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6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
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10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
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19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
29 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
32 This file belongs into
33 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
35 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.126 2002/06/05 00:31:55 hal9 Exp $
37 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
40 ========================================================================
41 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
42 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
43 ========================================================================
50 <title>Privoxy User Manual</title>
54 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
55 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
56 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
57 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
61 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.126 2002/06/05 00:31:55 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
65 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
66 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
67 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
68 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
75 <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
78 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
80 text goes here ........
92 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
93 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
94 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
100 The <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
101 install, configure and use <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
105 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
107 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
110 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
111 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
112 Please see the <ulink url="contact.html">Contact section</ulink> on how to
113 contact the developers.
117 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
123 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
124 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
126 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
127 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
128 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
129 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
130 configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
131 completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over
132 earlier versions. The target release date for
133 stable v3.0 is <quote>soon</quote> ;-)]]>.
136 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
139 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
140 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
141 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
146 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
147 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
149 In addition to <application>Internet Junkbuster's</application> traditional
150 features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
151 <application>Privoxy</application> provides new features<![%p-not-stable;[,
152 some of them currently under development]]>:
154 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
156 <!-- end boilerplate -->
161 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
164 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
165 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
168 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
169 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
170 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
171 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
176 Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
177 <application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
178 will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
179 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
180 <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
181 you.</emphasis> See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to
182 upgraders</link> section below.
185 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
186 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
188 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
191 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
192 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
195 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
196 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
197 of configuration files.
201 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
202 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
203 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
204 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
205 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
209 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
210 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
211 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
215 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
216 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
217 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
218 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
225 DEBs can be installed with <literal>dpkg -i
226 privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb</literal>, and will use
227 <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of configuration
232 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
233 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
236 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
237 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
238 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
239 use the registry of Windows.
243 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
244 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
247 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
248 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
249 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
253 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
254 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
257 First, make sure that no previous installations of
258 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
259 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
260 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
261 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
267 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
268 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
269 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
270 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
274 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
275 into will contain all of the configuration files.
279 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
280 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
282 Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
283 in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
284 double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
286 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
287 <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
288 <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
289 automatically on system bring-up via
290 <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
294 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
295 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
297 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
298 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
299 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
300 remove this directory.
305 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
306 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
309 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
310 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
315 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
316 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
317 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
318 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
319 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
323 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
325 <!-- end boilerplate -->
331 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
333 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
334 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
335 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
337 There are very significant changes from earlier
338 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
339 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
340 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
341 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
342 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
343 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
344 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
345 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
346 are now combined into the <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
347 files</quote></link>.
348 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
349 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
352 A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (typically
353 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
354 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
355 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
358 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
359 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
360 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
361 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
362 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
363 recommended to use the new configuration files.
366 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
374 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
380 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
381 important configuration files!
386 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
387 at the special URL: <ulink
388 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
389 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
390 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
391 <application>Privoxy</application>.
396 The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
397 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
398 configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
399 files</link>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
400 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
401 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
406 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
407 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
408 Some installers may not automatically start
409 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
417 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
418 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
424 If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
425 files. See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
431 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
432 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
439 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
440 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
441 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
442 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
449 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
450 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
451 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
457 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
458 HTTPS proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
459 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
460 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
461 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
462 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link> below
463 for more details on this.
469 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
475 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
476 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
477 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
478 to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
481 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
482 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
483 <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
484 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
485 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
492 If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
493 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
494 <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
495 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
496 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
497 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
498 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
499 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
500 Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
501 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
507 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
508 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
515 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
523 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
525 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
526 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
528 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
529 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
532 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
533 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
534 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
537 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
538 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
539 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
542 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
543 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
544 things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
545 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
546 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
547 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
548 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
549 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
550 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
551 habits and preferences.
554 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
555 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
556 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
557 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
558 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
559 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
560 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
561 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
562 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
563 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
566 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
567 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
568 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
569 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
570 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
573 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
574 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
575 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
576 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
577 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
578 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
579 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
580 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
581 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
586 The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
587 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
588 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
589 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
597 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
598 any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
599 action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
600 that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
601 communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
602 own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
608 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
609 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
610 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
611 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
612 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
613 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
614 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
615 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
616 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
617 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
618 an entire HTML page in most situations.
625 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
626 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
627 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
628 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
629 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
630 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
633 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
637 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
638 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
643 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
644 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
649 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
650 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
659 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
660 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
661 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
662 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
663 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
664 appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
665 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
666 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
667 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
668 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
669 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
670 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
674 A quick and simple step by step example:
682 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
683 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
691 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
696 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
697 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
700 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
702 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
705 <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
708 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
717 You should have a section with only
718 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
719 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
720 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
721 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
722 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
723 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
724 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
725 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
731 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
732 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
733 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
734 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
735 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
736 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
741 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
742 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
750 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
751 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
752 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
753 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
758 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
759 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
760 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
767 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
770 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
772 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
774 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
775 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
776 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
777 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
778 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
781 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
783 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)</title>
786 <imagedata fileref="../images/proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
789 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
796 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
797 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
801 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
802 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
803 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>
805 <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton>
807 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton>
809 <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton>
811 <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
815 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>:
819 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
820 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
821 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton>
823 <guibutton>Internet Properties</guibutton>
825 <guibutton>Connections</guibutton>
827 <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
831 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
832 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
837 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
838 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
839 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
840 <application>Privoxy</application>!
844 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
845 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
846 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
847 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
848 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
851 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
852 <title>Red Hat and Conectiva</title>
854 We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
855 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as
856 its main configuration file.
860 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
865 <sect2 id="start-debian">
866 <title>Debian</title>
868 We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
869 default. It will use the file
870 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
875 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
880 <sect2 id="start-suse">
883 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
884 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
894 <sect2 id="start-windows">
895 <title>Windows</title>
897 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
898 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
899 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
900 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
904 <sect2 id="start-unices">
905 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
907 Example Unix startup command:
911 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
916 <sect2 id="start-os2">
919 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
920 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
921 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
922 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
926 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
927 <title>MAX OSX</title>
929 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
930 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually
931 through the Terminal with these commands:
935 cd /Applications/Privoxy.app
941 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
942 <title>AmigaOS</title>
944 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
945 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
946 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
947 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
948 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
949 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
950 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
957 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
961 must find a better place for this paragraph
964 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
965 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
966 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
967 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
968 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
969 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
973 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
974 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
975 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
976 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
977 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
978 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
979 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
980 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
981 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
985 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
986 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
987 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
989 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
990 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
991 popups (explained below).
995 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
996 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
997 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
998 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
999 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1000 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1001 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1002 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1003 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1007 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1008 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1009 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1010 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1011 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1012 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1013 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1014 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1015 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1019 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1020 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1021 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1022 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1023 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1024 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1025 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1029 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1030 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1031 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1032 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1033 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1034 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1039 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
1040 url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
1041 or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
1046 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1047 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1048 section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
1049 Developers</quote></ulink> below.
1054 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1055 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1056 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1058 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1059 command-line options:
1067 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1070 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1075 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1078 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1083 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1086 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1087 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1092 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1096 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1097 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1098 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1099 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1104 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1108 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1109 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1110 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1115 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1118 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1119 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1120 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1121 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1122 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1123 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1134 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1137 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1138 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
1140 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1141 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1142 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1143 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1147 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1150 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
1152 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1153 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1154 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1155 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1156 You will see the following section:
1160 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1163 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1167 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1170 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1173 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1176 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1179 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1187 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1188 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1189 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1190 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1191 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1192 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1196 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1197 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1198 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1199 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1200 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1201 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1202 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1203 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1209 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1214 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1216 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1217 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1219 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1220 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1221 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1222 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1223 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1224 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1228 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1229 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1230 principle configuration files are:
1238 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1239 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1240 on Windows. This is a required file.
1246 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1247 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1248 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1249 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1250 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1251 as many websites as possible.
1254 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1255 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1256 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1257 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1258 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1259 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1260 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
1261 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1264 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1266 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1268 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1269 various actions files.
1275 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1276 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1277 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1278 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1279 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1287 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1288 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1289 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1290 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1291 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1292 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1297 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
1298 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1299 maximum flexibility.
1303 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1304 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1305 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1306 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1307 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1308 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1309 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1314 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1315 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1316 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1317 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1323 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1326 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1328 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1329 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1330 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1332 <!-- end include -->
1335 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1339 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1341 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1344 The actions files are used to define what actions
1345 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
1346 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1347 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
1348 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
1349 version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
1356 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1357 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1358 provide a base level of functionality for
1359 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1360 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
1361 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
1367 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1368 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1369 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1370 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1375 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
1376 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1377 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
1378 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
1379 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
1387 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1388 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
1389 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
1390 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1394 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
1395 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
1396 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
1397 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
1398 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
1399 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
1400 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
1401 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
1402 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
1403 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
1404 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
1405 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
1409 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
1410 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
1411 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
1412 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
1413 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
1417 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1419 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
1421 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
1422 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
1423 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
1424 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
1425 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
1426 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
1427 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
1428 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
1429 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
1430 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
1434 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
1435 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
1436 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
1437 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
1441 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1443 <title>How to Edit</title>
1445 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
1446 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
1447 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1448 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
1449 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
1450 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
1454 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
1455 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
1461 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
1462 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
1464 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
1465 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
1466 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
1467 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
1468 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
1469 Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
1473 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
1474 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
1475 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
1476 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
1477 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
1478 the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
1479 a heading line of <literal>{
1480 +<ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink> }</literal>,
1481 then later another one with just <literal>{
1482 +<ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink> }</literal>, resulting
1483 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
1487 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
1488 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
1492 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
1493 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
1497 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1498 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
1499 <title>Patterns</title>
1501 Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
1502 where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
1503 are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
1508 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
1511 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
1512 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
1517 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
1520 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
1526 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
1529 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
1530 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
1535 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
1538 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
1539 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
1544 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
1547 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
1548 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
1555 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1556 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
1559 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
1560 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
1566 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
1569 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
1570 <literal>.example.com</literal>
1575 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
1578 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
1579 <literal>www.</literal>
1584 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
1587 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
1588 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
1595 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
1596 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
1597 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
1598 any single character, you can define character classes in square
1599 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
1604 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1607 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
1608 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
1613 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1616 matches all of the above, and then some.
1621 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
1624 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
1625 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
1630 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
1633 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
1634 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
1635 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
1636 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
1644 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1647 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1648 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
1651 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
1652 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
1657 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
1658 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
1659 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
1660 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
1661 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
1662 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
1666 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
1667 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
1668 for the beginning of a line).
1672 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
1673 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
1674 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
1675 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
1676 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
1682 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1685 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1687 <sect2 id="actions">
1688 <title>Actions</title>
1690 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
1691 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
1692 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
1693 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
1694 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
1695 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
1696 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
1697 previously applied.</quote>
1702 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
1703 separated by whitespace, like in
1704 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
1705 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
1706 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
1707 of the actions file.
1711 There are three classes of actions:
1718 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
1719 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
1723 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
1724 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
1727 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
1734 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
1739 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
1740 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
1741 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
1744 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
1745 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
1748 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
1754 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
1755 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
1756 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
1757 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
1758 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
1759 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
1763 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
1764 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
1765 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
1766 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
1769 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
1770 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
1778 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
1779 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
1780 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
1781 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
1782 files will give a good starting point).
1786 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
1787 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
1788 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
1789 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
1790 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
1791 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
1792 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
1793 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
1796 <!-- start actions listing -->
1798 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
1802 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
1803 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
1804 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
1806 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
1809 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1811 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
1812 <title>add-header</title>
1816 <term>Typical use:</term>
1818 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
1823 <term>Effect:</term>
1826 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
1833 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
1835 <para>Multi-value.</para>
1840 <term>Parameter:</term>
1843 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
1844 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
1854 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
1855 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
1856 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
1863 <term>Example usage:</term>
1866 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
1874 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1875 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
1876 <title>block</title>
1880 <term>Typical use:</term>
1882 <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
1887 <term>Effect:</term>
1890 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
1891 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
1892 as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
1893 and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
1900 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
1902 <para>Boolean.</para>
1907 <term>Parameter:</term>
1917 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
1918 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
1919 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
1920 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
1921 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
1922 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
1923 right now, you can take a look at the
1924 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
1928 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
1929 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
1930 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
1931 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
1932 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
1933 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
1936 It is important to understand this process, in order
1937 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
1938 ads and other unwanted content.
1941 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
1942 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
1943 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
1944 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
1945 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
1951 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
1954 <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
1955 .nasty-stuff.example.com
1957 {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
1968 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1969 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
1970 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
1974 <term>Typical use:</term>
1977 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
1983 <term>Effect:</term>
1986 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
1993 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
1995 <para>Boolean.</para>
2000 <term>Parameter:</term>
2012 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
2013 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
2014 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
2015 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2018 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2019 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2020 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set.
2026 <term>Example usage:</term>
2029 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
2037 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2038 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
2039 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
2043 <term>Typical use:</term>
2046 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
2052 <term>Effect:</term>
2055 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
2062 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2064 <para>Boolean.</para>
2069 <term>Parameter:</term>
2081 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
2082 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
2083 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
2084 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2087 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2088 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2089 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
2095 <term>Example usage:</term>
2098 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
2107 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2108 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
2109 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
2113 <term>Typical use:</term>
2115 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
2120 <term>Effect:</term>
2123 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
2130 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2132 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2137 <term>Parameter:</term>
2140 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
2149 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
2150 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
2151 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
2152 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
2153 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
2154 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
2157 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
2158 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
2165 <term>Example usage:</term>
2168 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
2175 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2176 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
2177 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
2181 <term>Typical use:</term>
2183 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
2188 <term>Effect:</term>
2191 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
2198 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2200 <para>Boolean.</para>
2205 <term>Parameter:</term>
2217 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
2218 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
2219 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
2220 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
2221 is a chance you might need this action.
2227 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2230 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
2231 problem-host.example.com</screen>
2239 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2240 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
2241 <title>fast-redirects</title>
2245 <term>Typical use:</term>
2247 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
2252 <term>Effect:</term>
2255 Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
2262 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2264 <para>Boolean.</para>
2269 <term>Parameter:</term>
2281 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
2282 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
2283 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
2284 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
2285 <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
2288 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
2289 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
2290 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
2291 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
2292 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
2296 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
2297 It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
2298 many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
2299 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
2306 <term>Example usage:</term>
2309 <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
2318 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2319 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
2320 <title>filter</title>
2324 <term>Typical use:</term>
2326 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
2331 <term>Effect:</term>
2334 Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly
2335 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2342 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2344 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2349 <term>Parameter:</term>
2352 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
2353 (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
2354 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
2355 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>). Filtering
2356 can be completely disabled without the use of parameters.
2365 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
2366 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
2370 This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <quote>rolling your own</quote>
2371 filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
2374 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
2375 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
2376 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
2377 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
2378 noticeable on slower connections.
2381 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
2382 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
2383 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
2384 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
2385 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered. Inappropriate
2386 MIME types are not filtered.
2389 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
2390 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
2391 would normally be sent compressed, use the
2392 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
2393 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
2396 Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
2397 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2398 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
2399 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
2400 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
2404 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
2405 improved filters is particularly welcome!
2411 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file):</term>
2414 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
2415 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
2418 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
2419 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
2422 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
2423 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners based on their size for this page (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)</screen>
2426 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
2427 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</screen>
2430 <anchor id="filter-popups">
2431 <screen>+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</screen>
2434 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
2435 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
2438 <anchor id="filter-fun">
2439 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
2442 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
2443 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
2446 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
2447 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
2450 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
2451 <screen>+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</screen>
2454 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
2455 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
2458 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
2459 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</screen>
2467 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2468 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
2469 <title>handle-as-image</title>
2473 <term>Typical use:</term>
2475 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
2480 <term>Effect:</term>
2483 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
2484 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
2485 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
2486 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
2487 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
2488 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
2495 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2497 <para>Boolean.</para>
2502 <term>Parameter:</term>
2514 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
2515 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
2519 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
2520 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
2521 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
2524 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
2525 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
2526 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
2527 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
2533 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
2536 <screen># Generic image extensions:
2539 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
2541 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
2542 # blocked as images:
2544 {+block +handle-as-image}
2545 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
2547 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
2557 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2558 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
2559 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
2563 <term>Typical use:</term>
2565 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
2570 <term>Effect:</term>
2573 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
2574 and prevents adding a new one.
2581 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2583 <para>Boolean.</para>
2588 <term>Parameter:</term>
2600 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
2603 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
2604 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
2605 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
2606 users sharing the same proxy.
2612 <term>Example usage:</term>
2615 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
2623 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2624 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
2625 <title>hide-from-header</title>
2629 <term>Typical use:</term>
2631 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
2636 <term>Effect:</term>
2639 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
2647 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2649 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2654 <term>Parameter:</term>
2657 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
2666 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
2667 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2671 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
2672 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
2673 is actually used by a real person.
2676 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
2677 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
2683 <term>Example usage:</term>
2686 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
2687 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
2695 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2696 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
2697 <title>hide-referrer</title>
2698 <anchor id="hide-referer">
2701 <term>Typical use:</term>
2703 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
2708 <term>Effect:</term>
2711 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
2712 or replaces it with a forged one.
2719 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2721 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2726 <term>Parameter:</term>
2730 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
2733 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
2736 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
2746 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
2747 not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
2748 content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
2749 by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
2752 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
2753 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
2754 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
2755 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
2756 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
2762 <term>Example usage:</term>
2765 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
2766 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
2774 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2775 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
2776 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
2780 <term>Typical use:</term>
2782 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
2787 <term>Effect:</term>
2790 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
2791 in client requests with the specified value.
2798 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2800 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2805 <term>Parameter:</term>
2808 Any user-defined string.
2818 This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
2819 to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
2820 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
2821 url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
2826 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
2827 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
2828 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
2829 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
2830 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
2831 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
2832 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
2833 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
2834 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
2835 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
2836 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
2839 This action is scheduled for improvement.
2845 <term>Example usage:</term>
2848 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
2856 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2857 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
2858 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
2862 <term>Typical use:</term>
2864 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</para>
2869 <term>Effect:</term>
2872 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
2873 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
2880 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2882 <para>Boolean.</para>
2887 <term>Parameter:</term>
2899 This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2900 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
2901 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
2902 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
2904 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>popups</replaceable>}</literal>
2908 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
2909 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
2910 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
2911 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
2912 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
2913 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
2916 Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
2917 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
2918 would require artificial intelligence in <application>Privoxy</application>.
2919 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
2920 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
2921 one), you might want to use
2923 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
2929 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
2937 <term>Example usage:</term>
2939 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
2946 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2947 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
2948 <title>limit-connect</title>
2952 <term>Typical use:</term>
2954 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
2959 <term>Effect:</term>
2962 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
2969 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2971 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2976 <term>Parameter:</term>
2979 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
2980 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
2989 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
2990 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
2991 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
2992 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
2993 for some or all destinations.
2996 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
2997 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
2998 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
2999 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
3000 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
3001 abused as TCP relays very easily.
3004 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
3005 change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
3011 <term>Example usages:</term>
3013 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
3014 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
3015 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
3017 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
3018 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
3019 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
3020 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
3027 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3028 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
3029 <title>prevent-compression</title>
3033 <term>Typical use:</term>
3036 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
3037 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
3043 <term>Effect:</term>
3046 Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
3053 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3055 <para>Boolean.</para>
3060 <term>Parameter:</term>
3072 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
3073 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
3074 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
3075 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
3076 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
3077 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
3078 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
3079 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
3082 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
3083 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
3087 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
3088 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
3089 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
3095 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3098 <screen># Set default:
3100 {+prevent-compression}
3103 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
3105 {-prevent-compression}
3107 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
3116 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3117 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
3118 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
3122 <term>Typical use:</term>
3125 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
3131 <term>Effect:</term>
3134 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
3135 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
3142 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3144 <para>Boolean.</para>
3149 <term>Parameter:</term>
3161 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
3164 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3170 <term>Example usage:</term>
3173 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
3182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3183 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
3184 <title>send-wafer</title>
3188 <term>Typical use:</term>
3191 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
3197 <term>Effect:</term>
3200 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
3207 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3209 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3214 <term>Parameter:</term>
3217 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
3218 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
3227 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
3228 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
3231 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3236 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3239 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
3240 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
3248 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3249 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
3250 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
3254 <term>Typical use:</term>
3257 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
3263 <term>Effect:</term>
3266 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> server headers.
3267 Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
3274 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3276 <para>Boolean.</para>
3281 <term>Parameter:</term>
3293 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
3294 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
3295 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
3298 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
3299 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
3300 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
3301 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
3302 sites, and is the recommended setting.
3305 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
3306 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
3307 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
3308 will be plainly killed.
3311 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
3312 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
3318 <term>Example usage:</term>
3321 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
3329 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3330 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
3331 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
3335 <term>Typical use:</term>
3337 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
3342 <term>Effect:</term>
3345 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3346 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
3347 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
3348 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
3349 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
3350 sent as a replacement.
3357 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3359 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3364 <term>Parameter:</term>
3369 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
3370 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
3375 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
3376 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
3377 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
3378 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
3383 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
3384 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
3385 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
3388 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
3389 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
3390 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
3391 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
3392 it over and over again.
3403 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
3404 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
3405 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
3408 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
3409 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
3410 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
3416 <term>Example usage:</term>
3422 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
3425 Redirect to the BSD devil:
3428 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
3431 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
3434 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
3442 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3444 <title>Summary</title>
3446 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
3447 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
3448 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
3449 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
3450 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
3451 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
3457 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3458 <sect2 id="aliases">
3459 <title>Aliases</title>
3461 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
3462 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
3463 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
3464 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
3466 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
3467 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
3468 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
3469 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
3470 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
3474 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
3475 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
3476 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
3477 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
3481 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
3482 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
3483 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
3484 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
3485 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
3486 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
3487 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
3490 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
3491 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
3492 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
3493 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
3494 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
3496 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
3500 Now let's define some aliases...
3505 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
3507 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
3508 # must be at the top of the actions file!
3512 # These aliases just save typing later:
3513 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3515 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
3516 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
3517 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3518 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
3520 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3521 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3523 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
3524 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
3526 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
3528 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
3529 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
3533 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
3534 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
3535 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
3540 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
3541 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
3544 .office.microsoft.com
3545 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
3549 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
3553 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
3556 # These shops require pop-ups:
3558 {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
3560 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
3564 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
3565 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
3566 in order to function properly.
3570 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3571 <sect2 id="act-examples">
3572 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
3574 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
3575 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
3576 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
3577 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
3578 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
3579 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
3580 file and see how all these pieces come together:
3583 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
3586 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
3590 <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
3594 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
3595 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
3596 change or worry about:
3601 ##########################################################################
3602 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
3603 ##########################################################################
3606 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
3610 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
3611 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
3612 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
3617 ##########################################################################
3619 ##########################################################################
3622 # These aliases just save typing later:
3623 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3625 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
3626 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
3627 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3628 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
3630 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3631 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3633 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
3634 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
3638 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
3639 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
3640 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
3641 enable the ones we want.
3645 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
3646 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
3647 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
3648 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
3649 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
3650 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
3651 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
3656 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
3657 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
3658 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
3659 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
3660 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
3661 multiple lines with line continuation.
3666 ##########################################################################
3667 # "Defaults" section:
3668 ##########################################################################
3670 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
3671 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
3672 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
3673 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
3674 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
3675 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
3676 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
3677 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
3678 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
3679 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
3680 +<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> \
3681 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
3682 -<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
3683 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
3684 +<link linkend="FILTER-NIMDA">filter{nimda}</link> \
3685 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
3686 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
3687 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
3688 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
3689 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
3690 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
3691 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
3692 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
3693 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
3694 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
3695 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
3696 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
3697 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
3698 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
3699 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
3701 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
3705 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
3706 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
3707 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
3708 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
3709 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
3710 want to block in later sections.
3711 We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
3712 and use our defined aliases for that.
3716 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
3717 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
3718 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
3719 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
3720 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
3721 of actions explicitly:
3726 ##########################################################################
3727 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
3728 ##########################################################################
3730 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
3733 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
3734 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
3738 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
3739 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
3740 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
3749 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
3751 .scan.co.uk</screen>
3755 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
3756 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
3757 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
3758 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
3760 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
3761 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
3762 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
3763 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
3764 chosen in the defaults section:
3769 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
3771 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
3774 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
3778 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
3779 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
3780 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
3785 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
3789 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
3790 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
3791 .nytimes.com</screen>
3795 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
3796 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
3797 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
3798 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
3799 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
3800 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
3801 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
3802 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
3803 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
3809 ##########################################################################
3811 ##########################################################################
3813 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
3814 # blocked further down this file:
3816 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
3817 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
3821 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
3822 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
3823 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
3824 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
3825 <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
3826 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
3827 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
3828 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
3829 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3830 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
3831 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
3832 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
3837 # Known ad generators:
3842 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
3843 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
3844 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
3851 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
3852 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
3853 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
3854 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
3855 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
3856 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
3857 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
3858 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
3859 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
3862 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
3863 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
3864 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
3865 to keep the example short:
3870 ##########################################################################
3871 # Block these fine banners:
3872 ##########################################################################
3873 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
3881 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
3882 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
3884 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
3886 .hitbox.com</screen>
3890 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
3891 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
3892 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
3893 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
3896 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
3897 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
3898 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
3899 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
3900 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
3901 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
3905 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
3906 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
3907 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
3908 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
3909 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
3910 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
3911 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
3912 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
3913 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
3914 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
3919 ##########################################################################
3920 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
3921 ##########################################################################
3925 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
3926 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
3927 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
3928 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
3929 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
3930 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
3938 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
3939 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
3943 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
3944 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
3945 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
3946 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
3947 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
3952 # Don't filter code!
3954 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
3956 .sourceforge.net</screen>
3960 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
3961 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
3966 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
3969 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
3970 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
3971 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
3972 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
3973 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
3974 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
3975 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
3976 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
3977 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
3978 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
3979 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
3980 to install updated versions from time to time.
3984 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
3985 <filename>user.action</filename>:
3989 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
3993 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
3997 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
3998 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
3999 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
4004 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
4007 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
4008 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
4009 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4010 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
4011 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below)</screen>
4016 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
4017 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
4018 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
4019 <literal>mercy-for-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
4020 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and
4021 processing of cookies to make them temporary.
4026 { mercy-for-cookies }
4031 .redhat.com</screen>
4035 Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
4036 know which, so you disable them all:
4041 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> }
4042 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
4046 While browsing the web with <application>Privoxy</application> you
4047 noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to
4048 report them through our fine and easy <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>
4049 system, so you have added them here:
4054 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
4055 www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
4056 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
4060 Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
4061 extensions (most do),
4062 <literal>+<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link></literal>
4063 need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will
4064 already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of
4065 <filename>default.action</filename> by now.
4069 Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
4070 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
4071 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
4072 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
4073 -- whoa! -- it worked:
4079 .forbes.com</screen>
4083 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
4084 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
4085 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
4086 update-safe config, once and for all:
4091 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
4092 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
4096 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
4097 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
4098 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
4099 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
4100 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
4104 Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are
4105 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
4106 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
4107 sites that you feel provide value to you:
4119 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
4120 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4121 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>
4127 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4131 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4133 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4135 <sect1 id="filter-file">
4136 <title>The Filter File</title>
4139 All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
4140 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
4141 must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
4142 called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
4143 selected through the <literal>
4144 <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
4149 Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
4150 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
4151 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
4152 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
4153 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
4154 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
4158 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain
4159 text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
4160 MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if
4161 you want to <quote>roll your own</quote> filters, you should be
4162 familiar with HTML syntax.
4166 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
4167 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
4168 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
4169 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
4170 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
4171 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
4172 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
4173 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
4174 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
4175 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
4176 user interface</ulink>.
4180 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
4181 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
4182 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
4183 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
4187 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
4192 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
4196 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
4197 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
4198 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
4199 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
4200 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
4201 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.3.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
4202 for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
4203 option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
4204 to ungreedy matching.
4208 If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
4209 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
4210 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
4212 <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
4213 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
4214 url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
4215 expressions</ulink> in general.
4216 The below examples might also help to get you started.
4219 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4221 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
4223 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
4224 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
4225 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
4230 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
4234 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
4235 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
4236 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
4237 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
4241 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4245 Our complete filter now looks like this:
4248 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
4249 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4253 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
4254 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
4255 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
4261 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
4263 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
4265 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
4269 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
4270 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
4271 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
4272 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
4276 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
4277 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
4278 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
4279 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
4280 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
4284 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
4285 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
4286 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
4287 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
4288 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
4289 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
4290 in the page (and appear in that order).
4294 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
4295 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
4296 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
4297 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
4298 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
4302 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
4303 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
4304 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
4305 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
4306 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
4307 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
4308 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
4309 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
4310 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
4311 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
4312 substitution is global.
4316 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
4317 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
4318 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
4319 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
4320 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
4324 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
4325 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
4326 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
4327 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
4328 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
4329 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
4330 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
4331 Business!"</literal>.
4335 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
4336 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
4337 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
4338 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
4339 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
4340 information anymore.
4344 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
4345 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
4350 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
4352 s/window\.status\s*=\s*['"].*?['"]/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
4356 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
4357 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
4358 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
4359 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
4360 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
4361 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>.
4365 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
4366 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
4367 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
4368 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
4369 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
4370 you move your mouse over links.
4375 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
4377 s/(<body .*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
4382 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
4383 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
4384 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
4385 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
4386 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
4387 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
4392 The last example is from the fun department:
4397 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
4399 # Spice the daily news:
4401 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
4405 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
4406 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
4407 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
4408 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
4409 still replacing the word everywhere else.
4414 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
4416 s* industry[ -]leading \
4418 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
4419 | high[ -]performance \
4420 | solutions[ -]based \
4424 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
4429 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
4430 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
4439 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4443 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4445 <sect1 id="templates">
4446 <title>Templates</title>
4448 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
4449 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
4450 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
4451 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4453 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
4454 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
4455 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
4460 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
4461 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
4463 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
4467 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
4468 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
4469 edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
4470 (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
4471 just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
4472 ignored when the templates are filled in.
4476 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
4477 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
4478 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
4479 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
4480 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
4484 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
4485 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
4486 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
4487 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
4488 in in an alpha or beta development stage:
4493 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
4495 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
4497 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
4501 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
4502 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
4503 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
4507 <screen><!-- --></screen>
4511 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
4512 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
4517 All templates refer to a style located at
4518 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
4519 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
4520 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
4521 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
4526 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4530 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4532 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
4535 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
4537 <!-- end boilerplate -->
4541 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4544 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4545 <sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
4547 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
4549 <!-- end copyright -->
4551 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4552 <sect2><title>License</title>
4553 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
4555 <!-- end copyright -->
4557 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4560 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4562 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
4563 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
4565 <!-- end history -->
4568 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
4569 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
4571 <!-- end authors -->
4576 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4579 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4580 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
4581 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
4583 <!-- end seealso -->
4588 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4589 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
4592 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4594 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
4596 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
4597 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
4598 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
4599 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
4600 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
4604 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
4605 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
4606 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
4607 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
4611 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
4612 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
4613 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
4614 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
4615 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
4616 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
4617 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
4618 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
4622 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
4623 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
4624 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
4625 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
4626 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
4627 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
4628 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
4629 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
4633 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
4634 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
4635 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
4636 and then some examples:
4641 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
4642 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
4644 </simplelist></para>
4648 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
4651 </simplelist></para>
4655 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
4658 </simplelist></para>
4662 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
4665 </simplelist></para>
4669 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
4670 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
4671 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
4672 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
4673 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
4674 meta-character meaning of any single character).
4676 </simplelist></para>
4680 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
4681 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
4682 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
4683 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
4685 </simplelist></para>
4689 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
4690 or multiple sub-expressions.
4692 </simplelist></para>
4696 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
4697 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
4698 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
4699 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
4700 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
4701 example</quote>, and nothing else.
4703 </simplelist></para>
4706 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
4707 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
4708 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
4709 be more illuminating:
4713 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
4714 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
4715 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
4716 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
4717 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
4718 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
4719 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
4720 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
4721 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
4722 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
4723 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
4724 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
4725 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
4726 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
4731 A now something a little more complex:
4735 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
4736 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
4737 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
4738 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
4739 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
4740 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
4741 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
4746 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
4747 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
4748 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
4749 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
4750 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
4751 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
4752 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
4753 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
4754 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
4755 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
4756 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
4757 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
4758 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
4759 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
4760 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
4761 changing our regular expression to:
4762 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
4767 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
4768 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
4769 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
4770 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
4771 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
4772 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
4773 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
4774 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
4775 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
4776 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
4777 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
4778 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
4779 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
4780 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
4781 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
4782 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
4783 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
4784 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
4785 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
4786 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
4787 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
4788 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
4789 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
4790 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
4791 in the expression anywhere).
4795 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
4796 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
4797 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
4798 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
4799 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
4804 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
4805 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
4809 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
4810 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
4815 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4818 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4820 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
4823 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
4824 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
4825 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
4826 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
4827 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
4828 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
4829 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
4835 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
4836 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
4837 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
4838 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
4851 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
4855 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
4856 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
4857 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
4863 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
4864 editing of actions files:
4868 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
4875 Show the source code version numbers:
4879 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
4886 Show the browser's request headers:
4890 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
4897 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
4901 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
4908 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
4909 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
4913 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
4917 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
4921 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
4926 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
4935 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
4939 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
4940 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
4942 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
4943 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
4944 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
4945 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
4946 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
4947 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
4950 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
4951 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
4952 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
4953 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
4954 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
4955 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
4964 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>
4971 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>
4978 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)
4985 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>
4991 <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>
4996 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
5003 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
5004 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
5005 have more information about bookmarklets.
5014 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5016 <title>Chain of Events</title>
5018 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
5019 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
5026 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
5027 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
5028 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
5034 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
5035 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
5040 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
5042 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
5043 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
5044 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
5045 is then checked and if it does not match, an
5046 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
5047 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
5048 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
5049 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
5054 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
5055 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
5060 If the URL pattern matches the <link
5061 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
5062 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
5067 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
5068 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
5069 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
5070 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
5076 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
5082 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
5083 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
5084 filtered as deterimined by the
5085 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
5086 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
5087 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
5093 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
5094 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
5095 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
5100 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5102 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5103 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
5104 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
5105 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
5106 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
5107 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
5108 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
5109 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
5110 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
5113 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5115 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5116 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
5117 to the client browser as it becomes available.
5122 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
5123 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
5124 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
5125 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
5126 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
5127 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
5137 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5138 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
5139 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
5142 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
5143 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
5144 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
5145 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
5146 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
5147 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
5148 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
5149 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
5150 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
5155 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
5156 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
5157 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
5158 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
5159 logs is a good idea too.
5163 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
5164 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5165 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
5166 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
5170 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
5171 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
5172 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
5173 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
5174 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
5175 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
5176 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
5177 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
5178 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
5179 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
5180 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
5181 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
5182 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
5187 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
5188 and look at it one section at a time:
5193 Matches for http://google.com:
5195 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5199 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5200 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5201 +deanimate-gifs{last}
5202 -downgrade-http-version
5206 -filter{shockwave-flash}
5207 -filter{crude-parental}
5208 +filter{html-annoyances}
5209 +filter{js-annoyances}
5210 +filter{content-cookies}
5212 +filter{refresh-tags}
5214 +filter{banners-by-size}
5215 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5216 +hide-from-header{block}
5217 +hide-referer{forge}
5222 +prevent-compression
5225 +session-cookies-only
5226 +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
5229 { -session-cookies-only }
5235 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5236 (no matches in this file)
5241 This tells us how we have defined our
5242 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
5243 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
5244 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
5245 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
5246 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
5247 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
5248 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
5249 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
5250 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
5251 -- <quote>/</quote>.
5255 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
5256 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
5257 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
5258 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
5260 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
5261 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
5262 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
5264 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
5265 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
5266 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
5267 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
5268 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
5269 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
5270 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
5275 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
5279 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
5280 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
5281 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
5292 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5293 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5294 +deanimate-gifs{last}
5295 -downgrade-http-version
5299 -filter{shockwave-flash}
5300 -filter{crude-parental}
5301 +filter{html-annoyances}
5302 +filter{js-annoyances}
5303 +filter{content-cookies}
5305 +filter{refresh-tags}
5307 +filter{banners-by-size}
5308 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5309 +hide-from-header{block}
5310 +hide-referer{forge}
5315 +prevent-compression
5318 -session-cookies-only
5319 +set-image-blocker{pattern}
5324 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
5325 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
5329 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
5335 { +block +handle-as-image }
5338 { +block +handle-as-image }
5341 { +block +handle-as-image }
5347 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
5348 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
5349 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
5350 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
5351 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
5352 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
5357 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
5358 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
5359 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
5360 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
5361 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
5362 is done here -- as both a <link
5363 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
5364 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
5366 linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
5367 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
5372 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
5373 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
5379 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
5381 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5385 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5386 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5388 -downgrade-http-version
5390 +filter{html-annoyances}
5391 +filter{js-annoyances}
5392 +filter{kill-popups}
5395 +filter{banners-by-size}
5398 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5399 +hide-from-header{block}
5400 +hide-referer{forge}
5404 +prevent-compression
5407 +session-cookies-only
5408 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
5411 { +block +handle-as-image }
5417 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
5418 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
5419 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
5420 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
5421 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
5433 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
5434 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
5438 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
5445 { +block +handle-as-image }
5451 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
5452 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
5453 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
5454 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
5455 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. These
5456 tend to be harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of
5457 aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
5465 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5473 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
5474 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
5475 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
5488 This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
5489 appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
5494 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
5495 <quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote> rule, which assumes
5496 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well most of the time
5497 since these tend to be standardized).
5501 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
5502 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
5503 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
5504 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
5513 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
5514 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
5515 Public License as published by the Free Software
5516 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
5517 your option) any later version.
5519 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
5520 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
5521 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
5522 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
5523 License for more details.
5525 The GNU General Public License should be included with
5526 this file. If not, you can view it at
5527 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
5528 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
5529 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
5531 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
5532 Revision 1.126 2002/06/05 00:31:55 hal9
5533 Mass commit for new entities, most significantly so docs can read version
5534 and code status info from tmp files, so perl is no longer used. Also, docs can
5535 differentiate on alpha -> beta -> stable now.
5537 Revision 1.125 2002/06/03 00:28:17 hal9
5538 Sync with various changes from 3.0 branch. Add two new files for config stuff.
5540 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
5541 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
5542 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
5543 so that these are in sync with each other.
5545 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
5546 Ooops missed something from David.
5548 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
5549 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
5550 That's a wrap, I think.
5552 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
5553 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
5555 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
5556 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
5558 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
5559 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
5560 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
5562 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
5563 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
5565 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
5566 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
5567 <literal><link> style.
5568 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
5569 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
5570 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
5571 renders them red (bad in TOC).
5573 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
5574 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
5576 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
5579 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
5580 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
5581 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
5583 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
5584 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
5585 - Small changes to Regex appendix
5586 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
5588 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
5589 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
5591 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
5592 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
5594 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
5595 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
5597 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
5598 Extended and further commented the example actions files
5600 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
5601 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
5604 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
5607 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
5608 Restored alphabetical order of actions
5610 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
5611 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
5613 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
5614 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
5616 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
5617 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
5618 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
5620 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
5621 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
5622 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
5623 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
5625 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
5626 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
5628 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
5631 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
5632 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
5633 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
5635 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
5636 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
5638 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
5639 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
5640 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
5642 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
5643 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
5645 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
5646 more structure in starting section
5648 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
5649 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
5650 will probably break links elsewhere :(
5652 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
5653 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
5654 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
5656 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
5657 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
5658 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
5660 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
5661 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
5663 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
5664 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
5665 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
5667 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
5668 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
5669 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
5671 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
5672 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
5674 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
5675 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
5677 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
5678 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
5680 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
5681 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
5683 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
5684 Updated OSX installation section
5685 Added a few English tweaks here an there
5687 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
5688 Re-write actions section.
5690 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
5691 Fix ugly typo (mine).
5693 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
5694 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
5696 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
5697 Added RPM install detail
5699 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
5702 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
5703 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
5705 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
5706 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
5708 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
5709 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
5711 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
5714 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
5715 Proofreading, part one
5717 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
5718 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
5719 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
5721 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
5722 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
5724 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
5725 Add small section on submitting actions.
5727 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
5730 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
5731 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
5733 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
5734 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
5736 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
5739 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
5740 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
5741 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
5742 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
5743 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
5745 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
5746 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
5748 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
5749 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
5751 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
5752 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
5753 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
5754 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
5755 eventually be set by Makefile.
5756 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
5758 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
5759 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
5761 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
5762 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
5764 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
5765 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
5767 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
5768 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
5769 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
5770 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
5772 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
5775 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
5776 Added more to Anatomy section.
5778 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
5779 Touch up intro for new name.
5781 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
5782 we have a new homepage!
5784 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
5785 A few minor catch ups with name change.
5787 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
5788 configure needs to be generated.
5790 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
5791 we are too lazy to make a block-built
5792 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
5794 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
5795 name change related issue.
5797 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
5798 name change. changed filenames.
5800 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
5803 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
5804 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
5805 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
5806 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
5807 comments and remarks to history untouched.
5809 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
5812 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
5813 New section in Appendix.
5815 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
5816 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
5818 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
5819 correct feedback channels
5821 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
5822 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
5824 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
5827 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
5828 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
5830 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
5831 Added imageblock{pattern}.
5833 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
5836 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
5837 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
5839 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
5840 provide correct feedback channels
5842 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
5843 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
5845 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
5846 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
5848 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
5849 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
5851 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
5852 Add new - - user option.
5854 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
5855 Added section on command line options.
5857 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
5858 Changed default port to 8118
5860 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
5861 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
5863 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
5864 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
5865 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
5868 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
5871 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
5872 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
5874 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
5875 Update OS/2 build section
5877 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
5878 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
5879 will work - no other changes are needed.
5881 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
5882 Added a very short section on Templates
5884 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
5885 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
5887 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
5888 Touch ups for *.action files.
5890 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
5893 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
5894 Updates for recent changes.
5896 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
5897 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
5899 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
5900 Correct 2 minor errors
5902 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
5903 *** empty log message ***
5905 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
5906 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
5908 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
5909 wrong url in documentation
5911 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
5912 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
5914 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
5917 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
5920 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
5923 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
5924 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
5926 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
5927 Some additions, and re-arranging.
5929 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
5932 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
5933 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
5935 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
5938 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
5939 source files for junkbuster documentation
5941 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
5942 first proposal of a structure.
5944 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
5945 docs should have an author.
5947 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
5948 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob