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5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
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14 <!entity p-version SYSTEM "doc_version.tmp">
15 <!entity p-status SYSTEM "doc_status.tmp">
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17 <!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
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19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
29 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
32 This file belongs into
33 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
35 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.3 2002/09/26 00:12:17 hal9 Exp $
37 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
40 ========================================================================
41 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
42 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
43 ========================================================================
50 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
54 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
55 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
56 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
57 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
61 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.3 2002/09/26 00:12:17 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
65 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
66 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
67 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
68 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
75 <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
78 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
80 text goes here ........
92 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
93 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
94 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
100 The <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
101 install, configure and use <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
105 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
107 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
110 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
111 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
112 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
113 contact the developers.
117 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
123 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
124 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
126 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
127 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
128 and is mostly complete at this point.
129 Development of version 3.2 is just beginning,
130 and will include many significant changes and enhancements over
134 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
137 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
138 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
139 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
140 not many! Please find them!
144 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
145 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
147 In addition to <application>Internet Junkbuster's</application> traditional
148 features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
149 <application>Privoxy</application> provides new features<![%p-not-stable;[,
150 some of them currently under development]]>:
152 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
154 <!-- end boilerplate -->
159 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
162 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
163 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
166 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
167 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
168 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
169 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
174 Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
175 <application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
176 will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
177 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
178 <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
179 you.</emphasis> See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to
180 upgraders</link> section below.
183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
186 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
189 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
190 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
193 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
194 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
195 of configuration files.
199 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
200 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
201 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
202 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
203 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
207 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
208 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
209 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
213 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
214 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
215 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
216 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
220 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
221 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
223 DEBs can be installed with <literal>dpkg -i
224 privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb</literal>, and will use
225 <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of configuration
230 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
231 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
234 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
235 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
236 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
237 use the registry of Windows.
241 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
242 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
245 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
246 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
247 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
251 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
252 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
255 First, make sure that no previous installations of
256 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
257 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
258 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
259 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
265 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
266 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
267 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
268 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
272 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
273 into will contain all of the configuration files.
277 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
278 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
280 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
281 from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
282 Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
283 <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
284 and follow the installation process.
285 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
286 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
287 It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
288 starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
289 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
292 To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
293 <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
294 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
295 Or, type this command in the Terminal:
299 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
303 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
307 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
308 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
310 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
311 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
312 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
313 remove this directory.
317 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
318 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
320 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
321 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
322 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
323 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
326 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
327 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
328 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
332 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
333 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
334 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
340 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
341 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
344 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
345 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
350 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
351 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
352 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
353 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
354 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
358 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
360 <!-- end boilerplate -->
363 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
364 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
366 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
367 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
368 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
369 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
374 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
375 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
376 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
377 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
381 In order not to loose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
382 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
383 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> for your
384 customization of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
385 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
393 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
395 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
396 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
397 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
399 There are very significant changes from earlier
400 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
401 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
402 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
403 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
404 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
405 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
406 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
407 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
408 are now combined into the <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
409 files</quote></link>.
410 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
411 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
414 A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (typically
415 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
416 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
417 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
420 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
421 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
422 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
423 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
424 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
425 recommended to use the new configuration files.
428 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
436 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
442 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
443 important configuration files!
448 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
449 at the special URL: <ulink
450 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
451 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
452 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
453 <application>Privoxy</application>.
458 The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
459 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
460 configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
461 files</link>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
462 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
463 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
468 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
469 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
470 Some installers may not automatically start
471 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
479 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
480 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
486 If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
487 files. See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
493 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
494 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
501 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
502 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
503 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
504 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
511 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
512 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
513 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
519 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
520 HTTPS proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
521 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
522 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
523 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
524 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link> below
525 for more details on this.
531 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
537 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
538 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
539 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
540 to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
543 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
544 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
545 <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
546 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
547 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
554 If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
555 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
556 <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
557 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
558 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
559 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
560 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
561 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
562 Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
563 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
569 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
570 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
577 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
585 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
587 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
588 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
590 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
591 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
594 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
595 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
596 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
599 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
600 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
601 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
604 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
605 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
606 things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
607 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
608 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
609 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
610 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
611 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
612 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
613 habits and preferences.
616 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
617 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
618 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
619 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
620 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
621 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
622 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
623 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
624 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
625 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
628 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
629 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
630 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
631 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
632 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
635 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
636 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
637 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
638 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
639 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
640 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
641 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
642 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
643 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
648 The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
649 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
650 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
651 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
659 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
660 any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
661 action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
662 that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
663 communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
664 own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
670 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
671 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
672 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
673 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
674 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
675 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
676 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
677 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
678 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
679 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
680 an entire HTML page in most situations.
687 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
688 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
689 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
690 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
691 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
692 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
695 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
699 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
700 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
705 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
706 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
711 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
712 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
721 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
722 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
723 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
724 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
725 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
726 appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
727 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
728 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
729 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
730 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
731 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
732 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
736 A quick and simple step by step example:
744 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
745 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
753 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
758 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
759 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
762 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
764 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
767 <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
770 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
779 You should have a section with only
780 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
781 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
782 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
783 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
784 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
785 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
786 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
787 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
793 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
794 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
795 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
796 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
797 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
798 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
803 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
804 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
812 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
813 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
814 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
815 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
820 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
821 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
822 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
829 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
832 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
834 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
836 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
837 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
838 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
839 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
840 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
843 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
844 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
847 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
849 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)</title>
852 <imagedata fileref="../images/proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
855 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
862 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
863 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
867 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
868 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
869 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>
871 <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton>
873 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton>
875 <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton>
877 <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
881 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>:
885 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
886 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
887 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton>
889 <guibutton>Internet Properties</guibutton>
891 <guibutton>Connections</guibutton>
893 <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
897 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
898 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
903 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
904 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
905 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
906 <application>Privoxy</application>!
910 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
911 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
912 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
913 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
914 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
917 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
918 <title>Red Hat and Conectiva</title>
920 We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
921 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as
922 its main configuration file.
926 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
931 <sect2 id="start-debian">
932 <title>Debian</title>
934 We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
935 default. It will use the file
936 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
941 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
946 <sect2 id="start-suse">
949 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
950 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
960 <sect2 id="start-windows">
961 <title>Windows</title>
963 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
964 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
965 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
966 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
970 <sect2 id="start-unices">
971 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
973 Example Unix startup command:
977 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
982 <sect2 id="start-os2">
985 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
986 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
987 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
988 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
992 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
993 <title>Mac OSX</title>
995 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
996 start automatically when the system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand,
997 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
998 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1003 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1007 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1012 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1013 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1015 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1016 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1017 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1018 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1019 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1020 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1021 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1025 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1026 <title>Gentoo</title>
1028 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1029 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1033 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1037 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1038 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1043 rc-update add privoxy default
1051 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1055 must find a better place for this paragraph
1058 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1059 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1060 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1061 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1062 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1063 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1067 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1068 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1069 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1070 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1071 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1072 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1073 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1074 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1075 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1079 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1080 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1081 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1083 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1084 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1085 popups (explained below).
1089 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
1090 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
1091 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1092 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1093 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1094 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1095 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1096 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1097 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1101 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1102 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1103 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1104 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1105 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1106 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1107 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1108 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1109 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1113 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1114 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1115 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1116 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1117 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1118 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1119 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1123 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1124 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1125 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1126 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1127 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1128 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1133 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1134 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1135 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1140 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1141 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1142 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1143 Developers</quote></link> below.
1148 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1149 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1150 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1152 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1153 command-line options:
1161 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1164 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1169 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1172 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1177 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1180 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1181 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1186 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1190 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1191 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1192 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1193 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1198 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1202 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1203 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1204 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1209 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1212 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1213 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1214 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1215 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1216 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1217 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1228 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1231 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1232 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
1234 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1235 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1236 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1237 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1241 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1244 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
1246 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1247 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1248 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1249 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1250 You will see the following section:
1254 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1257 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1261 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1264 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1267 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1270 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1273 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1276 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1284 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1285 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1286 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1287 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1288 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1289 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1293 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1294 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1295 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1296 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1297 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1298 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1299 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1300 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1306 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1311 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1313 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1314 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1316 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1317 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1318 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1319 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1320 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1321 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1325 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1326 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1327 principle configuration files are:
1335 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1336 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1337 on Windows. This is a required file.
1343 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1344 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1345 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1346 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1347 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1348 as many websites as possible.
1351 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1352 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1353 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1354 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1355 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1356 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1357 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
1358 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1361 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1363 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1365 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1366 various actions files.
1372 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1373 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1374 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1375 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1376 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1384 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1385 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1386 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1387 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1388 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1389 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1394 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
1395 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1396 maximum flexibility.
1400 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1401 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1402 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1403 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1404 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1405 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1406 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1411 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1412 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1413 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1414 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1420 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1423 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1425 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1426 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1427 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1429 <!-- end include -->
1432 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1436 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1438 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1441 The actions files are used to define what actions
1442 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
1443 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1444 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
1445 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application>, with
1453 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1454 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1455 provide a base level of functionality for
1456 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1457 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
1458 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1459 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1464 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1465 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1466 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1467 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1472 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
1473 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1474 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
1475 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
1476 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
1484 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1485 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
1486 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
1487 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1491 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
1492 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
1493 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
1494 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
1495 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
1496 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
1497 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
1498 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
1499 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
1500 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
1501 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
1502 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
1506 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
1507 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
1508 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
1509 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
1510 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
1514 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1516 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
1518 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
1519 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
1520 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
1521 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
1522 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
1523 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
1524 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
1525 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
1526 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
1527 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
1531 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
1532 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
1533 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
1534 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
1538 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1540 <title>How to Edit</title>
1542 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
1543 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
1544 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1545 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
1546 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
1547 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
1551 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
1552 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
1558 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
1559 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
1561 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
1562 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
1563 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
1564 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
1565 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
1566 Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
1570 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
1571 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
1572 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
1573 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
1574 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
1575 the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
1576 a heading line of <literal>{
1577 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
1578 then later another one with just <literal>{
1579 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
1580 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
1584 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
1585 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
1589 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
1590 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
1594 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1595 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
1596 <title>Patterns</title>
1598 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
1599 to determine what actions might apply to which sites and pages your browser
1600 attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild card type
1601 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
1602 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
1603 against many similar patterns.
1607 Generally, a <application>Privoxy</application> pattern has the form
1608 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
1609 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
1610 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
1611 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
1612 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
1613 the pattern. This is assumed already!
1618 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
1621 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
1622 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
1627 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
1630 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
1636 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
1639 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
1640 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
1645 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
1648 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
1649 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
1654 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
1657 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
1658 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
1665 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1666 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
1669 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
1670 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
1676 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
1679 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
1680 <literal>.example.com</literal> (e.g. <literal>www.example.com</literal>)
1685 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
1688 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
1689 <literal>www.</literal>
1694 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
1697 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
1698 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
1705 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
1706 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
1707 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
1708 any single character, you can define character classes in square
1709 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
1714 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1717 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
1718 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
1723 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
1726 matches all of the above, and then some.
1731 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
1734 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
1735 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
1740 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
1743 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
1744 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
1745 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
1746 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
1754 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1757 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1758 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
1761 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
1762 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
1767 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
1768 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
1769 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
1770 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
1771 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
1772 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
1776 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
1777 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
1778 for the beginning of a line).
