
5909 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
5910 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
5923 This would probably be most appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>,
5924 for local site exceptions.
5928 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
5929 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
5930 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
5931 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
5940 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
5941 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
5942 Public License as published by the Free Software
5943 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
5944 your option) any later version.
5946 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
5947 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
5948 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
5949 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
5950 License for more details.
5952 The GNU General Public License should be included with
5953 this file. If not, you can view it at
5954 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
5955 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
5956 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
5958 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
5959 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
5962 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
5963 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
5964 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
5966 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
5967 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
5969 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
5970 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
5971 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
5973 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
5974 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
5976 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
5977 more structure in starting section
5979 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
5980 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
5981 will probably break links elsewhere :(
5983 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
5984 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
5985 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
5987 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
5988 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
5989 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
5991 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
5992 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
5994 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
5995 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
5996 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
5998 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
5999 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
6000 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
6002 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
6003 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
6005 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
6006 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
6008 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
6009 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
6011 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
6012 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
6014 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
6015 Updated OSX installation section
6016 Added a few English tweaks here an there
6018 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
6019 Re-write actions section.
6021 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
6022 Fix ugly typo (mine).
6024 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
6025 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
6027 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
6028 Added RPM install detail
6030 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
6033 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
6034 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
6036 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
6037 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
6039 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
6040 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
6042 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
6045 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
6046 Proofreading, part one
6048 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
6049 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
6050 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
6052 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
6053 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
6055 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
6056 Add small section on submitting actions.
6058 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
6061 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
6062 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
6064 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
6065 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
6067 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
6070 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
6071 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
6072 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
6073 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
6074 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
6076 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
6077 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
6079 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
6080 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
6082 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
6083 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
6084 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
6085 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
6086 eventually be set by Makefile.
6087 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
6089 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
6090 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
6092 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
6093 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
6095 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
6096 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
6098 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
6099 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
6100 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
6101 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
6103 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
6106 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
6107 Added more to Anatomy section.
6109 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
6110 Touch up intro for new name.
6112 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
6113 we have a new homepage!
6115 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
6116 A few minor catch ups with name change.
6118 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
6119 configure needs to be generated.
6121 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
6122 we are too lazy to make a block-built
6123 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
6125 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
6126 name change related issue.
6128 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
6129 name change. changed filenames.
6131 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
6134 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
6135 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
6136 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
6137 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
6138 comments and remarks to history untouched.
6140 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
6143 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
6144 New section in Appendix.
6146 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
6147 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
6149 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
6150 correct feedback channels
6152 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
6153 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
6155 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
6158 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
6159 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
6161 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
6162 Added imageblock{pattern}.
6164 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
6167 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
6168 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
6170 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
6171 provide correct feedback channels
6173 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
6174 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
6176 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
6177 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
6179 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
6180 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
6182 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
6183 Add new - - user option.
6185 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
6186 Added section on command line options.
6188 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
6189 Changed default port to 8118
6191 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
6192 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
6194 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
6195 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
6196 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
6199 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
6202 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
6203 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
6205 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
6206 Update OS/2 build section
6208 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
6209 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
6210 will work - no other changes are needed.
6212 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
6213 Added a very short section on Templates
6215 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
6216 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
6218 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
6219 Touch ups for *.action files.
6221 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
6224 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
6225 Updates for recent changes.
6227 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
6228 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
6230 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
6231 Correct 2 minor errors
6233 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
6234 *** empty log message ***
6236 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
6237 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
6239 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
6240 wrong url in documentation
6242 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
6243 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
6245 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
6248 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
6251 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
6254 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
6255 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
6257 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
6258 Some additions, and re-arranging.
6260 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
6263 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
6264 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
6266 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
6269 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
6270 source files for junkbuster documentation
6272 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
6273 first proposal of a structure.
6275 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
6276 docs should have an author.
6278 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
6279 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob