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10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
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13 <!entity p-version "2.9.15">
14 <!entity p-status "beta">
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24 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
30 This file belongs into
31 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
33 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes Exp $
35 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
38 ========================================================================
39 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
40 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
41 ========================================================================
48 <title>Privoxy User Manual</title>
52 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
53 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
54 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
55 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
59 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes Exp $</pubdate>
63 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
64 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
65 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
66 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
73 <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
76 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
78 text goes here ........
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 <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
99 install, configure and use <ulink
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 <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> 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. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
177 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
178 <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
179 you.</emphasis> See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to
180 upgraders</link> section below.
183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
186 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
189 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
190 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
193 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
194 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
195 of configuration files.
199 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
200 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
201 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
202 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
203 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
207 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
208 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
209 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
213 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
214 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
215 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
216 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
220 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
221 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
223 DEBs can be installed with <literal>dpkg -i
224 privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb</literal>, and will use
225 <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of configuration
230 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
231 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
234 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
235 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
236 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
237 use the registry of Windows.
241 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
242 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
245 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
246 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
251 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
252 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
255 First, make sure that no previous installations of
256 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
257 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
258 system. You can do this by
262 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
263 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
264 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
265 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
269 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
270 into will contain all of the configuration files.
274 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
275 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
277 Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
278 in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
279 double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
281 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
282 <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
283 <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
284 automatically on system bring-up via
285 <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
289 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
290 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
292 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
293 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
294 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
295 remove this directory.
298 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
299 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
300 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
301 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
302 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
303 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
304 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
309 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
310 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
313 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
314 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
319 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
320 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
321 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
322 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
323 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
327 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
329 <!-- 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 <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
351 files</quote></link>.
352 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
353 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
356 A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (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 files for cookie management, ad and banner
401 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
402 configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
403 files</link>. 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, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
429 files. See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
435 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
436 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
443 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
444 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
445 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
446 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
453 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
454 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
455 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
461 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
462 HTTPS proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
463 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
464 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
465 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
466 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link> below
467 for more details on this.
473 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
479 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
480 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
481 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
482 to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
485 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
486 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
487 <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
488 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
489 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
496 If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
497 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
498 <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
499 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
500 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
501 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
502 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
503 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
504 Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
505 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
511 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
512 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
519 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
527 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
529 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
530 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
532 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
533 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
536 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
537 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
538 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
541 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
542 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
543 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
546 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
547 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
548 things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
549 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
550 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
551 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
552 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
553 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
554 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
555 habits and preferences.
558 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
559 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
560 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
561 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
562 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
563 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
564 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
565 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
566 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
567 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
570 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
571 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
572 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
573 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
574 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
577 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
578 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
579 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
580 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Futhermore, web
581 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
582 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
583 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
584 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
585 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
590 The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
591 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
592 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
593 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
601 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
602 any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
603 action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
604 that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
605 communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
606 own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
612 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
613 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
614 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
615 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
616 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
617 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
618 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our chosing, instead of the
619 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
620 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
621 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substituion for
622 an entire HTML page in most situations.
629 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
630 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
631 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
632 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
633 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
634 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
637 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
641 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkboard pattern, so that an ad
642 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
647 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
648 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
653 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
654 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
663 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
664 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
665 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
666 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
667 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
668 appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
669 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
670 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
671 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
672 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
673 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
674 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
678 A quick and simple step by step example:
686 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
687 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
695 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
700 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
701 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
704 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
706 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
709 <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
712 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
721 You should have a section with only
722 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
723 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
724 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
725 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
726 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
727 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
728 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
729 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
735 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
736 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
737 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
738 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
739 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
740 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
745 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
746 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
754 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
755 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
756 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
757 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
762 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
763 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
764 The ideas explained thererin also apply to the web-based editor.
771 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
774 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
776 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
778 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
779 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
780 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
781 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
782 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
785 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
787 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)</title>
790 <imagedata fileref="../images/proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
793 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
800 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
801 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
805 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
806 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
807 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>
809 <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton>
811 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton>
813 <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton>
815 <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
819 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>:
823 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
824 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
825 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton>
827 <guibutton>Internet Properties</guibutton>
829 <guibutton>Connections</guibutton>
831 <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
835 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
836 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
841 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
842 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
843 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
844 <application>Privoxy</application>!
848 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
849 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
850 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
851 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
852 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
855 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
856 <title>RedHat and Conectiva</title>
858 We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
859 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as
860 its main configuration file.
864 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
869 <sect2 id="start-debian">
870 <title>Debian</title>
872 We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
873 default. It will use the file
874 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
879 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
884 <sect2 id="start-suse">
887 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
888 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
898 <sect2 id="start-windows">
899 <title>Windows</title>
901 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
902 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
903 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
904 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
908 <sect2 id="start-unices">
909 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
911 Example Unix startup command:
915 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
920 <sect2 id="start-os2">
927 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
928 <title>MAX OSX</title>
935 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
936 <title>AmigaOS</title>
945 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
949 must find a better place for this paragraph
952 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
953 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
954 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
955 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
956 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
957 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
961 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
962 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
963 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
964 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
965 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
966 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
967 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
968 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
969 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
973 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
974 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
975 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
977 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
978 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
979 popups (explained below).
983 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
984 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
985 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
986 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
987 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
988 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
989 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
990 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
991 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
995 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
996 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
997 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
998 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
999 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1000 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1001 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1002 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1003 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1007 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1008 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1009 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1010 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1011 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1012 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1013 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1017 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1018 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1019 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1020 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1021 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1022 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1027 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
1028 url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
1029 or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
1034 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1035 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1036 section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
1037 Developers</quote></ulink> below.
1042 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1043 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1044 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1046 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1047 command-line options:
1055 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1058 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1063 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1066 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1071 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1074 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1075 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1080 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1084 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1085 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1086 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1087 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1092 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1096 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1097 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1098 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1103 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1106 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1107 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1108 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1109 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1110 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1111 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1122 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1125 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1126 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
1128 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1129 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1130 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1131 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1138 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
1140 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1141 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1142 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1143 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1144 You will see the following section:
1148 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1151 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1155 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1158 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1161 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1164 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1167 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1175 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1176 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1177 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1178 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1179 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1180 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1184 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1185 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1186 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1187 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1188 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1189 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1190 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1191 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1197 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1202 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1204 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1205 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1207 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1208 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1209 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1210 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1211 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1212 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1216 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1217 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1218 principle configuration files are:
1226 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1227 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1228 on Windows. This is a required file.
1234 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1235 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1236 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1237 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1238 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1239 as many websites as possible.
1242 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1243 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1244 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1245 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1246 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1247 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1248 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
1249 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1252 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1254 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1256 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1257 various actions files.
1263 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1264 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1265 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1266 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1267 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1275 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1276 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1277 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1278 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1279 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1280 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1285 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
1286 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1287 maximum flexibility.
1291 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1292 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1293 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1294 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1295 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1296 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1297 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1302 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1303 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1304 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1305 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1311 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1314 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1317 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
1320 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
1321 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
1322 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
1323 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
1331 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
1337 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
1338 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
1339 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
1343 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
1344 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
1345 for what happens if you leave them unset.
1349 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
1350 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
1351 where you may be surfing).
1355 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1357 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
1358 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
1361 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
1362 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
1363 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
1364 where to find those other files.
1368 The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all
1369 configuration files, and write permission to any files that would
1370 be modified, such as log files.
1373 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
1377 <term>Specifies:</term>
1379 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
1383 <term>Type of value:</term>
1385 <para>Path name</para>
1389 <term>Default value:</term>
1391 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1395 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1397 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1404 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1407 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
1408 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
1409 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
1410 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
1411 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
1419 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
1423 <term>Specifies:</term>
1426 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
1427 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
1432 <term>Type of value:</term>
1434 <para>Path name</para>
1438 <term>Default value:</term>
1440 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1444 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1446 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1453 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1460 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
1463 <anchor id="default.action">
1464 <anchor id="standard.action">
1465 <anchor id="user.action">
1466 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
1469 <term>Specifies:</term>
1472 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
1477 <term>Type of value:</term>
1479 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
1483 <term>Default values:</term>
1487 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
1490 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
1493 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
1499 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1502 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
1510 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
1513 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
1514 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
1515 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
1516 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
1519 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
1520 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
1521 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
1522 least one actions file.
1529 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
1530 <anchor id="default.filter">
1533 <term>Specifies:</term>
1536 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> to use
1541 <term>Type of value:</term>
1543 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1547 <term>Default value:</term>
1549 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
1553 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1556 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
1557 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
1558 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
1566 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> contains content modification
1567 rules that use <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link>. These rules permit
1568 powerful changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
1569 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
1570 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
1571 it appears on a Web page.
1575 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
1576 actions rely on the relevant filter (<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>)
1577 to be defined in the filter file!
1580 A pre-defined filter file called <filename>default.filter</filename> that contains
1581 a bunch of handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution.
1582 See the section on the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
1590 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
1594 <term>Specifies:</term>
1602 <term>Type of value:</term>
1604 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1608 <term>Default value:</term>
1610 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
1614 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1617 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>stderr</literal>).
1625 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
1628 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
1629 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
1630 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
1631 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
1632 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
1635 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
1636 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
1637 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
1638 script has been included.
1641 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
1642 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
1643 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
1644 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
1647 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
1648 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
1655 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
1659 <term>Specifies:</term>
1662 The file to store intercepted cookies in
1667 <term>Type of value:</term>
1669 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1673 <term>Default value:</term>
1675 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
1679 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1682 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
1690 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
1697 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
1700 <term>Specifies:</term>
1703 The trust file to use
1708 <term>Type of value:</term>
1710 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1714 <term>Default value:</term>
1716 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
1720 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1723 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
1731 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
1732 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
1735 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
1736 access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
1737 You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
1738 the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
1739 trusted referrer was used.
1740 The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
1741 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
1744 If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
1752 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1756 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1758 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
1759 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
1762 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
1763 than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
1764 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
1767 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
1770 <term>Specifies:</term>
1773 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
1778 <term>Type of value:</term>
1780 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
1784 <term>Default value:</term>
1786 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1790 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1793 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
1794 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
1802 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
1803 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want
1804 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
1805 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
1811 Unix, in local filesystem:
1814 <screen>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
1817 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
1820 <screen>user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
1824 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config file</emphasis>, because
1825 it is used while the config file is being read.
1833 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
1837 <term>Specifies:</term>
1840 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
1845 <term>Type of value:</term>
1851 <term>Default value:</term>
1853 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
1857 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1860 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
1868 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
1869 activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
1872 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
1873 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
1874 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
1877 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
1878 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
1885 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
1889 <term>Specifies:</term>
1892 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
1897 <term>Type of value:</term>
1899 <para>Email address</para>
1903 <term>Default value:</term>
1905 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1909 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1912 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1920 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1921 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1929 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
1933 <term>Specifies:</term>
1936 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
1937 configuration or policies.
1942 <term>Type of value:</term>
1948 <term>Default value:</term>
1950 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1954 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1957 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1965 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1966 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1970 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
1978 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1980 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1982 <sect2 id="debugging">
1983 <title>Debugging</title>
1986 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
1987 Note that you might also want to invoke
1988 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
1989 command line option when debugging.
1992 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
1996 <term>Specifies:</term>
1999 Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
2000 <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
2005 <term>Type of value:</term>
2007 <para>Integer values</para>
2011 <term>Default value:</term>
2013 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
2017 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2020 Nothing gets logged.
2028 The available debug levels are:
2032 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
2033 debug 2 # show each connection status
2034 debug 4 # show I/O status
2035 debug 8 # show header parsing
2036 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
2037 debug 32 # debug force feature
2038 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
2039 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
2040 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
2041 debug 512 # Common Log Format
2042 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
2043 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
2044 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
2048 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
2049 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
2052 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
2053 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
2054 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
2055 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
2056 a hell of an output (especially 16).
2060 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
2061 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
2064 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
2065 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
2072 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
2076 <term>Specifies:</term>
2079 Whether to run only one server thread
2084 <term>Type of value:</term>
2086 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
2090 <term>Default value:</term>
2092 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2096 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2099 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
2100 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
2108 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
2109 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
2118 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2120 <sect2 id="access-control">
2121 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
2124 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
2125 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
2128 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
2132 <term>Specifies:</term>
2135 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
2136 listen for client requests.
2141 <term>Type of value:</term>
2143 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
2148 <term>Default value:</term>
2150 <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
2154 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2157 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
2158 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
2167 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
2170 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
2171 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
2172 will need to override the default.
2175 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
2176 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
2177 from the Internet. In that case, consider using <link
2178 linkend="acls">access control lists</link> (ACL's, see below), and/or
2182 If you open <application>Privoxy</application> to untrusted users, you will
2183 also want to turn off the <literal><link
2184 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link></literal> and
2185 <literal><link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link></literal>
2191 <term>Example:</term>
2194 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
2195 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
2196 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
2197 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
2201 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
2209 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
2213 <term>Specifies:</term>
2216 Initial state of "toggle" status
2221 <term>Type of value:</term>
2227 <term>Default value:</term>
2233 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2236 Act as if toggled on
2244 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
2245 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
2246 proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
2247 <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
2248 anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
2249 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
2250 editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
2253 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
2254 if this option is present.
2262 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
2265 <term>Specifies:</term>
2268 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
2269 feature</ulink> may be used
2274 <term>Type of value:</term>
2280 <term>Default value:</term>
2286 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2289 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
2297 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
2298 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
2302 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
2303 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
2304 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
2305 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
2306 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
2307 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
2310 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
2311 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
2319 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
2322 <term>Specifies:</term>
2325 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
2326 file editor</ulink> may be used
2331 <term>Type of value:</term>
2337 <term>Default value:</term>
2343 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2346 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
2354 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
2355 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
2356 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
2357 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
2358 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
2359 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
2362 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
2363 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
2370 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
2371 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
2372 <anchor id="permit-access">
2373 <anchor id="deny-access">
2377 <term>Specifies:</term>
2380 Who can access what.
2385 <term>Type of value:</term>
2388 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
2389 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
2392 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
2393 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
2394 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
2395 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
2396 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
2397 destination part are optional.
2402 <term>Default value:</term>
2404 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2408 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2411 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
2419 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
2420 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
2421 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
2422 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
2423 (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
2424 <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
2428 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
2429 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
2433 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
2434 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
2435 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
2436 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
2437 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
2440 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
2441 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
2442 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
2443 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
2444 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
2445 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
2448 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
2449 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
2450 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
2451 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
2454 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
2455 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
2460 <term>Examples:</term>
2463 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
2464 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
2465 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
2466 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
2470 permit-access localhost
2474 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
2475 nothing but www.example.com:
2479 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
2483 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
2484 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
2488 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
2489 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
2497 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
2501 <term>Specifies:</term>
2504 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
2509 <term>Type of value:</term>
2511 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
2515 <term>Default value:</term>
2521 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2524 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
2532 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
2533 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
2534 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
2535 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
2536 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
2540 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
2541 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
2542 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
2543 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
2544 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
2554 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2557 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2559 <sect2 id="forwarding">
2560 <title>Forwarding</title>
2563 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
2565 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
2566 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
2567 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
2568 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
2569 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
2570 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
2571 runs on has no direct Internet access.
2575 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
2576 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
2579 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
2582 <term>Specifies:</term>
2585 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
2590 <term>Type of value:</term>
2593 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2594 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2597 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2598 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2599 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is the address of the parent HTTP proxy
2600 as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or <quote>.</quote> to denote
2601 <quote>no forwarding</quote>, and the optional
2602 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer
2603 values from 1 to 64535
2608 <term>Default value:</term>
2610 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2614 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2617 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
2625 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2626 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
2629 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2634 <term>Examples:</term>
2637 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
2641 forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
2646 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
2647 to that ISP's sites:
2651 forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
2652 forward .example-isp.net .
2660 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
2661 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
2662 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
2663 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
2667 <term>Specifies:</term>
2670 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
2675 <term>Type of value:</term>
2678 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2679 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2680 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2683 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2684 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2685 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
2686 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
2687 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
2688 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
2693 <term>Default value:</term>
2695 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2699 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2702 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
2710 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2713 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
2714 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
2715 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
2718 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2719 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
2725 <term>Examples:</term>
2728 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
2729 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
2730 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
2735 forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
2736 forward .example.com .
2740 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
2744 forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
2752 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
2755 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
2756 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
2757 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
2758 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
2762 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
2763 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
2764 configuration can look like this:
2774 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
2785 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
2790 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
2791 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
2792 of both isp-a and isp-b.
2796 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
2797 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
2798 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
2802 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
2803 run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this:
2808 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
2809 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
2811 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
2814 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
2815 always_direct allow ftp
2817 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
2818 never_direct allow all</screen>
2822 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
2823 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
2830 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2833 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2835 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
2836 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
2838 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
2839 Windows GUI interface:
2842 <anchor id="activity-animation">
2844 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
2845 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
2846 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
2853 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
2859 <anchor id="log-messages">
2861 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2862 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
2870 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
2876 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
2878 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
2879 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
2880 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
2884 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
2885 eat up all your memory!
2892 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
2898 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
2900 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
2901 in the log buffer. See above.
2908 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
2914 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
2916 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2917 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
2918 messages with a bold-faced font:
2925 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
2931 <anchor id="log-font-name">
2933 The font used in the console window:
2940 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
2946 <anchor id="log-font-size">
2948 Font size used in the console window:
2955 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
2961 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
2963 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
2964 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
2972 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
2978 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
2980 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
2981 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
2982 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
2989 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2995 <anchor id="hide-console">
2997 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2998 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2999 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
3007 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
3016 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3020 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
3022 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
3025 The actions files are used to define what actions
3026 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
3027 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
3028 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
3029 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
3030 version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
3037 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
3038 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
3039 provide a base level of functionality for
3040 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
3041 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
3042 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
3048 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
3049 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
3050 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
3051 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
3056 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
3057 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
3058 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
3059 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
3060 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
3068 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
3069 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
3070 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
3071 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
3075 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
3076 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
3077 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
3078 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
3079 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
3080 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
3081 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
3082 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
3083 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
3084 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
3085 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
3086 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
3090 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
3091 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
3092 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
3093 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
3094 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
3098 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3100 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
3102 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
3103 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
3104 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
3105 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
3106 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
3107 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
3108 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
3109 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
3110 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
3111 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
3115 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
3116 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
3117 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
3118 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
3122 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3124 <title>How to Edit</title>
3126 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
3127 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
3128 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
3129 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
3130 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
3131 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
3135 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
3136 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
3142 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
3143 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
3145 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
3146 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
3147 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
3148 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
3149 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
3150 Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
3154 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
3155 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
3156 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
3157 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
3158 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
3159 the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
3160 a heading line of <literal>{
3161 +<ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink> }</literal>,
3162 then later another one with just <literal>{
3163 +<ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink> }</literal>, resulting
3164 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
3168 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
3169 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
3173 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
3174 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
3178 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3179 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
3180 <title>Patterns</title>
3182 Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
3183 where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
3184 are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
3189 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
3192 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
3193 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
3198 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
3201 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
3207 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
3210 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
3211 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
3216 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
3219 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
3220 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
3225 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
3228 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
3229 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
3236 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3237 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
3240 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
3241 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
3247 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
3250 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
3251 <literal>.example.com</literal>
3256 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
3259 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
3260 <literal>www.</literal>
3265 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
3268 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
3269 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
3276 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
3277 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
3278 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
3279 any single character, you can define character classes in square
3280 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
3285 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
3288 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
3289 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
3294 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
3297 matches all of the above, and then some.
3302 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
3305 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
3306 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
3311 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
3314 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
3315 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
3316 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
3317 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
3325 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3328 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3329 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
3332 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
3333 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
3338 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
3339 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
3340 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
3341 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
3342 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
3343 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
3347 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
3348 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
3349 for the beginning of a line).
3353 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
3354 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
3355 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
3356 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
3357 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
3363 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3366 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3368 <sect2 id="actions">
3369 <title>Actions</title>
3371 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
3372 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
3373 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
3374 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
3375 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
3376 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
3377 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
3378 previously applied.</quote>
3383 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
3384 separated by whitespace, like in
3385 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
3386 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
3387 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
3388 of the actions file.
3392 There are three classes of actions:
3399 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
3400 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
3404 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
3405 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
3408 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
3415 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
3420 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
3421 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
3422 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
3425 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
3426 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
3429 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
3435 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
3436 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
3437 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3438 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3439 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3440 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3444 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3445 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3446 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3447 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3450 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3451 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3459 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3460 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3461 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
3462 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3463 files will give a good starting point).
3467 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
3468 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3469 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
3470 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
3471 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
3472 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
3473 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
3474 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
3477 <!-- start actions listing -->
3479 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3483 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3484 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3485 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3487 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3490 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3492 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3493 <title>add-header</title>
3497 <term>Typical use:</term>
3499 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
3504 <term>Effect:</term>
3507 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
3514 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3516 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3521 <term>Parameter:</term>
3524 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3525 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3535 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3536 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3537 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3544 <term>Example usage:</term>
3547 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
3555 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3556 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3557 <title>block</title>
3561 <term>Typical use:</term>
3563 <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
3568 <term>Effect:</term>
3571 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
3572 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
3573 as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
3574 and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
3581 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3583 <para>Boolean.</para>
3588 <term>Parameter:</term>
3598 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3599 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
3600 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
3601 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
3602 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
3603 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
3604 right now, you can take a look at the
3605 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
3609 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3610 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3611 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
3612 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3613 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
3614 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
3617 It is important to understand this process, in order
3618 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
3619 ads and other unwanted content.
3622 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
3623 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
3624 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
3625 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
3626 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
3632 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3635 <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
3636 .nasty-stuff.example.com
3638 {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
3649 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3650 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3651 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3655 <term>Typical use:</term>
3658 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
3664 <term>Effect:</term>
3667 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3674 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3676 <para>Boolean.</para>
3681 <term>Parameter:</term>
3693 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
3694 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
3695 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3696 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
3699 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3700 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3701 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set.
3707 <term>Example usage:</term>
3710 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3718 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3719 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3720 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3724 <term>Typical use:</term>
3727 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
3733 <term>Effect:</term>
3736 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3743 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3745 <para>Boolean.</para>
3750 <term>Parameter:</term>
3762 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
3763 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
3764 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3765 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
3768 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3769 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3770 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3776 <term>Example usage:</term>
3779 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3788 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3789 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3790 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3794 <term>Typical use:</term>
3796 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3801 <term>Effect:</term>
3804 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3811 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3813 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3818 <term>Parameter:</term>
3821 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3830 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3831 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3832 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3833 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3834 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3835 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3838 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3839 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3846 <term>Example usage:</term>
3849 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3856 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3857 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3858 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3862 <term>Typical use:</term>
3864 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3869 <term>Effect:</term>
3872 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3879 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3881 <para>Boolean.</para>
3886 <term>Parameter:</term>
3898 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3899 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3900 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3901 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
3902 is a chance you might need this action.
3908 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3911 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3912 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3920 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3921 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3922 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3926 <term>Typical use:</term>
3928 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
3933 <term>Effect:</term>
3936 Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
3943 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3945 <para>Boolean.</para>
3950 <term>Parameter:</term>
3962 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3963 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3964 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3965 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3966 <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
3969 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3970 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3971 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3972 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3973 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3977 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3978 It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
3979 many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
3980 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
3987 <term>Example usage:</term>
3990 <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
3999 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4000 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
4001 <title>filter</title>
4005 <term>Typical use:</term>
4007 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
4012 <term>Effect:</term>
4015 Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly
4016 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
4023 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4025 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4030 <term>Parameter:</term>
4033 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
4034 (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
4035 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
4036 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>)
4045 For your convenience, there are a bunch of pre-defined filters available
4046 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the example below for
4050 This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <quote>rolling your own</quote>
4051 filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
4054 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
4055 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
4056 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
4057 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
4058 noticeable on slower connections.
4061 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
4062 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
4063 would normally be sent compressed, use the
4064 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
4065 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
4068 Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
4069 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4070 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners.
4073 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
4080 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file):</term>
4083 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
4084 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
4087 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
4088 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
4091 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
4092 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)</screen>
4095 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
4096 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</screen>
4099 <anchor id="filter-popups">
4100 <screen>+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</screen>
4103 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
4104 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
4107 <anchor id="filter-fun">
4108 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
4111 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
4112 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
4115 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
4116 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
4119 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
4120 <screen>+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</screen>
4123 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
4124 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
4127 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
4128 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</screen>
4136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4137 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4138 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4142 <term>Typical use:</term>
4144 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
4149 <term>Effect:</term>
4152 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4153 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4154 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4155 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4156 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4157 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4164 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4166 <para>Boolean.</para>
4171 <term>Parameter:</term>
4183 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4184 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4188 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4189 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4190 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4193 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (inline) ad
4194 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4195 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4196 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4202 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4205 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4208 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4210 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4211 # blocked as images:
4213 {+block +handle-as-image}
4214 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
4216 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
4226 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4227 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
4228 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
4232 <term>Typical use:</term>
4234 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
4239 <term>Effect:</term>
4242 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
4243 and prevents adding a new one.
4250 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4252 <para>Boolean.</para>
4257 <term>Parameter:</term>
4269 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
4272 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
4273 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
4274 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
4275 users sharing the same proxy.
4281 <term>Example usage:</term>
4284 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
4292 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4293 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4294 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4298 <term>Typical use:</term>
4300 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4305 <term>Effect:</term>
4308 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4316 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4318 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4323 <term>Parameter:</term>
4326 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4335 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4336 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4340 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4341 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4342 is actually used by a real person.
4345 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4346 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4352 <term>Example usage:</term>
4355 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4356 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4364 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4365 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4366 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4367 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4370 <term>Typical use:</term>
4372 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4377 <term>Effect:</term>
4380 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4381 or replaces it with a forged one.
4388 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4390 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4395 <term>Parameter:</term>
4399 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
4402 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4405 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4415 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
4416 not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
4417 content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
4418 by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
4421 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4422 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4423 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4424 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4425 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4431 <term>Example usage:</term>
4434 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4435 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4443 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4444 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4445 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4449 <term>Typical use:</term>
4451 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4456 <term>Effect:</term>
4459 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4460 in client requests with the specified value.
4467 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4469 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4474 <term>Parameter:</term>
4477 Any user-defined string.
4487 This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
4488 to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4489 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
4490 url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
4495 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4496 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4497 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4498 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4499 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4500 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4501 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4502 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4503 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4504 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4505 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4508 This action is scheduled for improvement.
4514 <term>Example usage:</term>
4517 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4525 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4526 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
4527 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
4531 <term>Typical use:</term>
4533 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</para>
4538 <term>Effect:</term>
4541 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
4542 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
4549 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4551 <para>Boolean.</para>
4556 <term>Parameter:</term>
4568 This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
4569 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
4570 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
4571 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
4573 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>popups</replaceable>}</literal>
4577 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
4578 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
4579 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
4580 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
4581 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
4582 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
4585 Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
4586 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
4587 would require artificial intelligence in <application>Privoxy</application>.
4588 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
4589 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
4590 one), you might want to use
4592 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
4598 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
4606 <term>Example usage:</term>
4608 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
4615 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4616 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
4617 <title>limit-connect</title>
4621 <term>Typical use:</term>
4623 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
4628 <term>Effect:</term>
4631 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
4638 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4640 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4645 <term>Parameter:</term>
4648 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
4649 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
4658 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
4659 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
4660 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
4661 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
4662 for some or all destinations.
4665 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4666 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
4667 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
4668 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
4669 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
4670 abused as TCP relays very easily.
4673 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
4674 change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
4680 <term>Example usages:</term>
4682 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
4683 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
4684 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
4686 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
4687 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
4688 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4689 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
4696 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4697 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
4698 <title>prevent-compression</title>
4702 <term>Typical use:</term>
4705 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
4706 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
4712 <term>Effect:</term>
4715 Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
4722 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4724 <para>Boolean.</para>
4729 <term>Parameter:</term>
4741 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
4742 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
4743 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
4744 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
4745 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
4746 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
4747 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
4748 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
4751 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
4752 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
4756 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
4757 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
4758 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
4764 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4767 <screen># Set default:
4769 {+prevent-compression}
4772 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
4774 {-prevent-compression}
4776 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
4785 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4786 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
4787 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
4791 <term>Typical use:</term>
4794 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
4800 <term>Effect:</term>
4803 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
4804 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
4811 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4813 <para>Boolean.</para>
4818 <term>Parameter:</term>
4830 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
4833 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
4839 <term>Example usage:</term>
4842 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
4851 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4852 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
4853 <title>send-wafer</title>
4857 <term>Typical use:</term>
4860 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
4866 <term>Effect:</term>
4869 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
4876 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4878 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4883 <term>Parameter:</term>
4886 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
4887 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
4896 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
4897 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
4900 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
4905 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4908 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
4909 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
4917 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4918 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
4919 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
4923 <term>Typical use:</term>
4926 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
4932 <term>Effect:</term>
4935 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> server headers.
4936 Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
4943 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4945 <para>Boolean.</para>
4950 <term>Parameter:</term>
4962 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
4963 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
4964 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
4967 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
4968 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
4969 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
4970 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
4971 sites, and is the recommended setting.
4974 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
4975 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
4976 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
4977 will be plainly killed.
4980 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
4981 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
4987 <term>Example usage:</term>
4990 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
4998 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4999 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5000 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5004 <term>Typical use:</term>
5006 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5011 <term>Effect:</term>
5014 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5015 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5016 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5017 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5018 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5019 sent as a replacement.
5026 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5028 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5033 <term>Parameter:</term>
5038 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5039 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5044 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5045 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5046 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5047 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5052 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5053 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5054 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
5057 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5058 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5059 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5060 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5061 it over and over again.
5072 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5073 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5074 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5077 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5078 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5079 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
5085 <term>Example usage:</term>
5091 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
5094 Redirect to the BSD devil:
5097 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
5100 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
5103 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
5111 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5113 <title>Summary</title>
5115 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
5116 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
5117 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
5118 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
5119 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
5120 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
5126 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5127 <sect2 id="aliases">
5128 <title>Aliases</title>
5130 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
5131 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
5132 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
5133 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
5135 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
5136 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
5137 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
5138 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
5139 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
5143 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
5144 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
5145 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
5146 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
5150 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
5151 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
5152 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
5153 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
5154 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
5155 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
5156 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
5159 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
5160 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
5161 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
5162 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
5163 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
5165 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
5169 Now let's define some aliases...
5174 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
5176 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
5177 # must be at the top of the actions file!
5181 # These aliases just save typing later:
5182 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5184 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
5185 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5186 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
5187 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
5189 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5190 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5192 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
5193 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
5195 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
5197 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
5198 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
5202 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
5203 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
5204 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
5209 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
5210 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
5213 .office.microsoft.com
5214 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5218 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
5222 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5225 # These shops require pop-ups:
5227 {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
5229 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
5233 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
5234 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
5235 in order to function properly.
5239 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5240 <sect2 id="act-examples">
5241 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
5243 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
5244 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
5245 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
5246 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
5247 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
5248 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
5249 file and see how all these pieces come together:
5252 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
5255 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
5259 <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
5263 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
5264 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
5265 change or worry about:
5270 ##########################################################################
5271 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
5272 ##########################################################################
5275 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
5279 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
5280 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
5281 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
5286 ##########################################################################
5288 ##########################################################################
5291 # These aliases just save typing later:
5292 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5294 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
5295 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5296 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
5297 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
5299 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5300 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5302 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
5303 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
5307 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
5308 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
5309 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
5310 enable the ones we want.
5314 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
5315 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
5316 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
5317 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
5318 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
5319 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
5320 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
5325 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
5326 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
5327 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
5328 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
5329 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
5330 multiple lines with line continuation.
5335 ##########################################################################
5336 # "Defaults" section:
5337 ##########################################################################
5339 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
5340 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
5341 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
5342 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
5343 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
5344 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
5345 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
5346 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
5347 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
5348 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
5349 +<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> \
5350 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
5351 -<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
5352 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
5353 +<link linkend="FILTER-NIMDA">filter{nimda}</link> \
5354 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
5355 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
5356 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
5357 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
5358 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
5359 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
5360 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
5361 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
5362 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
5363 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
5364 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
5365 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
5366 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
5367 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
5368 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
5370 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
5374 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
5375 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
5376 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
5377 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
5378 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
5379 want to block in later sections.
5380 We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
5381 and use our defined aliases for that.
5385 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
5386 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
5387 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
5388 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
5389 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
5390 of actions explicitly:
5395 ##########################################################################
5396 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
5397 ##########################################################################
5399 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
5402 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
5403 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
5407 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
5408 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
5409 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
5418 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5420 .scan.co.uk</screen>
5424 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
5425 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
5426 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
5427 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
5429 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
5430 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
5431 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
5432 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
5433 chosen in the defaults section:
5438 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
5440 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
5443 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
5447 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
5448 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
5449 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
5454 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
5458 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
5459 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
5460 .nytimes.com</screen>
5464 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
5465 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
5466 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
5467 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
5468 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
5469 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5470 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
5471 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
5472 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
5478 ##########################################################################
5480 ##########################################################################
5482 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
5483 # blocked further down this file:
5485 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
5486 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
5490 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
5491 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
5492 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5493 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
5494 <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
5495 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
5496 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
5497 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
5498 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
5499 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
5500 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
5501 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
5506 # Known ad generators:
5511 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
5512 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
5513 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
5520 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
5521 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
5522 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
5523 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
5524 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
5525 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
5526 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
5527 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
5528 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
5531 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
5532 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
5533 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
5534 to keep the example short:
5539 ##########################################################################
5540 # Block these fine banners:
5541 ##########################################################################
5542 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
5550 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
5551 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
5553 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
5555 .hitbox.com</screen>
5559 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
5560 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
5561 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
5562 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
5565 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
5566 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
5567 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
5568 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
5569 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
5570 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
5574 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
5575 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
5576 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
5577 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
5578 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
5579 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
5580 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
5581 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
5582 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
5583 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
5588 ##########################################################################
5589 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
5590 ##########################################################################
5594 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
5595 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
5596 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
5597 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
5598 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
5599 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
5607 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
5608 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
5612 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
5613 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
5614 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
5615 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
5616 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
5621 # Don't filter code!
5623 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
5625 .sourceforge.net</screen>
5629 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
5630 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
5635 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
5638 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
5639 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
5640 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
5641 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
5642 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
5643 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
5644 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
5645 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
5646 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
5647 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
5648 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
5649 to install updated versions from time to time.
5653 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
5654 <filename>user.action</filename>:
5658 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
5662 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
5666 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
5667 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
5668 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
5673 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
5676 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5677 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
5678 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
5679 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
5680 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below)</screen>
5685 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
5686 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
5687 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
5688 <literal>mercy-for-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
5689 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and
5690 processing of cookies to make them temporary.
5695 { mercy-for-cookies }
5700 .redhat.com</screen>
5704 Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
5705 know which, so you disable them all:
5710 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> }
5711 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
5715 While browsing the web with <application>Privoxy</application> you
5716 noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to
5717 report them through our fine and easy <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>
5718 system, so you have added them here:
5723 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
5724 www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
5725 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
5729 Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
5730 extensions (most do),
5731 <literal>+<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link></literal>
5732 need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will
5733 already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of
5734 <filename>default.action</filename> by now.
5738 Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
5739 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
5740 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
5741 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
5742 -- whoa! -- it worked:
5748 .forbes.com</screen>
5752 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
5753 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
5754 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
5755 update-safe config, once and for all:
5760 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
5761 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
5765 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
5766 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
5767 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
5768 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
5769 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
5773 Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are
5774 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
5775 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
5776 sites that you feel provide value to you:
5788 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
5789 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
5790 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>
5796 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5800 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5802 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
5804 <sect1 id="filter-file">
5805 <title>The Filter File</title>
5808 All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
5809 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
5810 must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
5811 called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
5812 selected through the <literal>
5813 <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
5818 Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
5819 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
5820 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
5821 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
5822 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
5823 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
5827 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain
5828 text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
5829 MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if
5830 you want to <quote>roll your own</quote> filters, you should be
5831 familiar with HTML syntax.
5835 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
5836 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
5837 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
5838 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
5839 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
5840 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
5841 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
5842 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
5843 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
5844 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
5845 user interface</ulink>.
5849 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
5850 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
5851 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
5852 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
5856 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
5861 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
5865 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
5866 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
5867 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
5868 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
5869 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
5870 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.1.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
5871 for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
5872 option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
5873 to ungreedy matching.
5877 If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
5878 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
5879 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
5881 <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
5882 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
5883 url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
5884 expressions</ulink> in general.
5885 The below examples might also help to get you started.
5888 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
5890 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
5892 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
5893 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
5894 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
5899 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
5903 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
5904 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
5905 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
5906 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
5910 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
5914 Our complete filter now looks like this:
5917 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
5918 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
5922 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
5923 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
5924 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
5930 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
5932 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
5934 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
5938 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
5939 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
5940 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
5941 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
5945 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
5946 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
5947 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
5948 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
5949 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
5953 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
5954 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
5955 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
5956 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
5957 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
5958 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
5959 in the page (and appear in that order).
5963 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
5964 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
5965 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
5966 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
5967 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
5971 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
5972 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
5973 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
5974 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
5975 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
5976 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
5977 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
5978 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
5979 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
5980 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
5981 substitution is global.
5985 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
5986 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
5987 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
5988 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
5989 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
5993 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
5994 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
5995 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
5996 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
5997 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
5998 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
5999 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
6000 Business!"</literal>.
6004 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
6005 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
6006 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
6007 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
6008 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
6009 information anymore.
6013 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
6014 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
6019 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
6021 s/window\.status\s*=\s*['"].*?['"]/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
6025 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
6026 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
6027 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
6028 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
6029 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
6030 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>.
6034 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
6035 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
6036 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
6037 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
6038 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
6039 you move your mouse over links.
6044 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
6046 s/(<body .*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
6051 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
6052 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
6053 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
6054 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
6055 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
6056 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
6061 The last example is from the fun department:
6066 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
6068 # Spice the daily news:
6070 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
6074 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
6075 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
6076 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
6077 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being messed, while
6078 still replacing the word everywhere else.
6083 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
6085 s* industry[ -]leading \
6087 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
6088 | high[ -]performance \
6089 | solutions[ -]based \
6093 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
6098 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
6099 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
6108 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6112 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6114 <sect1 id="templates">
6115 <title>Templates</title>
6117 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
6118 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
6119 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
6120 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
6122 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6123 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
6124 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
6129 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
6130 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On unixish platforms,
6132 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
6136 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
6137 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
6138 edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
6139 (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
6140 just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
6141 ignored when the templates are filled in.
6145 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
6146 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
6147 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
6148 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
6149 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
6153 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
6154 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
6155 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
6156 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
6157 in in an alpha or beta development stage:
6162 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
6164 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
6166 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
6170 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
6171 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
6172 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
6176 <screen><!-- --></screen>
6180 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
6181 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
6186 All templates refer to a style located at
6187 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
6188 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
6189 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
6190 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
6195 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6199 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6201 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
6204 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
6206 <!-- end boilerplate -->
6210 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6213 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6214 <sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
6216 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
6218 <!-- end copyright -->
6220 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6221 <sect2><title>License</title>
6222 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
6224 <!-- end copyright -->
6226 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6229 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6231 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
6232 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
6234 <!-- end history -->
6237 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
6238 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
6240 <!-- end authors -->
6245 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6248 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6249 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
6250 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
6252 <!-- end seealso -->
6257 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6258 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
6261 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6263 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
6265 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
6266 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
6267 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
6268 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
6269 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
6273 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
6274 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
6275 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
6276 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
6280 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
6281 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
6282 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
6283 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
6284 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
6285 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
6286 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
6287 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
6291 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
6292 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
6293 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
6294 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
6295 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
6296 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
6297 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
6298 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
6302 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
6303 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
6304 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
6305 and then some examples:
6310 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
6311 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
6313 </simplelist></para>
6317 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
6320 </simplelist></para>
6324 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
6327 </simplelist></para>
6331 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
6334 </simplelist></para>
6338 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
6339 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
6340 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
6341 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
6342 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
6343 meta-character meaning of any single character).
6345 </simplelist></para>
6349 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
6350 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
6351 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
6352 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
6354 </simplelist></para>
6358 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
6359 or multiple sub-expressions.
6361 </simplelist></para>
6365 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
6366 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
6367 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
6368 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
6369 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
6370 example</quote>, and nothing else.
6372 </simplelist></para>
6375 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
6376 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
6377 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
6378 be more illuminating:
6382 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
6383 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
6384 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
6385 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
6386 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
6387 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
6388 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
6389 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
6390 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
6391 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
6392 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
6393 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
6394 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
6395 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
6400 A now something a little more complex:
6404 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
6405 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
6406 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
6407 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
6408 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
6409 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
6410 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
6415 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
6416 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
6417 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
6418 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
6419 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
6420 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
6421 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
6422 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
6423 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
6424 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
6425 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
6426 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
6427 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
6428 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
6429 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
6430 changing our regular expression to:
6431 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
6436 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
6437 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
6438 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
6439 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
6440 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
6441 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
6442 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
6443 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
6444 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
6445 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
6446 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
6447 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
6448 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
6449 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
6450 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
6451 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
6452 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
6453 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
6454 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
6455 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
6456 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
6457 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
6458 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
6459 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
6460 in the expression anywhere).
6464 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
6465 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
6466 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
6467 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
6468 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
6473 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
6474 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
6478 For information on regular expression based substititions and their applications
6479 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
6484 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6487 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6489 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
6492 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
6493 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
6494 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
6495 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
6496 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
6497 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
6498 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
6504 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
6505 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
6506 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
6507 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
6520 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
6524 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
6525 doesn't provide a fallback to a real page, in case the request is not
6526 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
6532 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
6533 editing of actions files:
6537 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
6544 Show the source code version numbers:
6548 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
6555 Show the browser's request headers:
6559 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
6566 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
6570 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
6577 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
6578 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
6582 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
6586 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
6590 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
6595 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
6604 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
6608 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
6609 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
6611 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
6612 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
6613 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
6614 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
6615 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
6616 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
6619 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
6620 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
6621 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
6622 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
6623 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
6624 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
6633 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>
6640 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>
6647 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)
6654 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>
6660 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
6665 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
6672 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
6673 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
6674 have more information about bookmarklets.
6683 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6685 <title>Chain of Events</title>
6687 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
6688 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
6695 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
6696 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
6697 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
6703 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
6704 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
6709 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
6711 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
6712 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
6713 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
6714 is then checked and if it does not match, an
6715 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
6716 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
6717 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
6718 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
6723 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
6724 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
6729 If the URL pattern matches the <link
6730 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
6731 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
6736 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
6737 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
6738 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
6739 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
6745 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
6751 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
6752 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
6753 filtered as deterimed by the
6754 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
6755 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
6756 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
6762 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
6763 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
6764 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
6769 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
6771 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
6772 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
6773 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
6774 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
6775 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
6776 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
6777 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
6778 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
6779 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
6782 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
6784 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
6785 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
6786 to the client browser as it becomes available.
6791 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
6792 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
6793 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
6794 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
6795 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
6796 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
6806 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6807 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
6808 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
6811 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
6812 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
6813 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
6814 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
6815 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
6816 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
6817 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
6818 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
6819 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
6824 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
6825 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
6826 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
6827 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!).
6831 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
6832 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
6833 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
6834 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
6838 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
6839 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
6840 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
6841 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
6842 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
6843 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
6844 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
6845 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
6846 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
6847 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
6848 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
6849 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
6850 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
6855 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
6856 and look at it one section at a time:
6861 Matches for http://google.com:
6863 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
6867 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6868 -crunch-incoming-cookies
6869 +deanimate-gifs{last}
6870 -downgrade-http-version
6874 -filter{shockwave-flash}
6875 -filter{crude-parental}
6876 +filter{html-annoyances}
6877 +filter{js-annoyances}
6878 +filter{content-cookies}
6880 +filter{refresh-tags}
6882 +filter{banners-by-size}
6883 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
6884 +hide-from-header{block}
6885 +hide-referer{forge}
6890 +prevent-compression
6893 +session-cookies-only
6894 +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
6897 { -session-cookies-only }
6903 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
6904 (no matches in this file)
6909 This tells us how we have defined our
6910 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
6911 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
6912 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
6913 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
6914 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
6915 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
6916 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
6917 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
6918 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
6919 -- <quote>/</quote>.
6923 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
6924 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
6925 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
6926 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
6928 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
6929 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
6930 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
6932 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
6933 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
6934 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
6935 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
6936 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
6937 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
6938 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
6943 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
6947 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
6948 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
6949 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
6960 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6961 -crunch-incoming-cookies
6962 +deanimate-gifs{last}
6963 -downgrade-http-version
6967 -filter{shockwave-flash}
6968 -filter{crude-parental}
6969 +filter{html-annoyances}
6970 +filter{js-annoyances}
6971 +filter{content-cookies}
6973 +filter{refresh-tags}
6975 +filter{banners-by-size}
6976 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
6977 +hide-from-header{block}
6978 +hide-referer{forge}
6983 +prevent-compression
6986 -session-cookies-only
6987 +set-image-blocker{pattern}
6992 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
6993 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
6997 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
7003 { +block +handle-as-image }
7006 { +block +handle-as-image }
7009 { +block +handle-as-image }
7015 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
7016 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
7017 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
7018 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
7019 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
7020 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
7025 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
7026 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
7027 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
7028 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
7029 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
7030 is done here -- as both a <link
7031 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
7032 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
7034 linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
7035 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
7040 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
7041 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
7047 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
7049 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
7053 -crunch-incoming-cookies
7054 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7056 -downgrade-http-version
7058 +filter{html-annoyances}
7059 +filter{js-annoyances}
7060 +filter{kill-popups}
7063 +filter{banners-by-size}
7066 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
7067 +hide-from-header{block}
7068 +hide-referer{forge}
7072 +prevent-compression
7075 +session-cookies-only
7076 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
7079 { +block +handle-as-image }
7085 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
7086 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
7087 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
7088 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
7089 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
7101 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
7102 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
7106 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
7113 { +block +handle-as-image }
7119 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
7120 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
7121 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
7122 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
7123 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. Try
7124 adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
7132 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
7140 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
7141 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
7142 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
7155 This would probably be most appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>,
7156 for local site exceptions.
7160 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
7161 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
7162 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
7163 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
7172 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
7173 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
7174 Public License as published by the Free Software
7175 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
7176 your option) any later version.
7178 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
7179 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
7180 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
7181 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
7182 License for more details.
7184 The GNU General Public License should be included with
7185 this file. If not, you can view it at
7186 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
7187 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
7188 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
7190 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
7191 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
7192 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
7194 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
7195 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
7196 <literal><link> style.
7197 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
7198 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
7199 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
7200 renders them red (bad in TOC).
7202 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
7203 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
7205 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
7208 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
7209 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
7210 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
7212 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
7213 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
7214 - Small changes to Regex appendix
7215 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
7217 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
7218 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
7220 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
7221 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
7223 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
7224 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
7226 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
7227 Extended and further commented the example actions files
7229 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
7230 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
7233 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
7236 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
7237 Restored alphabetical order of actions
7239 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
7240 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
7242 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
7243 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
7245 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
7246 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
7247 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
7249 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
7250 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
7251 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
7252 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
7254 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
7255 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
7257 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
7260 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
7261 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
7262 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
7264 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
7265 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
7267 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
7268 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
7269 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
7271 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
7272 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
7274 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
7275 more structure in starting section
7277 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
7278 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
7279 will probably break links elsewhere :(
7281 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
7282 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
7283 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
7285 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
7286 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
7287 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
7289 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
7290 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
7292 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
7293 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
7294 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
7296 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
7297 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
7298 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
7300 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
7301 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
7303 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
7304 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
7306 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
7307 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
7309 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
7310 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
7312 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
7313 Updated OSX installation section
7314 Added a few English tweaks here an there
7316 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
7317 Re-write actions section.
7319 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
7320 Fix ugly typo (mine).
7322 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
7323 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
7325 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
7326 Added RPM install detail
7328 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
7331 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
7332 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
7334 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
7335 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
7337 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
7338 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
7340 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
7343 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
7344 Proofreading, part one
7346 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
7347 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
7348 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
7350 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
7351 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
7353 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
7354 Add small section on submitting actions.
7356 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
7359 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
7360 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
7362 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
7363 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
7365 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
7368 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
7369 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
7370 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
7371 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
7372 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
7374 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
7375 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
7377 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
7378 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
7380 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
7381 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
7382 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
7383 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
7384 eventually be set by Makefile.
7385 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
7387 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
7388 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
7390 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
7391 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
7393 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
7394 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
7396 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
7397 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
7398 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
7399 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
7401 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
7404 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
7405 Added more to Anatomy section.
7407 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
7408 Touch up intro for new name.
7410 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
7411 we have a new homepage!
7413 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
7414 A few minor catch ups with name change.
7416 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
7417 configure needs to be generated.
7419 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
7420 we are too lazy to make a block-built
7421 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
7423 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
7424 name change related issue.
7426 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
7427 name change. changed filenames.
7429 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
7432 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
7433 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
7434 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
7435 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
7436 comments and remarks to history untouched.
7438 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
7441 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
7442 New section in Appendix.
7444 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
7445 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
7447 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
7448 correct feedback channels
7450 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
7451 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
7453 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
7456 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
7457 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
7459 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
7460 Added imageblock{pattern}.
7462 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
7465 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
7466 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
7468 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
7469 provide correct feedback channels
7471 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
7472 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
7474 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
7475 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
7477 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
7478 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
7480 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
7481 Add new - - user option.
7483 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
7484 Added section on command line options.
7486 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
7487 Changed default port to 8118
7489 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
7490 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
7492 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
7493 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
7494 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
7497 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
7500 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
7501 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
7503 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
7504 Update OS/2 build section
7506 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
7507 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
7508 will work - no other changes are needed.
7510 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
7511 Added a very short section on Templates
7513 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
7514 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
7516 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
7517 Touch ups for *.action files.
7519 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
7522 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
7523 Updates for recent changes.
7525 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
7526 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
7528 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
7529 Correct 2 minor errors
7531 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
7532 *** empty log message ***
7534 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
7535 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
7537 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
7538 wrong url in documentation
7540 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
7541 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
7543 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
7546 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
7549 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
7552 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
7553 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
7555 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
7556 Some additions, and re-arranging.
7558 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
7561 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
7562 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
7564 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
7567 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
7568 source files for junkbuster documentation
7570 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
7571 first proposal of a structure.
7573 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
7574 docs should have an author.
7576 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
7577 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.