1782 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
1783 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
1784 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
1785 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
1786 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
1792 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1795 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1797 <sect2 id="actions">
1798 <title>Actions</title>
1800 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
1801 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
1802 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
1803 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
1804 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
1805 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
1806 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
1807 previously applied.</quote>
1812 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
1813 separated by whitespace, like in
1814 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
1815 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
1816 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
1817 of the actions file.
1821 There are three classes of actions:
1828 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
1829 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
1833 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
1834 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
1837 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
1844 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
1849 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
1850 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
1851 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
1854 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
1855 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
1858 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
1864 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
1865 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
1866 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
1867 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
1868 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
1869 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
1873 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
1874 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
1875 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
1876 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
1879 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
1880 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
1888 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
1889 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
1890 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
1891 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
1892 files will give a good starting point).
1896 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
1897 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
1898 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
1899 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
1900 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
1901 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
1902 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
1903 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
1906 <!-- start actions listing -->
1908 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
1912 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
1913 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
1914 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
1916 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
1919 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1921 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
1922 <title>add-header</title>
1926 <term>Typical use:</term>
1928 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
1933 <term>Effect:</term>
1936 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
1943 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
1945 <para>Multi-value.</para>
1950 <term>Parameter:</term>
1953 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
1954 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
1964 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
1965 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
1966 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
1973 <term>Example usage:</term>
1976 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
1984 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1985 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
1986 <title>block</title>
1990 <term>Typical use:</term>
1992 <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
1997 <term>Effect:</term>
2000 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
2001 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
2002 as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
2003 and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
2010 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2012 <para>Boolean.</para>
2017 <term>Parameter:</term>
2027 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2028 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2029 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2030 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2031 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2032 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2033 right now, you can take a look at the
2034 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2038 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2039 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2040 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2041 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2042 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2043 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2046 It is important to understand this process, in order
2047 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2048 ads and other unwanted content.
2051 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2052 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2053 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2054 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2055 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2061 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2064 <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2065 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2067 {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
2078 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2079 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
2080 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
2084 <term>Typical use:</term>
2087 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
2093 <term>Effect:</term>
2096 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
2103 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2105 <para>Boolean.</para>
2110 <term>Parameter:</term>
2122 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
2123 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
2124 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
2125 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2128 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2129 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2130 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
2131 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
2137 <term>Example usage:</term>
2140 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
2148 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2149 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
2150 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
2154 <term>Typical use:</term>
2157 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
2163 <term>Effect:</term>
2166 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
2173 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2175 <para>Boolean.</para>
2180 <term>Parameter:</term>
2192 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
2193 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
2194 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
2195 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2198 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2199 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2200 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
2206 <term>Example usage:</term>
2209 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
2218 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2219 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
2220 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
2224 <term>Typical use:</term>
2226 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
2231 <term>Effect:</term>
2234 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
2241 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2243 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2248 <term>Parameter:</term>
2251 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
2260 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
2261 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
2262 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
2263 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
2264 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
2265 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
2268 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
2269 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
2276 <term>Example usage:</term>
2279 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
2286 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2287 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
2288 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
2292 <term>Typical use:</term>
2294 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
2299 <term>Effect:</term>
2302 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
2309 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2311 <para>Boolean.</para>
2316 <term>Parameter:</term>
2328 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
2329 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
2330 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
2331 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
2332 is a chance you might need this action.
2338 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2341 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
2342 problem-host.example.com</screen>
2350 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2351 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
2352 <title>fast-redirects</title>
2356 <term>Typical use:</term>
2358 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
2363 <term>Effect:</term>
2366 Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
2373 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2375 <para>Boolean.</para>
2380 <term>Parameter:</term>
2392 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
2393 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
2394 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
2395 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
2396 <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
2399 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
2400 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
2401 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
2402 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
2403 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
2407 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
2408 It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
2409 many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
2410 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
2417 <term>Example usage:</term>
2420 <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
2429 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2430 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
2431 <title>filter</title>
2435 <term>Typical use:</term>
2437 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
2442 <term>Effect:</term>
2445 Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action
2446 applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
2447 based substitutions.
2454 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2456 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2461 <term>Parameter:</term>
2464 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
2465 (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
2466 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
2467 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>). Filtering
2468 can be completely disabled without the use of parameters.
2477 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
2478 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
2482 This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <quote>rolling your own</quote>
2483 filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
2486 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
2487 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
2488 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
2489 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
2490 noticeable on slower connections.
2493 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
2494 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
2495 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
2496 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
2497 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
2500 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
2501 Encrypted SSL data (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either since
2502 this would violate the integrity of the secure transaction.
2505 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
2506 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
2507 would normally be sent compressed, use the
2508 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
2509 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
2512 Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
2513 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2514 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
2515 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
2516 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
2520 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
2521 improved filters is particularly welcome!
2527 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file):</term>
2530 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
2531 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
2534 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
2535 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
2538 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
2539 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners based on their size for this page (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)</screen>
2542 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
2543 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners based on the link they are contained in (experimental)</screen>
2546 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
2547 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
2550 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
2551 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</screen>
2554 <anchor id="filter-popups">
2555 <screen>+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</screen>
2558 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
2559 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
2562 <anchor id="filter-fun">
2563 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
2566 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
2567 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
2570 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
2571 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
2574 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
2575 <screen>+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</screen>
2578 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
2579 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
2582 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
2583 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</screen>
2586 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
2587 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (<emphasis>Radically destructive!</emphasis> Only for extra nasty sites) </screen>
2595 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2596 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
2597 <title>handle-as-image</title>
2601 <term>Typical use:</term>
2603 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
2608 <term>Effect:</term>
2611 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
2612 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
2613 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
2614 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
2615 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
2616 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
2623 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2625 <para>Boolean.</para>
2630 <term>Parameter:</term>
2642 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
2643 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
2647 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
2648 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
2649 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
2652 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
2653 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
2654 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
2655 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
2661 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
2664 <screen># Generic image extensions:
2667 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
2669 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
2670 # blocked as images:
2672 {+block +handle-as-image}
2673 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
2675 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
2685 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2686 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
2687 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
2691 <term>Typical use:</term>
2693 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
2698 <term>Effect:</term>
2701 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
2702 and prevents adding a new one.
2709 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2711 <para>Boolean.</para>
2716 <term>Parameter:</term>
2728 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
2731 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
2732 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
2733 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
2734 users sharing the same proxy.
2740 <term>Example usage:</term>
2743 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
2751 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2752 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
2753 <title>hide-from-header</title>
2757 <term>Typical use:</term>
2759 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
2764 <term>Effect:</term>
2767 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
2775 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2777 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2782 <term>Parameter:</term>
2785 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
2794 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
2795 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
2799 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
2800 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
2801 is actually used by a real person.
2804 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
2805 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
2811 <term>Example usage:</term>
2814 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
2815 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
2823 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2824 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
2825 <title>hide-referrer</title>
2826 <anchor id="hide-referer">
2829 <term>Typical use:</term>
2831 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
2836 <term>Effect:</term>
2839 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
2840 or replaces it with a forged one.
2847 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2849 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2854 <term>Parameter:</term>
2858 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
2861 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
2864 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
2874 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
2875 not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
2876 content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
2877 by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
2880 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
2881 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
2882 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
2883 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
2884 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
2890 <term>Example usage:</term>
2893 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
2894 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
2902 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2903 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
2904 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
2908 <term>Typical use:</term>
2910 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
2915 <term>Effect:</term>
2918 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
2919 in client requests with the specified value.
2926 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2928 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2933 <term>Parameter:</term>
2936 Any user-defined string.
2946 This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
2947 to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
2948 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
2949 url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
2954 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
2955 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
2956 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
2957 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
2958 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
2959 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
2960 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
2961 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
2962 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
2963 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
2964 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
2967 This action is scheduled for improvement.
2973 <term>Example usage:</term>
2976 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
2984 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2985 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
2986 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
2990 <term>Typical use:</term>
2992 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</para>
2997 <term>Effect:</term>
3000 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
3001 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
3008 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3010 <para>Boolean.</para>
3015 <term>Parameter:</term>
3027 This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
3028 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
3029 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
3030 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
3032 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>popups</replaceable>}</literal>
3036 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
3037 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
3038 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
3039 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
3040 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
3041 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
3044 Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
3045 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
3046 would require artificial intelligence in <application>Privoxy</application>.
3047 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
3048 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
3049 one), you might want to use
3051 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
3057 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
3065 <term>Example usage:</term>
3067 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
3074 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3075 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
3076 <title>limit-connect</title>
3080 <term>Typical use:</term>
3082 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
3087 <term>Effect:</term>
3090 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
3097 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3099 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3104 <term>Parameter:</term>
3107 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
3108 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
3117 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
3118 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
3119 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
3120 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
3121 for some or all destinations.
3124 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
3125 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
3126 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
3127 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
3128 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
3129 abused as TCP relays very easily.
3132 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
3133 change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
3139 <term>Example usages:</term>
3141 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
3142 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
3143 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
3145 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
3146 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
3147 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
3148 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
3155 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3156 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
3157 <title>prevent-compression</title>
3161 <term>Typical use:</term>
3164 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
3165 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
3171 <term>Effect:</term>
3174 Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
3181 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3183 <para>Boolean.</para>
3188 <term>Parameter:</term>
3200 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
3201 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
3202 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
3203 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
3204 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
3205 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
3206 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
3207 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
3210 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
3211 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
3215 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
3216 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
3217 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
3223 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3226 <screen># Set default:
3228 {+prevent-compression}
3231 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
3233 {-prevent-compression}
3235 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
3244 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3245 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
3246 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
3250 <term>Typical use:</term>
3253 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
3259 <term>Effect:</term>
3262 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
3263 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
3270 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3272 <para>Boolean.</para>
3277 <term>Parameter:</term>
3289 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
3292 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3298 <term>Example usage:</term>
3301 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
3310 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3311 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
3312 <title>send-wafer</title>
3316 <term>Typical use:</term>
3319 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
3325 <term>Effect:</term>
3328 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
3335 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3337 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3342 <term>Parameter:</term>
3345 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
3346 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
3355 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
3356 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
3359 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
3364 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3367 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
3368 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
3376 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3377 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
3378 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
3382 <term>Typical use:</term>
3385 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
3391 <term>Effect:</term>
3394 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> server headers.
3395 Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
3402 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3404 <para>Boolean.</para>
3409 <term>Parameter:</term>
3421 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
3422 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
3423 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
3426 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
3427 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
3428 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
3429 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
3430 sites, and is the recommended setting.
3433 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
3434 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
3435 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
3436 will be plainly killed.
3439 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
3440 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
3446 <term>Example usage:</term>
3449 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
3457 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3458 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
3459 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
3463 <term>Typical use:</term>
3465 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
3470 <term>Effect:</term>
3473 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3474 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
3475 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
3476 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
3477 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
3478 sent as a replacement.
3485 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3487 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3492 <term>Parameter:</term>
3497 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
3498 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
3503 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
3504 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
3505 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
3506 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
3511 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
3512 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
3513 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
3516 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
3517 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
3518 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
3519 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
3520 it over and over again.
3531 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
3532 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
3533 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
3536 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
3537 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
3538 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
3544 <term>Example usage:</term>
3550 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
3553 Redirect to the BSD devil:
3556 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
3559 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
3562 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
3570 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3572 <title>Summary</title>
3574 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
3575 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
3576 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
3577 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
3578 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
3579 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
3585 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3586 <sect2 id="aliases">
3587 <title>Aliases</title>
3589 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
3590 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
3591 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
3592 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
3594 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
3595 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
3596 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
3597 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
3598 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
3602 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
3603 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
3604 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
3605 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
3609 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
3610 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
3611 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
3612 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
3613 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
3614 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
3615 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
3618 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
3619 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
3620 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
3621 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
3622 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
3624 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
3628 Now let's define some aliases...
3633 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
3635 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
3636 # must be at the top of the actions file!
3640 # These aliases just save typing later:
3641 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3643 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
3644 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
3645 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3646 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
3648 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3649 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3651 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
3652 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
3654 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
3656 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
3657 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
3661 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
3662 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
3663 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
3668 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
3669 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
3672 .office.microsoft.com
3673 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
3677 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
3681 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
3684 # These shops require pop-ups:
3686 {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
3688 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
3692 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
3693 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
3694 in order to function properly.
3698 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3699 <sect2 id="act-examples">
3700 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
3702 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
3703 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
3704 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
3705 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
3706 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
3707 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
3708 file and see how all these pieces come together:
3711 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
3714 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
3718 <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
3722 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
3723 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
3724 change or worry about:
3729 ##########################################################################
3730 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
3731 ##########################################################################
3734 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
3738 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
3739 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
3740 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
3745 ##########################################################################
3747 ##########################################################################
3750 # These aliases just save typing later:
3751 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
3753 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
3754 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
3755 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
3756 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
3758 # These aliases define combinations of actions
3759 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
3761 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
3762 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
3766 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
3767 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
3768 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
3769 enable the ones we want.
3773 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
3774 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
3775 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
3776 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
3777 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
3778 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
3779 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
3784 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
3785 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
3786 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
3787 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
3788 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
3789 multiple lines with line continuation.
3794 ##########################################################################
3795 # "Defaults" section:
3796 ##########################################################################
3798 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
3799 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
3800 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
3801 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
3802 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
3803 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
3804 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
3805 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
3806 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
3807 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
3808 +<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> \
3809 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
3810 -<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
3811 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
3812 +<link linkend="FILTER-NIMDA">filter{nimda}</link> \
3813 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
3814 -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
3815 -<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
3816 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
3817 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
3818 -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
3819 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
3820 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
3821 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
3822 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
3823 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
3824 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
3825 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
3826 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
3827 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
3828 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
3829 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
3830 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
3832 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
3836 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
3837 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
3838 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
3839 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
3840 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
3841 want to block in later sections.
3842 We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
3843 and use our defined aliases for that.
3847 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
3848 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
3849 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
3850 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
3851 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
3852 of actions explicitly:
3857 ##########################################################################
3858 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
3859 ##########################################################################
3861 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
3864 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
3865 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
3869 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
3870 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
3871 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
3880 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
3882 .scan.co.uk</screen>
3886 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
3887 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
3888 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
3889 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
3891 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
3892 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
3893 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
3894 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
3895 chosen in the defaults section:
3900 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
3902 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
3905 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
3909 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
3910 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
3911 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
3916 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
3920 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
3921 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
3922 .nytimes.com</screen>
3926 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
3927 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
3928 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
3929 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
3930 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
3931 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
3932 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
3933 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
3934 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
3940 ##########################################################################
3942 ##########################################################################
3944 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
3945 # blocked further down this file:
3947 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
3948 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
3952 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
3953 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
3954 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
3955 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
3956 <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
3957 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
3958 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
3959 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
3960 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3961 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
3962 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
3963 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
3968 # Known ad generators:
3973 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
3974 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
3975 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
3982 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
3983 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
3984 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
3985 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
3986 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
3987 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
3988 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
3989 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
3990 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
3993 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
3994 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
3995 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
3996 to keep the example short:
4001 ##########################################################################
4002 # Block these fine banners:
4003 ##########################################################################
4004 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
4012 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
4013 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
4015 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
4017 .hitbox.com</screen>
4021 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
4022 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
4023 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
4024 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
4027 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
4028 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
4029 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
4030 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
4031 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
4032 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
4036 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
4037 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
4038 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
4039 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
4040 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
4041 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
4042 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
4043 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
4044 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
4045 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
4050 ##########################################################################
4051 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
4052 ##########################################################################
4056 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
4057 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
4058 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
4059 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
4060 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
4061 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
4069 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
4070 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
4074 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
4075 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
4076 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
4077 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
4078 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
4083 # Don't filter code!
4085 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
4087 .sourceforge.net</screen>
4091 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
4092 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
4097 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
4100 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
4101 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
4102 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
4103 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
4104 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
4105 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
4106 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
4107 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
4108 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
4109 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
4110 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
4111 to install updated versions from time to time.
4115 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
4116 <filename>user.action</filename>:
4120 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
4124 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
4128 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
4129 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
4130 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
4135 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
4138 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
4139 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
4140 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4141 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
4142 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below)</screen>
4147 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
4148 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
4149 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
4150 <literal>mercy-for-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
4151 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and
4152 processing of cookies to make them temporary.
4157 { mercy-for-cookies }
4162 .redhat.com</screen>
4166 Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
4167 know which, so you disable them all:
4172 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> }
4173 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
4177 While browsing the web with <application>Privoxy</application> you
4178 noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to
4179 report them through our fine and easy <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>
4180 system, so you have added them here:
4185 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
4186 www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
4187 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
4191 Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
4192 extensions (most do),
4193 <literal>+<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link></literal>
4194 need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will
4195 already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of
4196 <filename>default.action</filename> by now.
4200 Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
4201 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
4202 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
4203 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
4204 -- whoa! -- it worked:
4210 .forbes.com</screen>
4214 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
4215 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
4216 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
4217 update-safe config, once and for all:
4222 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
4223 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
4227 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
4228 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
4229 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
4230 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
4231 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
4235 Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are
4236 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
4237 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
4238 sites that you feel provide value to you:
4250 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
4251 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4252 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>
4258 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4262 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4264 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4266 <sect1 id="filter-file">
4267 <title>The Filter File</title>
4270 All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
4271 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
4272 must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
4273 called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
4274 selected through the <literal>
4275 <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
4280 Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
4281 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
4282 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
4283 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
4284 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
4285 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
4289 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain
4290 text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
4291 MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if
4292 you want to <quote>roll your own</quote> filters, you should be
4293 familiar with HTML syntax.
4297 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
4298 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
4299 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
4300 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
4301 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
4302 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
4303 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
4304 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
4305 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
4306 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
4307 user interface</ulink>.
4311 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
4312 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
4313 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
4314 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
4318 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
4323 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
4327 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
4328 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
4329 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
4330 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
4331 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
4332 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.3.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
4333 for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
4334 option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
4335 to ungreedy matching.
4339 If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
4340 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
4341 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
4343 <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
4344 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
4345 url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
4346 expressions</ulink> in general.
4347 The below examples might also help to get you started.
4350 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4352 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
4354 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
4355 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
4356 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
4361 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
4365 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
4366 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
4367 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
4368 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
4372 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4376 Our complete filter now looks like this:
4379 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
4380 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
4384 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
4385 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
4386 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
4392 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
4394 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
4396 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
4400 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
4401 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
4402 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
4403 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
4407 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
4408 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
4409 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
4410 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
4411 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
4415 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
4416 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
4417 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
4418 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
4419 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
4420 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
4421 in the page (and appear in that order).
4425 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
4426 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
4427 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
4428 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
4429 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
4433 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
4434 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
4435 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
4436 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
4437 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
4438 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
4439 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
4440 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
4441 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
4442 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
4443 substitution is global.
4447 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
4448 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
4449 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
4450 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
4451 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
4455 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
4456 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
4457 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
4458 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
4459 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
4460 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
4461 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
4462 Business!"</literal>.
4466 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
4467 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
4468 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
4469 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
4470 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
4471 information anymore.
4475 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
4476 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
4481 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
4483 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
4487 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
4488 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
4489 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
4490 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
4491 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
4492 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
4493 a backreference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
4494 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
4495 a backreference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
4499 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
4500 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
4501 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
4502 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
4503 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
4504 you move your mouse over links.
4509 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
4511 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
4516 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
4517 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
4518 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
4519 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
4520 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
4521 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
4522 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
4523 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
4524 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
4525 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
4530 The last example is from the fun department:
4535 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
4537 # Spice the daily news:
4539 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
4543 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
4544 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
4545 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
4546 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
4547 still replacing the word everywhere else.
4552 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
4554 s* industry[ -]leading \
4556 | customer[ -]focused \
4557 | market[ -]driven \
4558 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
4559 | high[ -]performance \
4560 | solutions[ -]based \
4564 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
4569 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
4570 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
4579 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4583 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4585 <sect1 id="templates">
4586 <title>Templates</title>
4588 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
4589 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
4590 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
4591 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4593 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
4594 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
4595 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
4600 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
4601 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
4603 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
4607 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
4608 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
4609 edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
4610 (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
4611 just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
4612 ignored when the templates are filled in.
4616 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
4617 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
4618 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
4619 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
4620 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
4624 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
4625 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
4626 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
4627 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
4628 in in an alpha or beta development stage:
4633 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
4635 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
4637 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
4641 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
4642 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
4643 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
4647 <screen><!-- --></screen>
4651 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
4652 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
4657 All templates refer to a style located at
4658 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
4659 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
4660 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
4661 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
4666 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4670 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4672 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
4675 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
4677 <!-- end boilerplate -->
4681 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4684 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4685 <sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
4687 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
4689 <!-- end copyright -->
4691 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4692 <sect2><title>License</title>
4693 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
4695 <!-- end copyright -->
4697 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4700 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4702 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
4703 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
4705 <!-- end history -->
4708 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
4709 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
4711 <!-- end authors -->
4716 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4719 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4720 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
4721 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
4723 <!-- end seealso -->
4728 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4729 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
4732 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4734 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
4736 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
4737 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
4738 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
4739 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
4740 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
4744 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
4745 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
4746 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
4747 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
4751 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
4752 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
4753 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
4754 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
4755 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
4756 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
4757 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
4758 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
4762 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
4763 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
4764 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
4765 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
4766 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
4767 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
4768 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
4769 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
4773 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
4774 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
4775 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
4776 and then some examples:
4781 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
4782 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
4784 </simplelist></para>
4788 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
4791 </simplelist></para>
4795 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
4798 </simplelist></para>
4802 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
4805 </simplelist></para>
4809 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
4810 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
4811 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
4812 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
4813 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
4814 meta-character meaning of any single character).
4816 </simplelist></para>
4820 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
4821 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
4822 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
4823 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
4825 </simplelist></para>
4829 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
4830 or multiple sub-expressions.
4832 </simplelist></para>
4836 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
4837 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
4838 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
4839 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
4840 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
4841 example</quote>, and nothing else.
4843 </simplelist></para>
4846 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
4847 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
4848 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
4849 be more illuminating:
4853 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
4854 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
4855 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
4856 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
4857 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
4858 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
4859 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
4860 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
4861 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
4862 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
4863 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
4864 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
4865 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
4866 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
4871 A now something a little more complex:
4875 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
4876 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
4877 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
4878 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
4879 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
4880 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
4881 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
4886 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
4887 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
4888 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
4889 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
4890 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
4891 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
4892 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
4893 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
4894 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
4895 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
4896 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
4897 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
4898 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
4899 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
4900 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
4901 changing our regular expression to:
4902 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
4907 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
4908 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
4909 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
4910 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
4911 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
4912 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
4913 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
4914 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
4915 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
4916 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
4917 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
4918 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
4919 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
4920 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
4921 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
4922 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
4923 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
4924 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
4925 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
4926 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
4927 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
4928 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
4929 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
4930 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
4931 in the expression anywhere).
4935 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
4936 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
4937 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
4938 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
4939 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
4944 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
4945 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
4949 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
4950 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
4955 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4958 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4960 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
4963 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
4964 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
4965 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
4966 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
4967 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
4968 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
4969 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
4975 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
4976 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
4977 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
4978 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
4991 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
4995 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
4996 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
4997 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
5003 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
5004 editing of actions files:
5008 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
5015 Show the source code version numbers:
5019 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
5026 Show the browser's request headers:
5030 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
5037 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
5041 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5048 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
5049 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
5053 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
5057 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
5061 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
5066 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
5075 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
5079 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
5080 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
5082 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
5083 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
5084 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
5085 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
5086 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
5087 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
5090 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
5091 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
5092 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
5093 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
5094 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
5095 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
5104 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>
5111 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>
5118 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)
5125 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>
5131 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
5136 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
5143 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
5144 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
5145 have more information about bookmarklets.
5154 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5156 <title>Chain of Events</title>
5158 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
5159 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
5166 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
5167 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
5168 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
5174 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
5175 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
5180 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
5182 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
5183 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
5184 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
5185 is then checked and if it does not match, an
5186 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
5187 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
5188 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
5189 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
5194 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
5195 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
5200 If the URL pattern matches the <link
5201 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
5202 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
5207 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
5208 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
5209 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
5210 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
5216 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
5222 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
5223 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
5224 filtered as determined by the
5225 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
5226 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
5227 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
5233 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
5234 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
5235 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
5240 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5242 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5243 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
5244 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
5245 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
5246 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
5247 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
5248 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
5249 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
5250 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
5253 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
5255 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
5256 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
5257 to the client browser as it becomes available.
5262 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
5263 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
5264 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
5265 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
5266 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
5267 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
5277 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5278 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
5279 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
5282 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
5283 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
5284 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
5285 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
5286 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
5287 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
5288 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
5289 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
5290 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
5295 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
5296 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
5297 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
5298 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
5299 logs is a good idea too.
5303 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
5304 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5305 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
5306 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
5310 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
5311 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
5312 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
5313 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
5314 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
5315 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
5316 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
5317 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
5318 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
5319 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
5320 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
5321 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
5322 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
5327 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
5328 and look at it one section at a time:
5333 Matches for http://google.com:
5335 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5339 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5340 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5341 +deanimate-gifs{last}
5342 -downgrade-http-version
5346 -filter{shockwave-flash}
5347 -filter{crude-parental}
5348 +filter{html-annoyances}
5349 +filter{js-annoyances}
5350 +filter{content-cookies}
5352 +filter{refresh-tags}
5354 +filter{banners-by-size}
5355 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5356 +hide-from-header{block}
5357 +hide-referer{forge}
5362 +prevent-compression
5365 +session-cookies-only
5366 +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
5369 { -session-cookies-only }
5375 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5376 (no matches in this file)
5381 This tells us how we have defined our
5382 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
5383 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
5384 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
5385 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
5386 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
5387 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
5388 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
5389 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
5390 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
5391 -- <quote>/</quote>.
5395 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
5396 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
5397 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
5398 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
5400 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
5401 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
5402 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
5404 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
5405 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
5406 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
5407 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
5408 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
5409 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
5410 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
5415 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
5419 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
5420 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
5421 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
5432 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5433 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5434 +deanimate-gifs{last}
5435 -downgrade-http-version
5439 -filter{shockwave-flash}
5440 -filter{crude-parental}
5441 +filter{html-annoyances}
5442 +filter{js-annoyances}
5443 +filter{content-cookies}
5445 +filter{refresh-tags}
5447 +filter{banners-by-size}
5448 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5449 +hide-from-header{block}
5450 +hide-referer{forge}
5455 +prevent-compression
5458 -session-cookies-only
5459 +set-image-blocker{pattern}
5464 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
5465 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
5469 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
5475 { +block +handle-as-image }
5478 { +block +handle-as-image }
5481 { +block +handle-as-image }
5487 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
5488 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
5489 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
5490 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
5491 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
5492 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
5497 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
5498 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
5499 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
5500 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
5501 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
5502 is done here -- as both a <link
5503 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
5504 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
5506 linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
5507 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
5512 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
5513 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
5519 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
5521 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
5525 -crunch-incoming-cookies
5526 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5528 -downgrade-http-version
5530 +filter{html-annoyances}
5531 +filter{js-annoyances}
5532 +filter{kill-popups}
5535 +filter{banners-by-size}
5538 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
5539 +hide-from-header{block}
5540 +hide-referer{forge}
5544 +prevent-compression
5547 +session-cookies-only
5548 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
5551 { +block +handle-as-image }
5557 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
5558 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
5559 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
5560 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
5561 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
5573 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
5574 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
5578 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
5585 { +block +handle-as-image }
5591 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
5592 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
5593 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
5594 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
5595 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. These
5596 tend to be harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of
5597 aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
5605 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5613 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
5614 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
5615 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
5628 This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
5629 appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
5634 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
5635 <quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote> rule, which assumes
5636 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well most of the time
5637 since these tend to be standardized).
5641 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
5642 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
5643 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
5644 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
5653 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
5654 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
5655 Public License as published by the Free Software
5656 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
5657 your option) any later version.
5659 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
5660 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
5661 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
5662 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
5663 License for more details.
5665 The GNU General Public License should be included with
5666 this file. If not, you can view it at
5667 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
5668 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
5669 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
5671 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
5672 Revision 2.3 2002/09/26 00:12:17 hal9
5673 Additional notes on Privoxy patterns, and filtering vs SSL.
5675 Revision 2.2 2002/09/05 05:45:30 hal9
5676 Syncing with 3.0. This should be it for doc sources. Not all builds tested
5677 yet. No new content, just catching up.
5679 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
5680 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
5683 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
5684 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
5686 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
5687 Update to Mac OSX startup script name
5689 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
5690 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
5692 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
5693 Nits re: actions file download
5695 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
5696 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
5698 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
5699 Added 2 Gentoo sections
5701 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
5702 - Added version info to title
5703 - Added info on new filters
5704 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
5705 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
5707 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
5708 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
5710 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
5712 Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
5714 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
5715 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
5717 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
5718 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
5720 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
5721 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
5723 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
5724 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
5725 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
5726 so that these are in sync with each other.
5728 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
5729 Ooops missed something from David.
5731 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
5732 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
5733 That's a wrap, I think.
5735 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
5736 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
5738 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
5739 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
5741 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
5742 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
5743 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
5745 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
5746 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
5748 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
5749 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
5750 <literal><link> style.
5751 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
5752 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
5753 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
5754 renders them red (bad in TOC).
5756 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
5757 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
5759 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
5762 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
5763 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
5764 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
5766 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
5767 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
5768 - Small changes to Regex appendix
5769 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
5771 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
5772 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
5774 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
5775 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
5777 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
5778 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
5780 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
5781 Extended and further commented the example actions files
5783 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
5784 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
5787 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
5790 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
5791 Restored alphabetical order of actions
5793 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
5794 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
5796 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
5797 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
5799 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
5800 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
5801 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
5803 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
5804 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
5805 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
5806 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
5808 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
5809 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
5811 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
5814 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
5815 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
5816 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
5818 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
5819 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
5821 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
5822 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
5823 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
5825 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
5826 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
5828 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
5829 more structure in starting section
5831 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
5832 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
5833 will probably break links elsewhere :(
5835 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
5836 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
5837 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
5839 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
5840 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
5841 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
5843 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
5844 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
5846 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
5847 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
5848 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
5850 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
5851 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
5852 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
5854 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
5855 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
5857 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
5858 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
5860 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
5861 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
5863 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
5864 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
5866 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
5867 Updated OSX installation section
5868 Added a few English tweaks here an there
5870 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
5871 Re-write actions section.
5873 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
5874 Fix ugly typo (mine).
5876 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
5877 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
5879 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
5880 Added RPM install detail
5882 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
5885 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
5886 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
5888 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
5889 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
5891 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
5892 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
5894 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
5897 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
5898 Proofreading, part one
5900 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
5901 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
5902 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
5904 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
5905 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
5907 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
5908 Add small section on submitting actions.
5910 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
5913 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
5914 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
5916 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
5917 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
5919 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
5922 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
5923 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
5924 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
5925 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
5926 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
5928 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
5929 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
5931 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
5932 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
5934 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
5935 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
5936 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
5937 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
5938 eventually be set by Makefile.
5939 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
5941 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
5942 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
5944 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
5945 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
5947 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
5948 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
5950 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
5951 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
5952 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
5953 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
5955 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
5958 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
5959 Added more to Anatomy section.
5961 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
5962 Touch up intro for new name.
5964 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
5965 we have a new homepage!
5967 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
5968 A few minor catch ups with name change.
5970 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
5971 configure needs to be generated.
5973 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
5974 we are too lazy to make a block-built
5975 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
5977 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
5978 name change related issue.
5980 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
5981 name change. changed filenames.
5983 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
5986 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
5987 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
5988 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
5989 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
5990 comments and remarks to history untouched.
5992 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
5995 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
5996 New section in Appendix.
5998 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
5999 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
6001 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
6002 correct feedback channels
6004 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
6005 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
6007 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
6010 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
6011 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
6013 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
6014 Added imageblock{pattern}.
6016 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
6019 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
6020 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
6022 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
6023 provide correct feedback channels
6025 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
6026 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
6028 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
6029 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
6031 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
6032 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
6034 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
6035 Add new - - user option.
6037 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
6038 Added section on command line options.
6040 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
6041 Changed default port to 8118
6043 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
6044 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
6046 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
6047 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
6048 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
6051 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
6054 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
6055 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
6057 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
6058 Update OS/2 build section
6060 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
6061 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
6062 will work - no other changes are needed.
6064 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
6065 Added a very short section on Templates
6067 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
6068 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
6070 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
6071 Touch ups for *.action files.
6073 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
6076 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
6077 Updates for recent changes.
6079 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
6080 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
6082 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
6083 Correct 2 minor errors
6085 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
6086 *** empty log message ***
6088 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
6089 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
6091 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
6092 wrong url in documentation
6094 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
6095 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
6097 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
6100 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
6103 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
6106 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
6107 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
6109 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
6110 Some additions, and re-arranging.
6112 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
6115 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
6116 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
6118 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
6121 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
6122 source files for junkbuster documentation
6124 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
6125 first proposal of a structure.
6127 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
6128 docs should have an author.
6130 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
6131 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob