1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
4 <!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity p-version "2.9.14">
12 <!entity p-status "beta">
13 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
14 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
15 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
16 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
17 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
18 <!entity % p-config "IGNORE">
19 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
22 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
25 This file belongs into
26 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
28 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes Exp $
30 Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 the SourceForge
31 Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
33 Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
34 by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
35 Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
38 ========================================================================
39 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
40 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
41 ========================================================================
47 <title>Privoxy User Manual</title>
49 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes Exp $</pubdate>
54 <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
63 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
64 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
65 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
71 The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
73 url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
76 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
78 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
81 You can find the latest version of the user manual at <ulink
82 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
83 Please see the <ulink url="contact.html">Contact section</ulink> on how to
84 contact the developers.
88 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
94 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
95 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
97 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
98 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
99 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
100 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
101 configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
102 completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over
103 earlier versions. The target release date for
104 stable v3.0 is <quote>soon</quote> ;-)]]>.
107 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
110 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
111 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
112 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
117 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
118 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
120 In addition to <application>Internet Junkbuster's</application> traditional
121 features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
122 <application>Privoxy</application> provides new features<![%p-not-stable;[,
123 some of them currently under development]]>:
125 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
127 <!-- end boilerplate -->
132 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
136 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
139 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
140 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
141 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
142 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
147 Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
148 <application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
149 will need to remove it. Some platforms do this for you as part
150 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform).
151 In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration
152 if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the
153 <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section
157 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
158 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
160 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
163 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
164 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and SuSE RPMs</title>
167 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
168 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
169 of configuration files.
173 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
174 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
175 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
176 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
177 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
181 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
182 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm;</literal>. This
183 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
187 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
188 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
189 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
190 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
194 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
195 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
202 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
205 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
206 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
207 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
208 use the registry of Windows.
212 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
213 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
216 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
217 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
226 First, make sure that no previous installations of
227 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
228 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
229 system. You can do this by
233 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
234 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
235 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
236 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
240 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
241 into will contain all of the configuration files.
245 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
246 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
248 Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
249 in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
250 double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
252 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
253 <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
254 <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
255 automatically on system bring-up via
256 <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
260 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
261 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
263 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
264 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
265 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
266 remove this directory.
269 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
270 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
271 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
272 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
273 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
274 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
275 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
280 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
281 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
284 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
285 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
290 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
291 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
292 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
293 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
294 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
298 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
300 <!-- end boilerplate -->
308 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
310 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
311 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
312 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
314 There are very significant changes from earlier
315 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
316 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
317 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
318 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
319 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
320 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
321 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
322 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
323 are now combined into the <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions
324 files</quote></ulink>.
325 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
326 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
329 A <ulink url="filter-file.html"><quote>filter file</quote></ulink> (typically
330 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
331 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
332 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
335 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
336 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
337 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
338 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
339 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
340 recommended to use the new configuration files.
343 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
351 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
357 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
358 important configuration files!
363 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
364 at the special URL: <ulink
365 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
366 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
367 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
368 <application>Privoxy</application>.
373 The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner
374 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
375 configuration is in the <ulink url="actions-file.html">actions
376 files</ulink>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
377 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
378 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
383 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
384 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
385 Some installers may not automatically start
386 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
394 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
395 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
401 If upgrading, please back up any configuration files. See
402 the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
407 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
408 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> for platform specific
415 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
416 not done this already. See the section <link linkend="startup">Starting
417 <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
423 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and HTTPS
424 proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
425 <literal>localhost</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
426 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
427 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
428 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
434 Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images.
440 Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. You may want to customize the
441 <link linkend="actions-file"><filename>user.action</filename></link> file to
442 personalize your new browsing experience. See the <link
443 linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more configuration
444 options, and how to further customize your installation.
450 If you experience problems with sites that <quote>misbehave</quote>, see
451 the <link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an Action</link> section in the
458 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
459 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
469 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
471 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
473 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
474 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
475 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
476 localhost for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions used port
477 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
481 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
482 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under <literal>Edit
483 -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy</literal>.
484 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>: <literal>Tools ->
485 Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting</literal>. Then,
486 check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info (Address:
487 localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too.
491 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
492 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
493 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
494 <application>Privoxy</application>!
498 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
499 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
500 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
501 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
502 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
505 <sect2 id="start-redhatdebian">
506 <title>RedHat and Debian</title>
508 We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
509 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its
510 main configuration file. FIXME: Debian??
514 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
519 <sect2 id="start-suse">
522 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
523 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
533 <sect2 id="start-windows">
534 <title>Windows</title>
536 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
537 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
538 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
539 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
543 <sect2 id="start-unices">
544 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
546 Example Unix startup command:
550 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
555 <sect2 id="start-os2">
562 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
563 <title>MAX OSX</title>
570 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
571 <title>AmigaOS</title>
580 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
584 must find a better place for this paragraph
587 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
588 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
589 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
590 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
591 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
592 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
596 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
597 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
598 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
599 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
600 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
601 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
602 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
603 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
604 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
608 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
609 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
610 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
612 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
613 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
614 popups (explained below).
618 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
619 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
620 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
621 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
622 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
623 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
624 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
625 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
626 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
630 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
631 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
632 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
633 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
634 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
635 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
636 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
637 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
638 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
642 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
643 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
644 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
645 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
646 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
647 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
648 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
652 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
653 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
654 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
655 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
656 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
657 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
662 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
663 url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
664 or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
669 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
670 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
671 section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
672 Developers</quote></ulink> below.
677 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
678 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
679 <title>Command Line Options</title>
681 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
682 command-line options:
690 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
693 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
698 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
701 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
706 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
709 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
710 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
715 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
719 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
720 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
721 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
722 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
727 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
731 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
732 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
733 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
738 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
741 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
742 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
743 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
744 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
745 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
746 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
757 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
760 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
761 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
763 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
764 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
765 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
766 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
770 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
773 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
775 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
776 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
777 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
778 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
779 You will see the following section:
783 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
786 <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
790 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
793 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
796 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
799 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
802 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
810 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
811 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
812 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
813 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
814 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
815 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
819 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
820 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
821 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
822 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
823 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
824 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
825 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
826 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
832 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
837 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
839 <sect2 id="confoverview">
840 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
842 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
843 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
844 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
845 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
846 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
847 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
851 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
852 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
853 principle configuration files are:
861 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
862 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
863 on Windows. This is a required file.
869 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
870 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
871 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
872 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
873 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
874 as many websites as possible.
877 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
878 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
879 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
880 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most propably want
881 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
882 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
883 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
884 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
887 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
889 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
891 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
892 various actions files.
898 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
899 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
900 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
901 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
902 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
910 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
911 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
912 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
913 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
914 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
915 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
920 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
921 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
926 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
927 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
928 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
929 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
930 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
931 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
932 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
937 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
938 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
939 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
940 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
946 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
949 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
952 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
955 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
956 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
957 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
958 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
966 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
972 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
973 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
974 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
978 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
979 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
980 for what happens if you leave them unset.
984 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
985 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
986 where you may be surfing).
990 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
992 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
993 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
996 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
997 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
998 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
999 where to find those other files.
1003 The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all
1004 configuration files, and write permission to any files that would
1005 be modified, such as log files.
1008 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
1012 <term>Specifies:</term>
1014 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
1018 <term>Type of value:</term>
1020 <para>Path name</para>
1024 <term>Default value:</term>
1026 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1030 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1032 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1039 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1042 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
1043 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
1044 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
1045 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
1046 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
1054 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
1058 <term>Specifies:</term>
1061 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
1062 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
1067 <term>Type of value:</term>
1069 <para>Path name</para>
1073 <term>Default value:</term>
1075 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1079 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1081 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1088 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1095 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
1098 <anchor id="default.action">
1099 <anchor id="standard.action">
1100 <anchor id="user.action">
1101 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
1104 <term>Specifies:</term>
1107 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
1112 <term>Type of value:</term>
1114 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
1118 <term>Default value:</term>
1122 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
1125 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
1128 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
1134 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1137 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
1145 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
1148 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
1149 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
1150 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
1151 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
1154 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
1155 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
1156 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
1157 least one actions file.
1164 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
1165 <anchor id="default.filter">
1168 <term>Specifies:</term>
1171 The <link linkend="filter">filter</link> file to use
1176 <term>Type of value:</term>
1178 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1182 <term>Default value:</term>
1184 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
1188 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1191 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
1192 <literal>+filter{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
1193 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
1201 The <quote>default.filter</quote> file contains content modification rules
1202 that use <quote>regular expressions</quote>. These rules permit powerful
1203 changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
1204 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
1205 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
1206 it appears on a Web page.
1213 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
1217 <term>Specifies:</term>
1225 <term>Type of value:</term>
1227 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1231 <term>Default value:</term>
1233 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
1237 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1240 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>stderr</literal>).
1248 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
1251 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
1252 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
1253 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
1254 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
1255 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
1258 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
1259 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
1260 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
1261 script has been included.
1264 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
1265 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
1266 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
1267 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
1270 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
1271 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
1278 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
1282 <term>Specifies:</term>
1285 The file to store intercepted cookies in
1290 <term>Type of value:</term>
1292 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1296 <term>Default value:</term>
1298 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
1302 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1305 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
1313 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
1320 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
1323 <term>Specifies:</term>
1326 The trust file to use
1331 <term>Type of value:</term>
1333 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1337 <term>Default value:</term>
1339 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
1343 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1346 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
1354 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
1355 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
1358 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
1359 access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
1360 You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
1361 the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
1362 trusted referrer was used.
1363 The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
1364 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
1367 If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
1375 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1379 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1381 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
1382 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
1385 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
1386 that just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
1387 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies etc.
1390 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
1393 <term>Specifies:</term>
1396 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
1401 <term>Type of value:</term>
1403 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
1407 <term>Default value:</term>
1409 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1413 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1416 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
1417 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
1425 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
1426 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you propably want
1427 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
1428 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
1434 Unix, in local filesystem:
1437 <screen>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
1440 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
1443 <screen>user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
1447 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config file</emphasis>, because
1448 it is used while the config file is being read.
1456 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
1460 <term>Specifies:</term>
1463 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
1468 <term>Type of value:</term>
1474 <term>Default value:</term>
1476 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
1480 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1483 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
1491 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
1492 activated. (See <literal>trustfile</literal> above.)
1495 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
1496 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
1497 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
1500 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
1501 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
1508 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
1512 <term>Specifies:</term>
1515 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
1520 <term>Type of value:</term>
1522 <para>Email address</para>
1526 <term>Default value:</term>
1528 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1532 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1535 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1543 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1544 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1552 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
1556 <term>Specifies:</term>
1559 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
1560 configuration or policies.
1565 <term>Type of value:</term>
1571 <term>Default value:</term>
1573 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1577 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1580 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1588 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1589 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1593 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
1601 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1603 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1605 <sect2 id="debugging">
1606 <title>Debugging</title>
1609 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
1610 Note that you might also want to invoke
1611 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
1612 command line option when debugging.
1615 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
1619 <term>Specifies:</term>
1622 Key values that determine what information gets logged.
1627 <term>Type of value:</term>
1629 <para>Integer values</para>
1633 <term>Default value:</term>
1635 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
1639 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1642 Nothing gets logged.
1650 The available debug levels are:
1654 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
1655 debug 2 # show each connection status
1656 debug 4 # show I/O status
1657 debug 8 # show header parsing
1658 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
1659 debug 32 # debug force feature
1660 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
1661 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
1662 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
1663 debug 512 # Common Log Format
1664 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
1665 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
1666 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
1670 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
1671 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
1674 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
1675 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
1676 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
1677 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
1678 a hell of an output (especially 16).
1682 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
1683 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
1686 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
1687 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
1694 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1698 <term>Specifies:</term>
1701 Whether to run only one server thread
1706 <term>Type of value:</term>
1708 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1712 <term>Default value:</term>
1714 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1718 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1721 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1722 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1730 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1731 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1740 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1742 <sect2 id="access-control">
1743 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1746 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1747 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1750 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1754 <term>Specifies:</term>
1757 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1758 listen for client requests.
1763 <term>Type of value:</term>
1765 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1770 <term>Default value:</term>
1772 <para>localhost:8118</para>
1776 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1779 Bind to localhost (127.0.0.1), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1780 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1789 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1792 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1793 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1794 will need to override the default.
1797 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1798 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1799 from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's)
1800 (see <quote>ACLs</quote> below), or a firewall.
1805 <term>Example:</term>
1808 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1809 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1810 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1811 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1815 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1823 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1827 <term>Specifies:</term>
1830 Initial state of "toggle" status
1835 <term>Type of value:</term>
1841 <term>Default value:</term>
1847 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1850 Act as if toggled on
1858 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1859 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1860 proxy. See <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal>
1861 below. This is not really useful anymore, since toggling is much easier
1862 via <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web
1863 interface</ulink> than via editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1866 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1867 if this option is present.
1875 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1878 <term>Specifies:</term>
1881 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1882 feature</ulink> may be used
1887 <term>Type of value:</term>
1893 <term>Default value:</term>
1899 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1902 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1910 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1911 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1915 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1916 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1917 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1918 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1919 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1920 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1923 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1924 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1932 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1935 <term>Specifies:</term>
1938 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1939 file editor</ulink> may be used
1944 <term>Type of value:</term>
1950 <term>Default value:</term>
1956 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1959 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1967 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1968 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1969 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1970 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1971 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1972 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1975 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1976 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1983 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
1984 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
1985 <anchor id="permit-acces">
1986 <anchor id="deny-acces">
1990 <term>Specifies:</term>
1993 Who can access what.
1998 <term>Type of value:</term>
2001 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
2002 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
2005 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
2006 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
2007 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
2008 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
2009 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
2010 destination part are optional.
2015 <term>Default value:</term>
2017 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2021 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2024 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
2032 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
2033 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
2034 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
2035 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost or internal (home)
2036 network address by means of the <literal>listen-address</literal> option.
2039 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
2040 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
2044 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
2045 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
2046 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
2047 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
2048 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
2051 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
2052 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
2053 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
2054 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
2055 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
2056 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
2059 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
2060 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
2061 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
2062 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
2065 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
2066 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
2071 <term>Examples:</term>
2074 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
2075 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
2076 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
2077 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
2081 permit-access localhost
2085 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
2086 nothing but www.example.com:
2090 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
2094 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
2095 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
2099 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
2100 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
2108 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
2112 <term>Specifies:</term>
2115 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
2120 <term>Type of value:</term>
2122 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
2126 <term>Default value:</term>
2132 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2135 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
2143 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
2144 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
2145 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
2146 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
2147 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
2151 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
2152 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
2153 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
2154 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
2155 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
2165 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2168 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2170 <sect2 id="forwarding">
2171 <title>Forwarding</title>
2174 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
2176 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
2177 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
2178 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
2179 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
2180 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
2181 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
2182 runs on has no direct Internet access.
2186 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
2187 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
2190 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
2193 <term>Specifies:</term>
2196 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
2201 <term>Type of value:</term>
2204 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2205 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2208 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2209 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2210 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is the address of the parent HTTP proxy
2211 as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or <quote>.</quote> to denote
2212 <quote>no forwarding</quote>, and the optional
2213 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer
2214 values from 1 to 64535
2219 <term>Default value:</term>
2221 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2225 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2228 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
2236 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2237 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
2240 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2245 <term>Examples:</term>
2248 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
2252 forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
2257 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
2258 to that ISP's sites:
2262 forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
2263 forward .example-isp.net .
2271 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
2272 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
2273 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
2274 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
2278 <term>Specifies:</term>
2281 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
2286 <term>Type of value:</term>
2289 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2290 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2291 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2294 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2295 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2296 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
2297 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
2298 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
2299 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
2304 <term>Default value:</term>
2306 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2310 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2313 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
2321 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2324 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
2325 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
2326 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
2329 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2330 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
2336 <term>Examples:</term>
2339 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
2340 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
2341 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
2346 forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
2347 forward .example.com .
2351 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
2355 forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
2363 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
2366 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
2367 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
2368 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
2369 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
2373 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
2374 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
2375 configuration can look like this:
2385 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
2396 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
2401 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
2402 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
2403 of both isp-a and isp-b.
2407 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
2408 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
2409 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
2413 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
2414 run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this:
2419 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
2420 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
2422 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
2425 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
2426 always_direct allow ftp
2428 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
2429 never_direct allow all</screen>
2433 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
2434 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
2441 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2444 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2446 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
2447 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
2449 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
2450 Windows GUI interface:
2453 <anchor id="activity-animation">
2455 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
2456 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
2457 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
2464 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
2470 <anchor id="log-messages">
2472 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2473 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
2481 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
2487 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
2489 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
2490 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
2491 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
2495 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
2496 eat up all your memory!
2503 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
2509 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
2511 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
2512 in the log buffer. See above.
2519 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
2525 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
2527 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2528 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
2529 messages with a bold-faced font:
2536 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
2542 <anchor id="log-font-name">
2544 The font used in the console window:
2551 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
2557 <anchor id="log-font-size">
2559 Font size used in the console window:
2566 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
2572 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
2574 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
2575 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
2583 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
2589 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
2591 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
2592 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
2593 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
2600 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2606 <anchor id="hide-console">
2608 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2609 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2610 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2618 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2627 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2631 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2633 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2636 The actions files are used to define what actions
2637 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
2638 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2639 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
2640 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
2641 version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
2648 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
2649 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
2650 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
2651 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
2652 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
2658 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
2659 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
2660 provide a base level of functionality for
2661 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
2662 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
2663 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
2669 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2670 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2671 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2672 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2679 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2680 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
2681 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
2682 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2686 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2687 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2688 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2689 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2690 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2691 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2692 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2693 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2694 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2695 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2696 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2697 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2701 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2702 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2703 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2704 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2705 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2709 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2711 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2713 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2714 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2715 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2716 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
2717 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2718 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2719 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
2720 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2721 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
2722 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2726 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2727 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2728 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2729 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2733 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2735 <title>How to Edit</title>
2737 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2738 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2739 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2740 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
2741 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
2742 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
2746 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2747 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
2754 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
2756 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2757 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will be discussed later. For now
2758 let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split
2759 up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions,
2760 separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there
2761 is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
2765 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2766 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
2767 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
2768 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
2769 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
2770 the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the
2771 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
2772 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> actions).
2777 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
2778 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2782 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2783 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
2787 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2789 <title>Patterns</title>
2791 Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
2792 where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
2793 are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
2798 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2801 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2802 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
2807 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2810 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2816 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2819 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2820 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2825 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
2828 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2829 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
2834 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2837 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2838 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
2845 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2846 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2849 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2850 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2856 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2859 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
2860 <literal>.example.com</literal>
2865 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2868 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2869 <literal>www.</literal>
2874 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2877 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
2878 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
2885 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2886 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
2887 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
2888 any single character, you can define character classes in square
2889 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
2894 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2897 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2898 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2903 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2906 matches all of the above, and then some.
2911 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2914 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2915 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2920 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2923 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2924 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2925 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2926 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2934 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2937 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2938 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2941 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
2942 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2947 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2948 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2949 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2950 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2951 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2952 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
2956 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2957 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2958 for the beginning of a line).
2962 Please also note that matching in the path is case
2963 <emphasis>INSENSITIVE</emphasis> by default, but you can switch to case
2964 sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2965 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch:
2966 <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match only
2967 documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2968 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2974 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2977 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2979 <sect2 id="actions">
2980 <title>Actions</title>
2982 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2983 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2984 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2985 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2986 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2987 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2988 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2989 previously applied.</quote>
2994 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2995 separated by whitespace, like in
2996 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2997 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2998 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2999 of the actions file.
3003 There are three classes of actions:
3010 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
3011 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
3015 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
3016 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
3019 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
3026 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
3031 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
3032 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
3033 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
3036 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
3037 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
3040 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
3046 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
3047 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
3048 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3049 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3050 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3051 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3055 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3056 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3057 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3058 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3061 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3062 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3070 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3071 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3072 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
3073 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3074 files will give a good starting point).
3078 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
3079 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3080 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
3081 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
3082 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
3083 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
3084 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
3085 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
3088 <!-- start actions listing -->
3090 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3094 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3095 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3096 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3098 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3101 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3103 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3104 <title><emphasis>+add-header</emphasis></title>
3109 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3111 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3116 <term>Purpose and typical uses:</term>
3119 Send a user defined HTTP header to the web server. Can be used to confuse log analysis.
3125 <term>Possible values:</term>
3128 Any value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3129 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3136 <term>Example usage:</term>
3139 <emphasis>{+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}}</emphasis>
3140 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis></literallayout>
3148 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3149 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3150 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3159 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3160 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3161 <title><emphasis>+block</emphasis></title>
3166 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3168 <para>Boolean.</para>
3173 <term>Purpose and typical uses:</term>
3176 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
3177 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
3178 as determined by the <link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> and
3179 <link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link> actions.
3180 It is typically used to block ads or other obnoxious content.
3186 <term>Possible values:</term>
3193 <term>Example usage:</term>
3196 <emphasis>{+block}</emphasis>
3197 <emphasis>.banners.example.com</emphasis>
3198 <emphasis>.ads.r.us</emphasis>
3207 If a URL matches one of the blocked patterns, <application>Privoxy</application>
3208 will intercept the URL and display its special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3209 instead. If there is sufficient space, a large red banner will appear with
3210 a friendly message about why the page was blocked, and a way to go there
3211 anyway. If there is insufficient space a smaller <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
3212 page will appear without the red banner.
3213 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Click here</ulink>
3214 to view the default blocked HTML page (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running
3215 for this to work as intended!).
3219 A very important exception is if the URL <emphasis>matches both</emphasis>
3220 <quote>+block</quote> and <ulink
3221 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
3222 then it will be handled by
3223 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
3224 (see below). It is important to understand this process, in order
3225 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> is able to deal with
3226 ads and other objectionable content.
3229 The <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
3230 action can also perform some of the
3231 same functionality as <quote>+block</quote>, but by virtue of very
3232 different programming techniques, and is most often used for different
3242 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3243 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3244 <title><emphasis>+deanimate-gifs</emphasis></title>
3249 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3251 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3256 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3259 To stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
3265 <term>Possible values:</term>
3268 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3274 <term>Example usage:</term>
3277 <emphasis>{+deanimate-gifs{last}}</emphasis>
3278 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3287 De-animate all animated GIF images, i.e. reduce them to their last frame.
3288 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3289 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3290 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3291 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3292 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3293 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3301 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3302 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3303 <title><emphasis>+downgrade-http-version</emphasis></title>
3308 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3310 <para>Boolean.</para>
3315 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3318 <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to
3319 HTTP/1.0 and downgrade the responses as well.
3325 <term>Possible values:</term>
3334 <term>Example usage:</term>
3337 <emphasis>{+downgrade-http-version}</emphasis>
3338 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3347 Use this action for servers that use HTTP/1.1 protocol features that
3348 <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 is
3349 only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. This is
3350 an infrequently needed action, and is used to help with rare problem sites only.
3358 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3359 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3360 <title><emphasis>+fast-redirects</emphasis></title>
3365 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3367 <para>Boolean.</para>
3372 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3375 The <quote>+fast-redirects</quote> action enables interception of
3376 <quote>redirect</quote> requests from one server to another, which
3377 are used to track users.<application>Privoxy</application> can cut off
3378 all but the last valid URL in a redirect request and send a local redirect
3379 back to your browser without contacting the intermediate site(s).
3385 <term>Possible values:</term>
3394 <term>Example usage:</term>
3397 <emphasis>{+fast-redirects}</emphasis>
3398 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3407 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3408 will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a
3409 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3410 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3411 <emphasis>http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else</emphasis>.
3414 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3415 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3416 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3417 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3418 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3422 This is a normally <quote>on</quote> feature, and often requires exceptions
3423 for sites that are sensitive to defeating this mechanism.
3432 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3433 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3434 <title><emphasis>+filter</emphasis></title>
3439 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3441 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3446 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3449 Apply page filtering as defined by named sections of the
3450 <filename>default.filter</filename> file to the specified site(s).
3451 <quote>Filtering</quote> can be any modification of the raw
3452 page content, including re-writing or deletion of content.
3458 <term>Possible values:</term>
3461 <quote>+filter</quote> must include the name of one of the section identifiers
3462 from <filename>default.filter</filename> (or whatever
3463 <emphasis>filterfile</emphasis> is specified in <filename>config</filename>).
3469 <term>Example usage (from the current <filename>default.filter</filename>):</term>
3473 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3474 <emphasis>+filter{html-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
3479 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3480 <emphasis>+filter{js-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
3485 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3486 <emphasis>+filter{content-cookies}</emphasis>: Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
3491 <anchor id="filter-popups">
3492 <emphasis>+filter{popups}</emphasis>: Kill all popups in JS and HTML
3497 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3498 <emphasis>+filter{frameset-borders}</emphasis>: Give frames a border and make them resizable
3503 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3504 <emphasis>+filter{webbugs}</emphasis>: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
3509 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3510 <emphasis>+filter{refresh-tags}</emphasis>: Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
3515 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3516 <emphasis>+filter{fun}</emphasis>: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
3521 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
3522 <emphasis>+filter{nimda}</emphasis>: Remove Nimda (virus) code.
3527 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3528 <emphasis>+filter{banners-by-size}</emphasis>: Kill banners by size (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)
3533 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3534 <emphasis>+filter{shockwave-flash}</emphasis>: Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
3539 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3540 <emphasis>+filter{crude-parental}</emphasis>: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"
3550 This is potentially a very powerful feature! And requires a knowledge
3551 of regular expressions if you want to <quote>roll your own</quote>.
3552 Filtering operates on a line by line basis throughout the entire page.
3555 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3556 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3557 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3558 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3559 noticeable on slower connections.
3562 Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
3563 <ulink url="actions-file#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
3564 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. In the overall
3565 scheme of things, filtering is one of the first things <quote>Privoxy</quote>
3566 does with a web page. So other most other actions are applied to the
3567 already <quote>filtered</quote> page.
3576 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3577 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
3578 <title><emphasis>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis></title>
3583 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3585 <para>Boolean.</para>
3590 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3593 Block any existing X-Forwarded-for HTTP header, and do not add a new one.
3599 <term>Possible values:</term>
3608 <term>Example usage:</term>
3611 <emphasis>{+hide-forwarded-for-headers}</emphasis>
3612 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3621 It is fairly safe to leave this on. It does not seem to break many sites.
3630 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3631 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
3632 <title><emphasis>+hide-from-header</emphasis></title>
3637 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3639 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3644 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3647 To block the browser from sending your email address in a <quote>From:</quote>
3654 <term>Possible values:</term>
3657 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
3663 <term>Example usage:</term>
3666 <emphasis>{+hide-from-header{block}}</emphasis>
3667 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3676 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
3677 (not to be confused with the <ulink
3678 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> action).
3679 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to send to the web
3689 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3690 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referer">
3691 <title><emphasis>+hide-referer</emphasis></title>
3692 <anchor id="hide-referrer">
3696 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3698 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3703 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3706 Don't send the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header to the web site.
3707 Or, alternately send a forged header instead.
3713 <term>Possible values:</term>
3716 Prevent the header from being sent with the keyword, <quote>block</quote>.
3717 Or, <quote>forge</quote> a URL to one from the same server as the request.
3718 Or, set to user defined value of your choice.
3724 <term>Example usage:</term>
3727 <emphasis>{+hide-referer{forge}}</emphasis>
3728 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3737 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
3738 not send images back otherwise.
3741 <quote>+hide-referrer</quote> is an alternate spelling of
3742 <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. It has the exact same parameters, and can be freely
3743 mixed with, <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
3744 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
3745 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
3754 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3755 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
3756 <title><emphasis>+hide-user-agent</emphasis></title>
3761 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3763 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3768 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3771 To change the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> header so web servers can't tell
3772 your browser type. Who's business is it anyway?
3778 <term>Possible values:</term>
3781 Any user defined string.
3787 <term>Example usage:</term>
3790 <emphasis>{+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}}</emphasis>
3791 <emphasis>.msn.com</emphasis>
3800 Warning! This breaks many web sites that depend on this in order
3801 to determine how the target browser will respond to various
3802 requests. Use with caution.
3810 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3811 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
3812 <title><emphasis>+handle-as-image</emphasis></title>
3817 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3819 <para>Boolean.</para>
3824 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3827 To define what <application>Privoxy</application> should treat
3828 automatically as an image, and is an important ingredient of how
3835 <term>Possible values:</term>
3844 <term>Example usage:</term>
3847 <emphasis>{+handle-as-image}</emphasis>
3848 <emphasis>/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)</emphasis>
3857 This only has meaning if the URL (or pattern) also is
3858 <quote>+block</quote>ed, in which case a user definable image can
3859 be sent rather than a HTML page. This is integral to the whole concept of
3860 ad blocking: the URL must match <emphasis>both</emphasis> a <ulink
3861 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> rule,
3862 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <quote>+handle-as-image</quote>.
3864 url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
3865 below for control over what will actually be displayed by the browser.)
3868 There is little reason to change the default definition for this action.
3877 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3878 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
3879 <title><emphasis>+set-image-blocker</emphasis></title>
3884 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3886 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3891 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3894 Decide what to do with URLs that end up tagged with <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3895 <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
3897 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
3898 e.g an advertisement.
3904 <term>Possible values:</term>
3907 There are four available options: <quote>-set-image-blocker</quote> will send a HTML
3908 <quote>blocked</quote> page, usually resulting in a <quote>broken
3910 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>blank</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
3911 1x1 transparent GIF image.
3912 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>pattern</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
3913 checkerboard type pattern (the default). And finally,
3914 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>http://xyz.com</emphasis>}</quote> will
3915 send a HTTP temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the
3916 advantage of the icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed
3923 <term>Example usage:</term>
3926 <emphasis>{+set-image-blocker{blank}}</emphasis>
3927 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3936 If you want <emphasis>invisible</emphasis> ads, they need to meet
3937 criteria as matching both <emphasis>images</emphasis> and <emphasis>blocked</emphasis>
3938 actions. And then, <quote>image-blocker</quote> should be set to
3939 <quote>blank</quote> for invisibility. Note you cannot treat HTML pages as
3940 images in most cases. For instance, frames require an HTML page to
3941 display. So a frame that is an ad, typically cannot be treated as an image.
3942 Forcing an <quote>image</quote> in this situation just will not work
3951 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3952 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
3953 <title><emphasis>+limit-connect</emphasis></title>
3958 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3960 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3965 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3968 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
3969 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
3970 <quote>+limit-connect</quote> to disable this altogether, or to allow
3977 <term>Possible values:</term>
3980 Any valid port number, or port number range.
3986 <term>Example usages:</term>
3988 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
3989 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
3990 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
3992 <emphasis>+limit-connect{443}</emphasis> # This is the default and need not be specified.
3993 <emphasis>+limit-connect{80,443}</emphasis> # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
3994 <emphasis>+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-}</emphasis> # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4003 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4004 (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
4005 to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
4006 connections to the client <emphasis>and</emphasis> to the remote proxy.
4007 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
4008 abused as TCP relays very easily.
4011 If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid
4012 CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and
4013 port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and
4017 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
4026 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4027 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
4028 <title><emphasis>+prevent-compression</emphasis></title>
4033 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4035 <para>Boolean.</para>
4040 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4043 Prevent the specified websites from compressing HTTP data.
4049 <term>Possible values:</term>
4058 <term>Example usage:</term>
4061 <emphasis>{+prevent-compression}</emphasis>
4062 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4071 Some websites do this, which can be a problem for
4072 <application>Privoxy</application>, since
4073 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>,
4074 <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
4076 url="actions-file.html#GIF-DEANIMATE"><quote>+gif-deanimate</quote></ulink>
4077 will not work on compressed data. This will slow down connections to those
4078 websites, though. Default typically is to turn
4079 <quote>prevent-compression</quote> on.
4087 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4088 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
4089 <title><emphasis>+session-cookies-only</emphasis></title>
4094 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4096 <para>Boolean.</para>
4101 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4104 Allow cookies for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>.
4110 <term>Possible values:</term>
4119 <term>Example usage (disabling):</term>
4122 <emphasis>{-session-cookies-only}</emphasis>
4123 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4132 If websites set cookies, <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> will make sure
4133 they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes
4134 profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
4135 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
4136 sites, and is the recommended setting.
4139 <quote>+prevent-*-cookies</quote> actions should be turned off as well (see
4140 below), for <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> to work. Or, else no cookies
4141 will get through at all. For, <quote>persistent</quote> cookies that survive
4142 across browser sessions, see below as well.
4151 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4152 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-reading-cookies">
4153 <title><emphasis>+prevent-reading-cookies</emphasis></title>
4158 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4160 <para>Boolean.</para>
4165 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4168 Explicitly prevent the web server from reading any cookies on your
4175 <term>Possible values:</term>
4184 <term>Example usage:</term>
4187 <emphasis>{+prevent-reading-cookies}</emphasis>
4188 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4197 Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote> to
4198 disable cookies completely. Note that
4199 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
4200 requires these to both be disabled (or else it never gets any cookies to cache).
4203 For <quote>persistent</quote> cookies to work (i.e. they survive across browser
4204 sessions and reboots), all three cookie settings should be <quote>off</quote>
4205 for the specified sites.
4214 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4215 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-setting-cookies">
4216 <title><emphasis>+prevent-setting-cookies</emphasis></title>
4221 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4223 <para>Boolean.</para>
4228 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4231 Explicitly block the web server from storing cookies on your
4238 <term>Possible values:</term>
4247 <term>Example usage:</term>
4250 <emphasis>{+prevent-setting-cookies}</emphasis>
4251 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4260 Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-reading-cookies</quote> to
4261 disable cookies completely (see above).
4270 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4271 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popup">
4272 <title><emphasis>+kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popups"></emphasis></title>
4276 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4278 <para>Boolean.</para>
4283 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4286 Stop those annoying JavaScript pop-up windows!
4292 <term>Possible values:</term>
4301 <term>Example usage:</term>
4304 <emphasis>{+kill-popups}</emphasis>
4305 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4314 <quote>+kill-popups</quote> uses a built in filter to disable pop-ups
4315 that use the <literal>window.open()</literal> function, etc. This is
4316 one of the first actions processed by <application>Privoxy</application>
4317 as it contacts the remote web server. This action is not always 100% reliable,
4318 and is supplemented by <quote>+filter{<emphasis>popups</emphasis>}</quote>.
4322 An alternate spelling is <quote>+kill-popup</quote>, which is
4333 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4334 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
4335 <title><emphasis>+send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis></title>
4340 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4342 <para>Boolean.</para>
4347 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4350 Sends a cookie for every site stating that you do not accept any copyright
4351 on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track you.
4357 <term>Possible values:</term>
4366 <term>Example usage:</term>
4369 <emphasis>{+send-vanilla-wafer}</emphasis>
4370 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4379 This action only applies if you are using a <filename>jarfile</filename>
4380 for saving cookies. Of course, this is a (relatively) unique header and
4381 could conceivably be used to track you.
4390 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4391 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
4392 <title><emphasis>+send-wafer</emphasis></title>
4397 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4399 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4404 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4407 This allows you to send an arbitrary, user definable cookie.
4413 <term>Possible values:</term>
4416 User specified cookie name and corresponding value.
4422 <term>Example usage:</term>
4425 <emphasis>{+send-wafer{name=value}}</emphasis>
4426 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4435 This can be specified multiple times in order to add as many cookies as you
4445 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4447 <title>Summary</title>
4449 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
4450 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
4451 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
4452 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
4453 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
4454 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
4460 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4461 <sect3 renderas="sect2" id="act-examples">
4462 <title>Sample Actions Files</title>
4464 Remember that the meaning of any of the above references is reversed by preceding
4465 the action with a <quote>-</quote>, in place of the <quote>+</quote>. Also,
4466 that some actions are turned on in the default section of the actions file,
4467 and require little to no additional configuration. These are just <quote>on</quote>.
4471 But, other actions that are turned on in the default section <emphasis>do
4472 typically require</emphasis> exceptions to be listed in the latter sections of
4473 one of our actions file. For instance, by default no URLs are
4474 <quote>blocked</quote> (i.e. in the default definitions of
4475 <filename>default.action</filename>). We need exceptions to this in order to
4476 <emphasis>enable</emphasis> ad blocking in the lower sections. But we need to
4477 be very selective about what we do block. Thus, the default is <quote>off</quote>
4482 Below is a liberally commented sample <filename>default.action</filename> file
4483 to demonstrate how all the pieces come together. And to show how exceptions
4484 to the default policies can be handled. This is followed by a brief
4485 <filename>user.action</filename> with similar examples.
4492 # Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
4494 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
4496 for-privoxy-version=3.0
4499 ##########################################################################
4500 # <ulink url="actions-file.html#ALIASES">Aliases</ulink> must be defined *before* they are used. These are
4501 # easier to remember, and can combine several actions into one. Once
4502 # defined they can be used just like any built-in action -- but within
4503 # this file only! Aliases do not require a + or - sign.
4504 ##########################################################################
4506 # Some useful aliases.
4507 # Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
4508 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
4509 -session-cookies-only
4511 # Alias to both block and treat as if an image for ad blocking
4513 +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
4515 # Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
4516 fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
4517 -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
4519 # Shops should be allowed to set persistent cookies
4520 shop = -filter -prevent-cookies -session-cookies-only
4523 ##########################################################################
4524 # Begin default action settings. Anything in this section will match
4525 # all URLs -- UNLESS we have exceptions that also match, defined below this
4526 # section. We will show all potential actions here whether they are on
4527 # or off. We could omit any disabled action if we wanted, since all
4528 # actions are 'off' by default anyway. Shown for completeness only.
4529 # Actions are enabled if preceded by a '+', otherwise they are disabled
4530 # (unless an alias has been defined without this).
4531 ##########################################################################
4533 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ADD-HEADER">-add-header</ulink> \
4534 <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> \
4535 <ulink url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">-deanimate-gifs</ulink> \
4536 <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">-downgrade-http-version</ulink> \
4537 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">+fast-redirects</ulink> \
4538 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">+filter{html-annoyances}</ulink> \
4539 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">+filter{js-annoyances}</ulink> \
4540 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">-filter{content-cookies}</ulink> \
4541 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> \
4542 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-WEBBUGS">+filter{webbugs}</ulink> \
4543 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">-filter{refresh-tags}</ulink> \
4544 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN">-filter{fun}</ulink> \
4545 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-NIMDA">+filter{nimda}</ulink> \
4546 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">+filter{banners-by-size}</ulink> \
4547 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">-filter{shockwave-flash}</ulink> \
4548 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">-filter{crude-prental}</ulink> \
4549 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">+hide-forwarded-for-headers</ulink> \
4550 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER">+hide-from-header{block}</ulink> \
4551 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER">-hide-referrer</ulink> \
4552 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT">-hide-user-agent</ulink> \
4553 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">-handle-as-image</ulink> \
4554 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">+set-image-blocker{pattern}</ulink> \
4555 <ulink url="actions-file.html#LIMIT-CONNECT">-limit-connect</ulink> \
4556 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">+prevent-compression</ulink> \
4557 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">-session-cookies-only</ulink> \
4558 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-READING-COOKIES">-prevent-reading-cookies</ulink> \
4559 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES">-prevent-setting-cookies</ulink> \
4560 <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> \
4561 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">-send-vanilla-wafer</ulink> \
4562 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-WAFER">-send-wafer</ulink> \
4564 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
4566 ##########################################################################
4567 # Default behavior is now set. Now we will define some exceptions to our
4568 # default action policies.
4569 ##########################################################################
4571 # These sites are very complex and require very minimal interference.
4572 # We'll disable most actions with our 'fragile' alias:
4574 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
4575 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4578 # Shopping sites - not as fragile but require some special
4579 # handling. We still want to block ads, and we will allow
4580 # persistant cookies via the 'shop' alias:
4583 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4588 # These sites require pop-ups too :( We'll combine our 'shop'
4589 # alias with two other actions into one rule to allow all popups.
4590 { shop <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> }
4595 # The 'Fast-redirects' action breaks some sites. Disable this action
4596 # for these known sensitive sites:
4597 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">-fast-redirects</ulink> }
4599 edit.europe.yahoo.com
4601 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
4602 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
4606 # Define which file types will be treated as images. Important
4608 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">+handle-as-image</ulink> }
4609 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)
4612 # Now lets list some domains that are known ad generators. And
4613 # our alias that we use here will block these as well as force
4614 # them to be treated as images. This combination of actions is
4615 # important for ad blocking. What the browser will show instead is
4616 # determined by the setting of <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
4620 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4621 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4625 ad.*.doubleclick.net
4628 # These will just simply be blocked. They will generate the BLOCKED
4629 # banner page, if matched. Heavy use of wildcards and regular
4630 # expressions in this example. Enable block action:
4631 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
4636 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
4637 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
4641 # The above block section will probably inadvertantly catch some
4642 # sites we DO NOT want blocked via the wildcards and regular expressions.
4643 # Now let's set exceptions to the exceptions so the good guys get better
4644 # treatment. Disable block action:
4645 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
4650 # Let's just trust all .edu top level domains.
4652 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
4653 # We'll need to access to path names containing 'download'
4656 # 'adv' is for globalintersec and means advanced, not advertisement
4657 www.globalintersec.com/adv
4660 # Don't filter *anything* from our friends at sourceforge.
4661 # Notice we don't have to name the individual filter
4662 # identifiers -- we just turn them all off in one fell swoop.
4663 # Disable all filters for this one site:
4664 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER">-filter</ulink> }
4672 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies.
4673 The above would be a reasonable starting point for many situations. Now,
4674 we want to be more specific and have customized rules that are more suitable
4675 to our personal habits and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined
4676 situations like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in
4677 <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
4678 actions files and should not be clobbered by upgrades. So any settings here,
4679 will have the last word and over-ride any previously defined actions.
4683 Now a few examples of some things that one might do with a
4684 <filename>user.action</filename> file.
4687 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
4693 # Sample user.action file.
4695 # Any aliases you want to use need to be re-defined here.
4696 # Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
4697 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
4698 -session-cookies-only
4700 # Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
4701 fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
4702 -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
4704 # Allow persistent cookies for a few regular sites that we
4705 # trust via our above alias. These will be saved from one browser session
4706 # to the next. We are explicity turning off any and all cookie handling,
4707 # even though the prevent-*-cookie settings were disabled in our above
4708 # default.action anyway. So cookies from these domains will come through
4710 { -prevent-cookies }
4717 # My ISP uses obnoxious self promoting images on many pages.
4718 # Nuke them :) Note that <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink> need not be specified,
4719 # since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
4720 # general rules in default.action anyway.
4721 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
4722 www.my-isp-example.com/logo[0-9].gif
4725 # Say the site where you do your homebanking needs to open
4726 # popup windows, but you have chosen to kill popups by
4727 # default. This will allow it for your-example-bank.com:
4729 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> }
4730 .my-example-bank.com
4733 # This site is delicate, and requires kid-glove
4745 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4748 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4749 <sect2 id="aliases">
4750 <title>Aliases</title>
4752 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
4753 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other <quote>actions</quote>.
4754 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in <quote>actions</quote>.
4755 Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, <quote>=</quote>,
4756 <quote>{</quote> or <quote>}</quote>. But please use only <quote>a</quote>-
4757 <quote>z</quote>, <quote>0</quote>-<quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and
4758 <quote>-</quote>. Alias names are not case sensitive, and
4759 <emphasis>must be defined before other actions</emphasis> in the
4760 actions file! And there can only be one set of <quote>aliases</quote>
4761 defined per file. Each actions file may have its own aliases, but they are
4762 only visible within that file. Aliases do not requir a <quote>+</quote> or
4763 <quote>-</quote> sign in front, since they are merely expanded.
4767 Now let's define a few aliases:
4774 # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first!
4776 +prevent-cookies = +prevent-setting-cookies +prevent-reading-cookies
4777 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies
4778 fragile = -block -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4779 shop = -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects
4780 +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
4782 # Aliases defined from other aliases, for people who don't like to type
4784 c0 = +prevent-cookies
4785 c1 = -prevent-cookies
4786 #... etc. Customize to your heart's content.
4793 Some examples using our <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote>
4794 aliases from above. These would appear in the lower sections of an
4795 actions file as exceptions to the default actions (as defined in the
4803 # These sites are very complex and require
4804 # minimal interference.
4806 .office.microsoft.com
4807 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4810 # Shopping sites - but we still want to block ads.
4813 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4816 # These shops require pop-ups also
4826 The <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> aliases are often used for
4827 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require most actions to be disabled
4828 in order to function properly.
4835 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4839 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4841 <sect1 id="filter-file">
4842 <title>The Filter File</title>
4844 Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This
4845 modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content,
4846 including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is
4847 oddly enough <filename>default.filter</filename>, located in the config
4852 This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both
4853 <quote>regular expression</quote> and HTML in order create custom
4854 filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with
4855 <application>Privoxy</application> for many common situations.
4859 The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins
4860 with the <literal>FILTER</literal> keyword, followed by the identifier
4861 for that section, e.g. <quote>FILTER: webbugs</quote>. Each section performs
4862 a similar type of filtering, such as <quote>html-annoyances</quote>.
4866 This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the
4867 target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some
4868 examples from the included default <filename>default.filter</filename>:
4872 Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by
4873 deleting such references:
4880 FILTER: html-annoyances
4882 # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and status
4885 s/resizable="?(no|0)"?/resizable=1/ig s/noresize/yesresize/ig
4886 s/location="?(no|0)"?/location=1/ig s/status="?(no|0)"?/status=1/ig
4887 s/scrolling="?(no|0|Auto)"?/scrolling=1/ig
4888 s/menubar="?(no|0)"?/menubar=1/ig
4890 # The <BLINK> tag was a crime!
4892 s*<blink>|</blink>**ig
4896 #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig
4897 #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi
4904 Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of <quote>Microsoft</quote> with
4905 <quote>MicroSuck</quote>, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords:
4914 s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig
4918 s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig
4925 Kill those pesky little web-bugs:
4932 # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
4935 s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig
4942 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4944 <title>The <emphasis>+filter</emphasis> Action</title>
4946 Filters are enabled with the <ulink
4947 url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action from within
4948 one of the actions files. <quote>+filter</quote> requires one parameter, which
4949 should match one of the section identifiers in the filter file itself. Example:
4953 +filter{html-annoyances}
4957 This would activate that particular filter. Similarly, <quote>+filter</quote>
4958 can be turned off for selected sites as:
4959 <quote>-filter{html-annoyances}</quote>. Remember too, all actions are off by
4960 default, unless they are explicity enabled in one of the actions files.
4967 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4971 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4973 <sect1 id="templates">
4974 <title>Templates</title>
4976 When <application>Privoxy</application> displays one of its internal
4977 pages, such as a <ulink url="http://bogus_404_page.com">404 Not Found error page</ulink>
4978 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for link to work as
4979 intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these
4980 are located in <filename>/etc/privoxy/templates</filename> by default. These
4981 may be customized, if desired. <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> is used to
4982 control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
4986 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Blocked
4987 (<application>Privoxy</application> needs to be running for page to display)</ulink>
4988 banner page with the bright red top
4989 banner, is called just <quote><filename>blocked</filename></quote>. This
4990 may be customized or replaced with something else if desired.
4995 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4999 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5001 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
5004 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
5006 <!-- end boilerplate -->
5011 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5012 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Copyright and History</title>
5014 <sect2><title>Copyright</title>
5015 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5017 <!-- end copyright -->
5020 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5023 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5025 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
5026 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
5028 <!-- end history -->
5032 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5033 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
5034 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
5036 <!-- end seealso -->
5041 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5042 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
5045 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5047 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
5049 <application>Privoxy</application> can use <quote>regular expressions</quote>
5050 in various config files. Assuming support for <quote>pcre</quote> (Perl
5051 Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such
5052 configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be
5053 used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against
5058 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
5059 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
5060 introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-)
5064 <quote>Regular expressions</quote> is a way of matching one character
5065 expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the
5066 <quote>expressions</quote> is a literal string of readable characters
5067 (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal
5068 characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called
5069 meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have special meanings and
5070 are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible
5071 Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language
5072 with backward compatibility.
5076 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
5077 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
5078 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
5079 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
5080 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
5081 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
5082 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
5083 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
5087 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
5088 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
5089 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
5090 and then some examples:
5095 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
5096 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
5098 </simplelist></para>
5102 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
5105 </simplelist></para>
5109 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
5112 </simplelist></para>
5116 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
5119 </simplelist></para>
5123 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
5124 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
5125 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
5126 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
5127 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
5128 meta-character meaning of any single character).
5130 </simplelist></para>
5134 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
5135 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
5136 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
5137 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
5139 </simplelist></para>
5143 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
5144 or multiple sub-expressions.
5146 </simplelist></para>
5150 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
5151 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
5152 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
5153 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
5154 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
5155 example</quote>, and nothing else.
5157 </simplelist></para>
5161 <emphasis>s/string1/string2/g</emphasis> - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
5162 <quote>string1</quote> is replaced by <quote>string2</quote> in this
5163 example. There must of course be a match on <quote>string1</quote> first.
5165 </simplelist></para>
5168 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
5169 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
5170 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
5171 be more illuminating:
5175 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
5176 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
5177 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
5178 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
5179 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
5180 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
5181 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
5182 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
5183 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
5184 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
5185 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
5186 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
5187 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
5188 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
5193 A now something a little more complex:
5197 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
5198 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
5199 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
5200 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
5201 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
5202 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
5203 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
5208 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
5209 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
5210 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
5211 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
5212 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
5213 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
5214 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
5215 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
5216 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
5217 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
5218 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
5219 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
5220 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
5221 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
5222 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
5223 changing our regular expression to:
5224 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
5229 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
5230 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
5231 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
5232 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
5233 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
5234 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
5235 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
5236 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
5237 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
5238 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
5239 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
5240 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
5241 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
5242 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
5243 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
5244 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
5245 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
5246 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
5247 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
5248 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
5249 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
5250 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
5251 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
5252 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
5253 in the expression anywhere).
5257 <emphasis><literal>s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i</literal></emphasis> - This is
5258 a substitution. <quote>MicroSuck</quote> will replace any occurrence of
5259 <quote>microsoft</quote>. The <quote>i</quote> at the end of the expression
5260 means ignore case. The <quote>(?!.com)</quote> means
5261 the match should fail if <quote>microsoft</quote> is followed by
5262 <quote>.com</quote>. In other words, this acts like a <quote>NOT</quote>
5263 modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-).
5267 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
5268 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
5269 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
5270 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
5271 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
5276 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
5277 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
5282 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5285 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5287 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
5290 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
5291 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
5292 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
5293 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
5294 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
5295 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
5296 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
5302 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
5303 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
5304 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
5305 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
5318 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
5322 Alternately, this may be reached at <ulink
5323 url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>, but this
5324 variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
5330 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
5331 editing of actions files:
5335 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
5342 Show the source code version numbers:
5346 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
5353 Show the browser's request headers:
5357 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
5364 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
5368 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5375 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
5376 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
5380 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
5384 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
5388 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
5393 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
5402 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
5406 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
5407 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
5409 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
5410 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
5411 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
5412 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
5413 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
5414 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
5417 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
5418 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
5419 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
5420 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
5421 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
5422 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
5431 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>
5438 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>
5445 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)
5452 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>
5458 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions','Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback</ulink>
5468 Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
5469 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
5470 have more information about bookmarklets.
5479 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5481 <title>Chain of Events</title>
5483 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
5484 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
5491 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
5492 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
5493 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
5499 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
5500 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
5505 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
5507 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> patterns. If
5508 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
5509 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
5510 is then checked and if it does not match, an
5511 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
5512 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <ulink
5513 url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
5514 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
5519 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
5520 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
5525 If the URL pattern matches the <ulink
5526 url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink> action,
5527 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
5532 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
5533 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <ulink
5534 url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></ulink>,
5535 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
5541 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
5547 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
5548 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
5549 filtered as deterimed by the
5550 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES"><quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote></ulink>,
5551 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>,
5552 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></ulink>
5558 If the <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
5559 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
5560 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
5565 If a <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
5567 url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
5568 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
5569 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
5570 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
5571 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
5572 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
5573 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
5574 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
5575 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
5578 If neither <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
5580 url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
5581 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
5582 to the client browser as it becomes available.
5587 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
5588 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
5589 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
5590 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
5591 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
5592 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
5602 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5603 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
5604 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
5607 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
5608 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>
5609 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>filters</quote></ulink>
5610 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
5611 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
5612 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
5613 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
5614 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
5615 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
5616 <quote>regular expressions</quote> whose consequences are not always
5621 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
5622 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
5623 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
5624 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!).
5628 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
5629 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5630 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
5631 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
5635 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
5636 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
5637 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
5638 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <ulink
5639 url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action) from
5640 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
5641 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
5642 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
5643 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
5644 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
5645 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
5646 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
5647 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
5652 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
5653 and look at it one section at a time:
5658 Matches for http://google.com:
5660 --- File standard ---
5661 (no matches in this file)
5663 --- File default ---
5665 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
5666 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
5667 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
5668 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
5669 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
5670 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
5671 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
5672 -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
5675 { -session-cookies-only }
5682 (no matches in this file)
5687 This tells us how we have defined our
5688 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>, and
5689 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
5690 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
5691 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
5692 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
5693 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
5694 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
5695 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
5696 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
5697 -- <quote>/</quote>.
5701 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
5702 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
5703 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
5704 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
5705 which was for <ulink
5706 url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
5707 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
5708 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
5710 url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink>
5711 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
5712 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
5713 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
5714 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
5715 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
5716 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
5721 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
5725 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
5726 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
5727 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
5735 -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
5736 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
5737 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
5738 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
5739 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
5740 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
5741 +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
5742 -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
5747 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
5748 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
5752 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
5758 { +block +handle-as-image }
5761 { +block +handle-as-image }
5764 { +block +handle-as-image }
5770 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
5771 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
5772 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
5773 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<ulink
5774 url="actions-file.html#ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></ulink> are defined in
5775 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
5780 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
5781 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
5782 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
5783 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
5784 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
5785 is done here -- as both a <ulink
5786 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
5787 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
5789 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>.
5790 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
5795 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
5796 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
5802 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
5804 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
5805 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
5806 +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
5807 +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
5808 +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
5809 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-setting-cookies
5810 -prevent-reading-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
5813 { +block +handle-as-image }
5819 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
5820 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
5821 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
5822 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
5823 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
5835 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
5836 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
5840 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
5847 { +block +handle-as-image }
5853 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
5854 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
5855 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
5856 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
5857 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. Try
5858 adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
5866 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5874 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
5875 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
5876 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
5889 This would probably be most appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>,
5890 for local site exceptions.
5894 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
5895 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
5896 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
5897 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
5906 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
5907 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
5908 Public License as published by the Free Software
5909 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
5910 your option) any later version.
5912 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
5913 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
5914 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
5915 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
5916 License for more details.
5918 The GNU General Public License should be included with
5919 this file. If not, you can view it at
5920 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
5921 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
5922 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
5924 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
5925 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
5926 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
5928 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
5929 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
5930 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
5932 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
5933 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
5935 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
5936 more structure in starting section
5938 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
5939 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
5940 will probably break links elsewhere :(
5942 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
5943 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
5944 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
5946 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
5947 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
5948 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
5950 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
5951 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
5953 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
5954 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
5955 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
5957 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
5958 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
5959 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
5961 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
5962 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
5964 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
5965 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
5967 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
5968 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
5970 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
5971 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
5973 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
5974 Updated OSX installation section
5975 Added a few English tweaks here an there
5977 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
5978 Re-write actions section.
5980 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
5981 Fix ugly typo (mine).
5983 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
5984 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
5986 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
5987 Added RPM install detail
5989 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
5992 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
5993 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
5995 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
5996 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
5998 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
5999 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
6001 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
6004 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
6005 Proofreading, part one
6007 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
6008 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
6009 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
6011 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
6012 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
6014 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
6015 Add small section on submitting actions.
6017 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
6020 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
6021 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
6023 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
6024 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
6026 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
6029 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
6030 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
6031 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
6032 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
6033 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
6035 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
6036 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
6038 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
6039 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
6041 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
6042 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
6043 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
6044 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
6045 eventually be set by Makefile.
6046 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
6048 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
6049 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
6051 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
6052 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
6054 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
6055 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
6057 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
6058 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
6059 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
6060 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
6062 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
6065 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
6066 Added more to Anatomy section.
6068 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
6069 Touch up intro for new name.
6071 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
6072 we have a new homepage!
6074 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
6075 A few minor catch ups with name change.
6077 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
6078 configure needs to be generated.
6080 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
6081 we are too lazy to make a block-built
6082 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
6084 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
6085 name change related issue.
6087 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
6088 name change. changed filenames.
6090 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
6093 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
6094 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
6095 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
6096 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
6097 comments and remarks to history untouched.
6099 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
6102 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
6103 New section in Appendix.
6105 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
6106 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
6108 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
6109 correct feedback channels
6111 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
6112 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
6114 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
6117 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
6118 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
6120 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
6121 Added imageblock{pattern}.
6123 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
6126 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
6127 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
6129 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
6130 provide correct feedback channels
6132 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
6133 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
6135 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
6136 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
6138 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
6139 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
6141 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
6142 Add new - - user option.
6144 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
6145 Added section on command line options.
6147 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
6148 Changed default port to 8118
6150 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
6151 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
6153 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
6154 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
6155 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
6158 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
6161 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
6162 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
6164 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
6165 Update OS/2 build section
6167 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
6168 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
6169 will work - no other changes are needed.
6171 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
6172 Added a very short section on Templates
6174 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
6175 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
6177 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
6178 Touch ups for *.action files.
6180 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
6183 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
6184 Updates for recent changes.
6186 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
6187 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
6189 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
6190 Correct 2 minor errors
6192 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
6193 *** empty log message ***
6195 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
6196 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
6198 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
6199 wrong url in documentation
6201 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
6202 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
6204 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
6207 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
6210 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
6213 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
6214 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
6216 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
6217 Some additions, and re-arranging.
6219 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
6222 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
6223 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
6225 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
6228 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
6229 source files for junkbuster documentation
6231 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
6232 first proposal of a structure.
6234 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
6235 docs should have an author.
6237 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
6238 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob