1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
4 <!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
12 <!entity p-version "2.9.15">
13 <!entity p-status "beta">
14 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
15 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
16 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
17 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
18 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
19 <!entity % p-config "IGNORE">
20 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
21 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
24 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
27 This file belongs into
28 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
30 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9 Exp $
32 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
35 ========================================================================
36 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
37 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
38 ========================================================================
45 <title>Privoxy User Manual</title>
49 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
50 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
51 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
52 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
56 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
60 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
61 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
62 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
63 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
70 <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
73 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
75 text goes here ........
87 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
88 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
89 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
95 The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
97 url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
100 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
102 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
105 You can find the latest version of the user manual at <ulink
106 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
107 Please see the <ulink url="contact.html">Contact section</ulink> on how to
108 contact the developers.
112 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
118 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
119 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
121 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
122 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
123 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
124 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
125 configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
126 completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over
127 earlier versions. The target release date for
128 stable v3.0 is <quote>soon</quote> ;-)]]>.
131 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
134 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
135 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
136 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
141 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
142 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
144 In addition to <application>Internet Junkbuster's</application> traditional
145 features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
146 <application>Privoxy</application> provides new features<![%p-not-stable;[,
147 some of them currently under development]]>:
149 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
151 <!-- end boilerplate -->
156 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
159 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
160 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
163 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
164 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
165 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
166 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
171 Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
172 <application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
173 will need to remove it. Some platforms do this for you as part
174 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform).
175 In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration
176 if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the
177 <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section
181 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
182 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
184 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
187 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
188 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and SuSE RPMs</title>
191 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
192 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
193 of configuration files.
197 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
198 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
199 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
200 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
201 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
205 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
206 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm;</literal>. This
207 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
211 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
212 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
213 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
214 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
218 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
219 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
225 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
226 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
229 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
230 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
231 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
232 use the registry of Windows.
236 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
237 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
240 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
241 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
246 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
247 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
250 First, make sure that no previous installations of
251 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
252 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
253 system. You can do this by
257 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
258 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
259 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
260 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
264 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
265 into will contain all of the configuration files.
269 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
270 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
272 Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
273 in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
274 double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
276 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
277 <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
278 <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
279 automatically on system bring-up via
280 <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
284 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
285 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
287 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
288 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
289 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
290 remove this directory.
293 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
294 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
295 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
296 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
297 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
298 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
299 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
304 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
305 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
308 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
309 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
314 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
315 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
316 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
317 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
318 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
322 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
324 <!-- end boilerplate -->
330 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
332 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
333 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
334 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
336 There are very significant changes from earlier
337 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
338 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
339 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
340 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
341 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
342 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
343 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
344 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
345 are now combined into the <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions
346 files</quote></ulink>.
347 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
348 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
351 A <ulink url="filter-file.html"><quote>filter file</quote></ulink> (typically
352 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
353 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
354 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
357 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
358 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
359 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
360 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
361 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
362 recommended to use the new configuration files.
365 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
373 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
379 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
380 important configuration files!
385 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
386 at the special URL: <ulink
387 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
388 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
389 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
390 <application>Privoxy</application>.
395 The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner
396 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
397 configuration is in the <ulink url="actions-file.html">actions
398 files</ulink>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
399 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
400 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
405 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
406 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
407 Some installers may not automatically start
408 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
416 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
417 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
423 If upgrading, please back up any configuration files. See
424 the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
429 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
430 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> for platform specific
437 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
438 not done this already. See the section <link linkend="startup">Starting
439 <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
445 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and HTTPS
446 proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
447 <literal>localhost</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
448 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
449 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
450 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
456 Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images.
462 Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. You may want to customize the
463 <link linkend="actions-file"><filename>user.action</filename></link> file to
464 personalize your new browsing experience. See the <link
465 linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more configuration
466 options, and how to further customize your installation.
472 If you experience problems with sites that <quote>misbehave</quote>, see
473 the <link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an Action</link> section in the
480 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
481 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
491 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
493 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
495 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
496 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
497 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
498 localhost for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions used port
499 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
503 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
504 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under <literal>Edit
505 -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy</literal>.
506 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>: <literal>Tools ->
507 Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting</literal>. Then,
508 check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info (Address:
509 localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too.
513 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
514 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
515 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
516 <application>Privoxy</application>!
520 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
521 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
522 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
523 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
524 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
527 <sect2 id="start-redhatdebian">
528 <title>RedHat and Debian</title>
530 We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
531 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its
532 main configuration file. FIXME: Debian??
536 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
541 <sect2 id="start-suse">
544 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
545 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
555 <sect2 id="start-windows">
556 <title>Windows</title>
558 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
559 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
560 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
561 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
565 <sect2 id="start-unices">
566 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
568 Example Unix startup command:
572 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
577 <sect2 id="start-os2">
584 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
585 <title>MAX OSX</title>
592 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
593 <title>AmigaOS</title>
602 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
606 must find a better place for this paragraph
609 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
610 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
611 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
612 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
613 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
614 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
618 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
619 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
620 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
621 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
622 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
623 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
624 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
625 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
626 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
630 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
631 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
632 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
634 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
635 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
636 popups (explained below).
640 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
641 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
642 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
643 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
644 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
645 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
646 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
647 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
648 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
652 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
653 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
654 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
655 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
656 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
657 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
658 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
659 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
660 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
664 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
665 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
666 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
667 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
668 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
669 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
670 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
674 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
675 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
676 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
677 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
678 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
679 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
684 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
685 url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
686 or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
691 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
692 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
693 section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
694 Developers</quote></ulink> below.
699 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
700 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
701 <title>Command Line Options</title>
703 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
704 command-line options:
712 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
715 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
720 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
723 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
728 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
731 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
732 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
737 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
741 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
742 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
743 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
744 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
749 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
753 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
754 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
755 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
760 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
763 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
764 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
765 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
766 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
767 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
768 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
779 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
782 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
783 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
785 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
786 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
787 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
788 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
792 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
795 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
797 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
798 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
799 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
800 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
801 You will see the following section:
805 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
808 <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
812 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
815 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
818 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
821 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
824 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
832 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
833 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
834 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
835 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
836 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
837 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
841 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
842 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
843 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
844 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
845 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
846 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
847 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
848 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
854 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
859 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
861 <sect2 id="confoverview">
862 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
864 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
865 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
866 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
867 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
868 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
869 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
873 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
874 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
875 principle configuration files are:
883 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
884 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
885 on Windows. This is a required file.
891 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
892 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
893 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
894 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
895 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
896 as many websites as possible.
899 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
900 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
901 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
902 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most propably want
903 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
904 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
905 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
906 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
909 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
911 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
913 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
914 various actions files.
920 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
921 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
922 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
923 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
924 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
932 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
933 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
934 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
935 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
936 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
937 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
942 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
943 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
948 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
949 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
950 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
951 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
952 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
953 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
954 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
959 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
960 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
961 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
962 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
968 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
971 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
974 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
977 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
978 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
979 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
980 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
988 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
994 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
995 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
996 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
1000 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
1001 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
1002 for what happens if you leave them unset.
1006 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
1007 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
1008 where you may be surfing).
1012 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1014 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
1015 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
1018 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
1019 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
1020 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
1021 where to find those other files.
1025 The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all
1026 configuration files, and write permission to any files that would
1027 be modified, such as log files.
1030 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
1034 <term>Specifies:</term>
1036 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
1040 <term>Type of value:</term>
1042 <para>Path name</para>
1046 <term>Default value:</term>
1048 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1052 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1054 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1061 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1064 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
1065 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
1066 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
1067 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
1068 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
1076 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
1080 <term>Specifies:</term>
1083 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
1084 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
1089 <term>Type of value:</term>
1091 <para>Path name</para>
1095 <term>Default value:</term>
1097 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1101 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1103 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1110 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1117 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
1120 <anchor id="default.action">
1121 <anchor id="standard.action">
1122 <anchor id="user.action">
1123 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
1126 <term>Specifies:</term>
1129 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
1134 <term>Type of value:</term>
1136 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
1140 <term>Default value:</term>
1144 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
1147 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
1150 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
1156 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1159 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
1167 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
1170 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
1171 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
1172 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
1173 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
1176 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
1177 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
1178 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
1179 least one actions file.
1186 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
1187 <anchor id="default.filter">
1190 <term>Specifies:</term>
1193 The <link linkend="filter">filter</link> file to use
1198 <term>Type of value:</term>
1200 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1204 <term>Default value:</term>
1206 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
1210 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1213 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
1214 <literal>+filter{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
1215 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
1223 The <quote>default.filter</quote> file contains content modification rules
1224 that use <quote>regular expressions</quote>. These rules permit powerful
1225 changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
1226 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
1227 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
1228 it appears on a Web page.
1235 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
1239 <term>Specifies:</term>
1247 <term>Type of value:</term>
1249 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1253 <term>Default value:</term>
1255 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
1259 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1262 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>stderr</literal>).
1270 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
1273 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
1274 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
1275 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
1276 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
1277 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
1280 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
1281 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
1282 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
1283 script has been included.
1286 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
1287 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
1288 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
1289 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
1292 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
1293 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
1300 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
1304 <term>Specifies:</term>
1307 The file to store intercepted cookies in
1312 <term>Type of value:</term>
1314 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1318 <term>Default value:</term>
1320 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
1324 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1327 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
1335 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
1342 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
1345 <term>Specifies:</term>
1348 The trust file to use
1353 <term>Type of value:</term>
1355 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1359 <term>Default value:</term>
1361 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
1365 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1368 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
1376 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
1377 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
1380 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
1381 access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
1382 You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
1383 the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
1384 trusted referrer was used.
1385 The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
1386 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
1389 If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
1397 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1401 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1403 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
1404 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
1407 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
1408 that just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
1409 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies etc.
1412 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
1415 <term>Specifies:</term>
1418 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
1423 <term>Type of value:</term>
1425 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
1429 <term>Default value:</term>
1431 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1435 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1438 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
1439 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
1447 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
1448 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you propably want
1449 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
1450 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
1456 Unix, in local filesystem:
1459 <screen>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
1462 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
1465 <screen>user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
1469 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config file</emphasis>, because
1470 it is used while the config file is being read.
1478 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
1482 <term>Specifies:</term>
1485 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
1490 <term>Type of value:</term>
1496 <term>Default value:</term>
1498 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
1502 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1505 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
1513 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
1514 activated. (See <literal>trustfile</literal> above.)
1517 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
1518 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
1519 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
1522 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
1523 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
1530 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
1534 <term>Specifies:</term>
1537 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
1542 <term>Type of value:</term>
1544 <para>Email address</para>
1548 <term>Default value:</term>
1550 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1554 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1557 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1565 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1566 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1574 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
1578 <term>Specifies:</term>
1581 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
1582 configuration or policies.
1587 <term>Type of value:</term>
1593 <term>Default value:</term>
1595 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1599 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1602 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1610 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1611 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1615 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
1623 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1625 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1627 <sect2 id="debugging">
1628 <title>Debugging</title>
1631 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
1632 Note that you might also want to invoke
1633 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
1634 command line option when debugging.
1637 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
1641 <term>Specifies:</term>
1644 Key values that determine what information gets logged.
1649 <term>Type of value:</term>
1651 <para>Integer values</para>
1655 <term>Default value:</term>
1657 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
1661 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1664 Nothing gets logged.
1672 The available debug levels are:
1676 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
1677 debug 2 # show each connection status
1678 debug 4 # show I/O status
1679 debug 8 # show header parsing
1680 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
1681 debug 32 # debug force feature
1682 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
1683 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
1684 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
1685 debug 512 # Common Log Format
1686 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
1687 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
1688 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
1692 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
1693 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
1696 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
1697 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
1698 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
1699 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
1700 a hell of an output (especially 16).
1704 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
1705 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
1708 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
1709 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
1716 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1720 <term>Specifies:</term>
1723 Whether to run only one server thread
1728 <term>Type of value:</term>
1730 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1734 <term>Default value:</term>
1736 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1740 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1743 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1744 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1752 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1753 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1762 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1764 <sect2 id="access-control">
1765 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1768 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1769 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1772 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1776 <term>Specifies:</term>
1779 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1780 listen for client requests.
1785 <term>Type of value:</term>
1787 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1792 <term>Default value:</term>
1794 <para>localhost:8118</para>
1798 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1801 Bind to localhost (127.0.0.1), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1802 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1811 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1814 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1815 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1816 will need to override the default.
1819 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1820 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1821 from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's)
1822 (see <quote>ACLs</quote> below), or a firewall.
1827 <term>Example:</term>
1830 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1831 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1832 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1833 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1837 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1845 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1849 <term>Specifies:</term>
1852 Initial state of "toggle" status
1857 <term>Type of value:</term>
1863 <term>Default value:</term>
1869 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1872 Act as if toggled on
1880 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1881 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1882 proxy. See <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal>
1883 below. This is not really useful anymore, since toggling is much easier
1884 via <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web
1885 interface</ulink> than via editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1888 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1889 if this option is present.
1897 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1900 <term>Specifies:</term>
1903 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1904 feature</ulink> may be used
1909 <term>Type of value:</term>
1915 <term>Default value:</term>
1921 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1924 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1932 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1933 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1937 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1938 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1939 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1940 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1941 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1942 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1945 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1946 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1954 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1957 <term>Specifies:</term>
1960 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1961 file editor</ulink> may be used
1966 <term>Type of value:</term>
1972 <term>Default value:</term>
1978 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1981 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1989 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1990 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1991 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1992 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1993 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1994 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1997 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1998 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
2005 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
2006 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
2007 <anchor id="permit-acces">
2008 <anchor id="deny-acces">
2012 <term>Specifies:</term>
2015 Who can access what.
2020 <term>Type of value:</term>
2023 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
2024 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
2027 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
2028 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
2029 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
2030 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
2031 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
2032 destination part are optional.
2037 <term>Default value:</term>
2039 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2043 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2046 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
2054 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
2055 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
2056 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
2057 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost or internal (home)
2058 network address by means of the <literal>listen-address</literal> option.
2061 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
2062 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
2066 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
2067 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
2068 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
2069 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
2070 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
2073 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
2074 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
2075 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
2076 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
2077 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
2078 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
2081 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
2082 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
2083 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
2084 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
2087 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
2088 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
2093 <term>Examples:</term>
2096 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
2097 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
2098 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
2099 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
2103 permit-access localhost
2107 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
2108 nothing but www.example.com:
2112 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
2116 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
2117 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
2121 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
2122 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
2130 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
2134 <term>Specifies:</term>
2137 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
2142 <term>Type of value:</term>
2144 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
2148 <term>Default value:</term>
2154 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2157 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
2165 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
2166 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
2167 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
2168 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
2169 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
2173 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
2174 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
2175 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
2176 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
2177 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
2187 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2190 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2192 <sect2 id="forwarding">
2193 <title>Forwarding</title>
2196 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
2198 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
2199 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
2200 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
2201 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
2202 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
2203 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
2204 runs on has no direct Internet access.
2208 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
2209 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
2212 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
2215 <term>Specifies:</term>
2218 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
2223 <term>Type of value:</term>
2226 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2227 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2230 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2231 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2232 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is the address of the parent HTTP proxy
2233 as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or <quote>.</quote> to denote
2234 <quote>no forwarding</quote>, and the optional
2235 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer
2236 values from 1 to 64535
2241 <term>Default value:</term>
2243 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2247 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2250 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
2258 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2259 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
2262 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2267 <term>Examples:</term>
2270 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
2274 forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
2279 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
2280 to that ISP's sites:
2284 forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
2285 forward .example-isp.net .
2293 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
2294 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
2295 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
2296 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
2300 <term>Specifies:</term>
2303 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
2308 <term>Type of value:</term>
2311 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2312 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2313 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2316 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2317 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2318 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
2319 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
2320 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
2321 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
2326 <term>Default value:</term>
2328 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2332 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2335 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
2343 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2346 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
2347 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
2348 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
2351 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2352 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
2358 <term>Examples:</term>
2361 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
2362 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
2363 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
2368 forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
2369 forward .example.com .
2373 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
2377 forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
2385 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
2388 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
2389 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
2390 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
2391 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
2395 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
2396 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
2397 configuration can look like this:
2407 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
2418 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
2423 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
2424 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
2425 of both isp-a and isp-b.
2429 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
2430 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
2431 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
2435 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
2436 run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this:
2441 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
2442 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
2444 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
2447 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
2448 always_direct allow ftp
2450 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
2451 never_direct allow all</screen>
2455 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
2456 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
2463 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2466 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2468 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
2469 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
2471 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
2472 Windows GUI interface:
2475 <anchor id="activity-animation">
2477 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
2478 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
2479 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
2486 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
2492 <anchor id="log-messages">
2494 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2495 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
2503 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
2509 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
2511 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
2512 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
2513 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
2517 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
2518 eat up all your memory!
2525 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
2531 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
2533 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
2534 in the log buffer. See above.
2541 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
2547 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
2549 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2550 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
2551 messages with a bold-faced font:
2558 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
2564 <anchor id="log-font-name">
2566 The font used in the console window:
2573 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
2579 <anchor id="log-font-size">
2581 Font size used in the console window:
2588 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
2594 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
2596 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
2597 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
2605 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
2611 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
2613 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
2614 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
2615 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
2622 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2628 <anchor id="hide-console">
2630 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2631 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2632 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2640 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2649 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2653 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2655 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2658 The actions files are used to define what actions
2659 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
2660 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2661 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
2662 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
2663 version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
2670 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
2671 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
2672 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
2673 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
2674 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
2680 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
2681 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
2682 provide a base level of functionality for
2683 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
2684 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
2685 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
2691 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2692 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2693 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2694 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2701 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2702 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
2703 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
2704 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2708 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2709 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2710 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2711 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2712 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2713 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2714 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2715 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2716 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2717 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2718 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2719 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2723 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2724 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2725 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2726 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2727 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2731 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2733 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2735 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2736 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2737 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2738 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
2739 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2740 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2741 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
2742 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2743 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
2744 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2748 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2749 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2750 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2751 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2755 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2757 <title>How to Edit</title>
2759 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2760 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2761 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2762 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
2763 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
2764 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
2768 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2769 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
2776 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
2778 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2779 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will be discussed later. For now
2780 let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split
2781 up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions,
2782 separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there
2783 is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
2787 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2788 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
2789 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
2790 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
2791 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
2792 the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the
2793 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
2794 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> actions).
2799 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
2800 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2804 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2805 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
2809 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2811 <title>Patterns</title>
2813 Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
2814 where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
2815 are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
2820 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2823 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2824 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
2829 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2832 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2838 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2841 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2842 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2847 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
2850 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2851 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
2856 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2859 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2860 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
2867 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2868 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2871 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2872 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2878 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2881 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
2882 <literal>.example.com</literal>
2887 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2890 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2891 <literal>www.</literal>
2896 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2899 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
2900 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
2907 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2908 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
2909 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
2910 any single character, you can define character classes in square
2911 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
2916 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2919 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2920 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2925 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2928 matches all of the above, and then some.
2933 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2936 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2937 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2942 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2945 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2946 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2947 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2948 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2956 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2959 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2960 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2963 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
2964 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2969 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2970 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2971 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2972 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2973 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2974 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
2978 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2979 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2980 for the beginning of a line).
2984 Please also note that matching in the path is case
2985 <emphasis>INSENSITIVE</emphasis> by default, but you can switch to case
2986 sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2987 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch:
2988 <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match only
2989 documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2990 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2996 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2999 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3001 <sect2 id="actions">
3002 <title>Actions</title>
3004 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
3005 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
3006 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
3007 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
3008 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
3009 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
3010 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
3011 previously applied.</quote>
3016 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
3017 separated by whitespace, like in
3018 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
3019 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
3020 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
3021 of the actions file.
3025 There are three classes of actions:
3032 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
3033 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
3037 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
3038 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
3041 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
3048 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
3053 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
3054 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
3055 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
3058 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
3059 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
3062 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
3068 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
3069 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
3070 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3071 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3072 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3073 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3077 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3078 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3079 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3080 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3083 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3084 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3092 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3093 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3094 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
3095 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3096 files will give a good starting point).
3100 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
3101 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3102 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
3103 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
3104 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
3105 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
3106 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
3107 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
3110 <!-- start actions listing -->
3112 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3116 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3117 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3118 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3120 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3123 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3125 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3126 <title><emphasis>+add-header</emphasis></title>
3131 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3133 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3138 <term>Purpose and typical uses:</term>
3141 Send a user defined HTTP header to the web server. Can be used to confuse log analysis.
3147 <term>Possible values:</term>
3150 Any value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3151 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3158 <term>Example usage:</term>
3161 <emphasis>{+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}}</emphasis>
3162 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis></literallayout>
3170 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3171 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3172 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3181 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3182 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3183 <title><emphasis>+block</emphasis></title>
3188 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3190 <para>Boolean.</para>
3195 <term>Purpose and typical uses:</term>
3198 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
3199 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
3200 as determined by the <link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> and
3201 <link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link> actions.
3202 It is typically used to block ads or other obnoxious content.
3208 <term>Possible values:</term>
3215 <term>Example usage:</term>
3218 <emphasis>{+block}</emphasis>
3219 <emphasis>.banners.example.com</emphasis>
3220 <emphasis>.ads.r.us</emphasis>
3229 If a URL matches one of the blocked patterns, <application>Privoxy</application>
3230 will intercept the URL and display its special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3231 instead. If there is sufficient space, a large red banner will appear with
3232 a friendly message about why the page was blocked, and a way to go there
3233 anyway. If there is insufficient space a smaller <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
3234 page will appear without the red banner.
3235 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Click here</ulink>
3236 to view the default blocked HTML page (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running
3237 for this to work as intended!).
3241 A very important exception is if the URL <emphasis>matches both</emphasis>
3242 <quote>+block</quote> and <ulink
3243 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
3244 then it will be handled by
3245 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
3246 (see below). It is important to understand this process, in order
3247 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> is able to deal with
3248 ads and other objectionable content.
3251 The <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
3252 action can also perform some of the
3253 same functionality as <quote>+block</quote>, but by virtue of very
3254 different programming techniques, and is most often used for different
3264 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3265 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3266 <title><emphasis>+deanimate-gifs</emphasis></title>
3271 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3273 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3278 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3281 To stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
3287 <term>Possible values:</term>
3290 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3296 <term>Example usage:</term>
3299 <emphasis>{+deanimate-gifs{last}}</emphasis>
3300 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3309 De-animate all animated GIF images, i.e. reduce them to their last frame.
3310 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3311 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3312 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3313 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3314 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3315 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3323 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3324 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3325 <title><emphasis>+downgrade-http-version</emphasis></title>
3330 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3332 <para>Boolean.</para>
3337 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3340 <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to
3341 HTTP/1.0 and downgrade the responses as well.
3347 <term>Possible values:</term>
3356 <term>Example usage:</term>
3359 <emphasis>{+downgrade-http-version}</emphasis>
3360 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3369 Use this action for servers that use HTTP/1.1 protocol features that
3370 <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 is
3371 only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. This is
3372 an infrequently needed action, and is used to help with rare problem sites only.
3380 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3381 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3382 <title><emphasis>+fast-redirects</emphasis></title>
3387 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3389 <para>Boolean.</para>
3394 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3397 The <quote>+fast-redirects</quote> action enables interception of
3398 <quote>redirect</quote> requests from one server to another, which
3399 are used to track users.<application>Privoxy</application> can cut off
3400 all but the last valid URL in a redirect request and send a local redirect
3401 back to your browser without contacting the intermediate site(s).
3407 <term>Possible values:</term>
3416 <term>Example usage:</term>
3419 <emphasis>{+fast-redirects}</emphasis>
3420 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3429 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3430 will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a
3431 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3432 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3433 <emphasis>http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else</emphasis>.
3436 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3437 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3438 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3439 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3440 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3444 This is a normally <quote>on</quote> feature, and often requires exceptions
3445 for sites that are sensitive to defeating this mechanism.
3454 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3455 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3456 <title><emphasis>+filter</emphasis></title>
3461 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3463 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3468 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3471 Apply page filtering as defined by named sections of the
3472 <filename>default.filter</filename> file to the specified site(s).
3473 <quote>Filtering</quote> can be any modification of the raw
3474 page content, including re-writing or deletion of content.
3480 <term>Possible values:</term>
3483 <quote>+filter</quote> must include the name of one of the section identifiers
3484 from <filename>default.filter</filename> (or whatever
3485 <emphasis>filterfile</emphasis> is specified in <filename>config</filename>).
3491 <term>Example usage (from the current <filename>default.filter</filename>):</term>
3495 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3496 <emphasis>+filter{html-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
3501 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3502 <emphasis>+filter{js-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
3507 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3508 <emphasis>+filter{content-cookies}</emphasis>: Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
3513 <anchor id="filter-popups">
3514 <emphasis>+filter{popups}</emphasis>: Kill all popups in JS and HTML
3519 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3520 <emphasis>+filter{frameset-borders}</emphasis>: Give frames a border and make them resizable
3525 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3526 <emphasis>+filter{webbugs}</emphasis>: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
3531 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3532 <emphasis>+filter{refresh-tags}</emphasis>: Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
3537 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3538 <emphasis>+filter{fun}</emphasis>: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
3543 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
3544 <emphasis>+filter{nimda}</emphasis>: Remove Nimda (virus) code.
3549 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3550 <emphasis>+filter{banners-by-size}</emphasis>: Kill banners by size (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)
3555 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3556 <emphasis>+filter{shockwave-flash}</emphasis>: Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
3561 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3562 <emphasis>+filter{crude-parental}</emphasis>: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"
3572 This is potentially a very powerful feature! And requires a knowledge
3573 of regular expressions if you want to <quote>roll your own</quote>.
3574 Filtering operates on a line by line basis throughout the entire page.
3577 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3578 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3579 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3580 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3581 noticeable on slower connections.
3584 Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
3585 <ulink url="actions-file#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
3586 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. In the overall
3587 scheme of things, filtering is one of the first things <quote>Privoxy</quote>
3588 does with a web page. So other most other actions are applied to the
3589 already <quote>filtered</quote> page.
3598 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3599 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
3600 <title><emphasis>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis></title>
3605 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3607 <para>Boolean.</para>
3612 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3615 Block any existing X-Forwarded-for HTTP header, and do not add a new one.
3621 <term>Possible values:</term>
3630 <term>Example usage:</term>
3633 <emphasis>{+hide-forwarded-for-headers}</emphasis>
3634 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3643 It is fairly safe to leave this on. It does not seem to break many sites.
3652 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3653 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
3654 <title><emphasis>+hide-from-header</emphasis></title>
3659 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3661 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3666 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3669 To block the browser from sending your email address in a <quote>From:</quote>
3676 <term>Possible values:</term>
3679 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
3685 <term>Example usage:</term>
3688 <emphasis>{+hide-from-header{block}}</emphasis>
3689 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3698 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
3699 (not to be confused with the <ulink
3700 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> action).
3701 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to send to the web
3711 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3712 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referer">
3713 <title><emphasis>+hide-referer</emphasis></title>
3714 <anchor id="hide-referrer">
3718 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3720 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3725 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3728 Don't send the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header to the web site.
3729 Or, alternately send a forged header instead.
3735 <term>Possible values:</term>
3738 Prevent the header from being sent with the keyword, <quote>block</quote>.
3739 Or, <quote>forge</quote> a URL to one from the same server as the request.
3740 Or, set to user defined value of your choice.
3746 <term>Example usage:</term>
3749 <emphasis>{+hide-referer{forge}}</emphasis>
3750 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3759 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
3760 not send images back otherwise.
3763 <quote>+hide-referrer</quote> is an alternate spelling of
3764 <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. It has the exact same parameters, and can be freely
3765 mixed with, <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
3766 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
3767 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
3776 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3777 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
3778 <title><emphasis>+hide-user-agent</emphasis></title>
3783 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3785 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3790 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3793 To change the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> header so web servers can't tell
3794 your browser type. Who's business is it anyway?
3800 <term>Possible values:</term>
3803 Any user defined string.
3809 <term>Example usage:</term>
3812 <emphasis>{+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}}</emphasis>
3813 <emphasis>.msn.com</emphasis>
3822 Warning! This breaks many web sites that depend on this in order
3823 to determine how the target browser will respond to various
3824 requests. Use with caution.
3832 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3833 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
3834 <title><emphasis>+handle-as-image</emphasis></title>
3839 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3841 <para>Boolean.</para>
3846 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3849 To define what <application>Privoxy</application> should treat
3850 automatically as an image, and is an important ingredient of how
3857 <term>Possible values:</term>
3866 <term>Example usage:</term>
3869 <emphasis>{+handle-as-image}</emphasis>
3870 <emphasis>/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)</emphasis>
3879 This only has meaning if the URL (or pattern) also is
3880 <quote>+block</quote>ed, in which case a user definable image can
3881 be sent rather than a HTML page. This is integral to the whole concept of
3882 ad blocking: the URL must match <emphasis>both</emphasis> a <ulink
3883 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> rule,
3884 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <quote>+handle-as-image</quote>.
3886 url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
3887 below for control over what will actually be displayed by the browser.)
3890 There is little reason to change the default definition for this action.
3899 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3900 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
3901 <title><emphasis>+set-image-blocker</emphasis></title>
3906 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3908 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3913 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3916 Decide what to do with URLs that end up tagged with <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3917 <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
3919 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
3920 e.g an advertisement.
3926 <term>Possible values:</term>
3929 There are four available options: <quote>-set-image-blocker</quote> will send a HTML
3930 <quote>blocked</quote> page, usually resulting in a <quote>broken
3932 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>blank</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
3933 1x1 transparent GIF image.
3934 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>pattern</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
3935 checkerboard type pattern (the default). And finally,
3936 <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>http://xyz.com</emphasis>}</quote> will
3937 send a HTTP temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the
3938 advantage of the icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed
3945 <term>Example usage:</term>
3948 <emphasis>{+set-image-blocker{blank}}</emphasis>
3949 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
3958 If you want <emphasis>invisible</emphasis> ads, they need to meet
3959 criteria as matching both <emphasis>images</emphasis> and <emphasis>blocked</emphasis>
3960 actions. And then, <quote>image-blocker</quote> should be set to
3961 <quote>blank</quote> for invisibility. Note you cannot treat HTML pages as
3962 images in most cases. For instance, frames require an HTML page to
3963 display. So a frame that is an ad, typically cannot be treated as an image.
3964 Forcing an <quote>image</quote> in this situation just will not work
3973 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3974 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
3975 <title><emphasis>+limit-connect</emphasis></title>
3980 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3982 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3987 <term>Typical uses:</term>
3990 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
3991 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
3992 <quote>+limit-connect</quote> to disable this altogether, or to allow
3999 <term>Possible values:</term>
4002 Any valid port number, or port number range.
4008 <term>Example usages:</term>
4010 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
4011 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
4012 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
4014 <emphasis>+limit-connect{443}</emphasis> # This is the default and need not be specified.
4015 <emphasis>+limit-connect{80,443}</emphasis> # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
4016 <emphasis>+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-}</emphasis> # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4025 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4026 (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
4027 to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
4028 connections to the client <emphasis>and</emphasis> to the remote proxy.
4029 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
4030 abused as TCP relays very easily.
4033 If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid
4034 CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and
4035 port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and
4039 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
4048 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4049 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
4050 <title><emphasis>+prevent-compression</emphasis></title>
4055 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4057 <para>Boolean.</para>
4062 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4065 Prevent the specified websites from compressing HTTP data.
4071 <term>Possible values:</term>
4080 <term>Example usage:</term>
4083 <emphasis>{+prevent-compression}</emphasis>
4084 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4093 Some websites do this, which can be a problem for
4094 <application>Privoxy</application>, since
4095 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>,
4096 <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
4098 url="actions-file.html#GIF-DEANIMATE"><quote>+gif-deanimate</quote></ulink>
4099 will not work on compressed data. This will slow down connections to those
4100 websites, though. Default typically is to turn
4101 <quote>prevent-compression</quote> on.
4109 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4110 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
4111 <title><emphasis>+session-cookies-only</emphasis></title>
4116 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4118 <para>Boolean.</para>
4123 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4126 Allow cookies for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>.
4132 <term>Possible values:</term>
4141 <term>Example usage (disabling):</term>
4144 <emphasis>{-session-cookies-only}</emphasis>
4145 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4154 If websites set cookies, <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> will make sure
4155 they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes
4156 profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
4157 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
4158 sites, and is the recommended setting.
4161 <quote>+prevent-*-cookies</quote> actions should be turned off as well (see
4162 below), for <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> to work. Or, else no cookies
4163 will get through at all. For, <quote>persistent</quote> cookies that survive
4164 across browser sessions, see below as well.
4173 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4174 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-reading-cookies">
4175 <title><emphasis>+prevent-reading-cookies</emphasis></title>
4180 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4182 <para>Boolean.</para>
4187 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4190 Explicitly prevent the web server from reading any cookies on your
4197 <term>Possible values:</term>
4206 <term>Example usage:</term>
4209 <emphasis>{+prevent-reading-cookies}</emphasis>
4210 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4219 Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote> to
4220 disable cookies completely. Note that
4221 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
4222 requires these to both be disabled (or else it never gets any cookies to cache).
4225 For <quote>persistent</quote> cookies to work (i.e. they survive across browser
4226 sessions and reboots), all three cookie settings should be <quote>off</quote>
4227 for the specified sites.
4236 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4237 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-setting-cookies">
4238 <title><emphasis>+prevent-setting-cookies</emphasis></title>
4243 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4245 <para>Boolean.</para>
4250 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4253 Explicitly block the web server from storing cookies on your
4260 <term>Possible values:</term>
4269 <term>Example usage:</term>
4272 <emphasis>{+prevent-setting-cookies}</emphasis>
4273 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4282 Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-reading-cookies</quote> to
4283 disable cookies completely (see above).
4292 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4293 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popup">
4294 <title><emphasis>+kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popups"></emphasis></title>
4298 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4300 <para>Boolean.</para>
4305 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4308 Stop those annoying JavaScript pop-up windows!
4314 <term>Possible values:</term>
4323 <term>Example usage:</term>
4326 <emphasis>{+kill-popups}</emphasis>
4327 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4336 <quote>+kill-popups</quote> uses a built in filter to disable pop-ups
4337 that use the <literal>window.open()</literal> function, etc. This is
4338 one of the first actions processed by <application>Privoxy</application>
4339 as it contacts the remote web server. This action is not always 100% reliable,
4340 and is supplemented by <quote>+filter{<emphasis>popups</emphasis>}</quote>.
4344 An alternate spelling is <quote>+kill-popup</quote>, which is
4355 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4356 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
4357 <title><emphasis>+send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis></title>
4362 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4364 <para>Boolean.</para>
4369 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4372 Sends a cookie for every site stating that you do not accept any copyright
4373 on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track you.
4379 <term>Possible values:</term>
4388 <term>Example usage:</term>
4391 <emphasis>{+send-vanilla-wafer}</emphasis>
4392 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4401 This action only applies if you are using a <filename>jarfile</filename>
4402 for saving cookies. Of course, this is a (relatively) unique header and
4403 could conceivably be used to track you.
4412 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4413 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
4414 <title><emphasis>+send-wafer</emphasis></title>
4419 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4421 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4426 <term>Typical uses:</term>
4429 This allows you to send an arbitrary, user definable cookie.
4435 <term>Possible values:</term>
4438 User specified cookie name and corresponding value.
4444 <term>Example usage:</term>
4447 <emphasis>{+send-wafer{name=value}}</emphasis>
4448 <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
4457 This can be specified multiple times in order to add as many cookies as you
4467 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4469 <title>Summary</title>
4471 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
4472 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
4473 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
4474 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
4475 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
4476 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
4482 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4483 <sect3 renderas="sect2" id="act-examples">
4484 <title>Sample Actions Files</title>
4486 Remember that the meaning of any of the above references is reversed by preceding
4487 the action with a <quote>-</quote>, in place of the <quote>+</quote>. Also,
4488 that some actions are turned on in the default section of the actions file,
4489 and require little to no additional configuration. These are just <quote>on</quote>.
4493 But, other actions that are turned on in the default section <emphasis>do
4494 typically require</emphasis> exceptions to be listed in the latter sections of
4495 one of our actions file. For instance, by default no URLs are
4496 <quote>blocked</quote> (i.e. in the default definitions of
4497 <filename>default.action</filename>). We need exceptions to this in order to
4498 <emphasis>enable</emphasis> ad blocking in the lower sections. But we need to
4499 be very selective about what we do block. Thus, the default is <quote>off</quote>
4504 Below is a liberally commented sample <filename>default.action</filename> file
4505 to demonstrate how all the pieces come together. And to show how exceptions
4506 to the default policies can be handled. This is followed by a brief
4507 <filename>user.action</filename> with similar examples.
4514 # Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
4516 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
4518 for-privoxy-version=3.0
4521 ##########################################################################
4522 # <ulink url="actions-file.html#ALIASES">Aliases</ulink> must be defined *before* they are used. These are
4523 # easier to remember, and can combine several actions into one. Once
4524 # defined they can be used just like any built-in action -- but within
4525 # this file only! Aliases do not require a + or - sign.
4526 ##########################################################################
4528 # Some useful aliases.
4529 # Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
4530 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
4531 -session-cookies-only
4533 # Alias to both block and treat as if an image for ad blocking
4535 +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
4537 # Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
4538 fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
4539 -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
4541 # Shops should be allowed to set persistent cookies
4542 shop = -filter -prevent-cookies -session-cookies-only
4545 ##########################################################################
4546 # Begin default action settings. Anything in this section will match
4547 # all URLs -- UNLESS we have exceptions that also match, defined below this
4548 # section. We will show all potential actions here whether they are on
4549 # or off. We could omit any disabled action if we wanted, since all
4550 # actions are 'off' by default anyway. Shown for completeness only.
4551 # Actions are enabled if preceded by a '+', otherwise they are disabled
4552 # (unless an alias has been defined without this).
4553 ##########################################################################
4555 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ADD-HEADER">-add-header</ulink> \
4556 <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> \
4557 <ulink url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">-deanimate-gifs</ulink> \
4558 <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">-downgrade-http-version</ulink> \
4559 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">+fast-redirects</ulink> \
4560 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">+filter{html-annoyances}</ulink> \
4561 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">+filter{js-annoyances}</ulink> \
4562 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">-filter{content-cookies}</ulink> \
4563 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> \
4564 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-WEBBUGS">+filter{webbugs}</ulink> \
4565 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">-filter{refresh-tags}</ulink> \
4566 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN">-filter{fun}</ulink> \
4567 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-NIMDA">+filter{nimda}</ulink> \
4568 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">+filter{banners-by-size}</ulink> \
4569 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">-filter{shockwave-flash}</ulink> \
4570 <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">-filter{crude-prental}</ulink> \
4571 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">+hide-forwarded-for-headers</ulink> \
4572 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER">+hide-from-header{block}</ulink> \
4573 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER">-hide-referrer</ulink> \
4574 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT">-hide-user-agent</ulink> \
4575 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">-handle-as-image</ulink> \
4576 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">+set-image-blocker{pattern}</ulink> \
4577 <ulink url="actions-file.html#LIMIT-CONNECT">-limit-connect</ulink> \
4578 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">+prevent-compression</ulink> \
4579 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">-session-cookies-only</ulink> \
4580 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-READING-COOKIES">-prevent-reading-cookies</ulink> \
4581 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES">-prevent-setting-cookies</ulink> \
4582 <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> \
4583 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">-send-vanilla-wafer</ulink> \
4584 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-WAFER">-send-wafer</ulink> \
4586 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
4588 ##########################################################################
4589 # Default behavior is now set. Now we will define some exceptions to our
4590 # default action policies.
4591 ##########################################################################
4593 # These sites are very complex and require very minimal interference.
4594 # We'll disable most actions with our 'fragile' alias:
4596 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
4597 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4600 # Shopping sites - not as fragile but require some special
4601 # handling. We still want to block ads, and we will allow
4602 # persistant cookies via the 'shop' alias:
4605 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4610 # These sites require pop-ups too :( We'll combine our 'shop'
4611 # alias with two other actions into one rule to allow all popups.
4612 { shop <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> }
4617 # The 'Fast-redirects' action breaks some sites. Disable this action
4618 # for these known sensitive sites:
4619 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">-fast-redirects</ulink> }
4621 edit.europe.yahoo.com
4623 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
4624 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
4628 # Define which file types will be treated as images. Important
4630 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">+handle-as-image</ulink> }
4631 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)
4634 # Now lets list some domains that are known ad generators. And
4635 # our alias that we use here will block these as well as force
4636 # them to be treated as images. This combination of actions is
4637 # important for ad blocking. What the browser will show instead is
4638 # determined by the setting of <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
4642 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4643 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
4647 ad.*.doubleclick.net
4650 # These will just simply be blocked. They will generate the BLOCKED
4651 # banner page, if matched. Heavy use of wildcards and regular
4652 # expressions in this example. Enable block action:
4653 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
4658 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
4659 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
4663 # The above block section will probably inadvertantly catch some
4664 # sites we DO NOT want blocked via the wildcards and regular expressions.
4665 # Now let's set exceptions to the exceptions so the good guys get better
4666 # treatment. Disable block action:
4667 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
4672 # Let's just trust all .edu top level domains.
4674 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
4675 # We'll need to access to path names containing 'download'
4678 # 'adv' is for globalintersec and means advanced, not advertisement
4679 www.globalintersec.com/adv
4682 # Don't filter *anything* from our friends at sourceforge.
4683 # Notice we don't have to name the individual filter
4684 # identifiers -- we just turn them all off in one fell swoop.
4685 # Disable all filters for this one site:
4686 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER">-filter</ulink> }
4694 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies.
4695 The above would be a reasonable starting point for many situations. Now,
4696 we want to be more specific and have customized rules that are more suitable
4697 to our personal habits and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined
4698 situations like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in
4699 <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
4700 actions files and should not be clobbered by upgrades. So any settings here,
4701 will have the last word and over-ride any previously defined actions.
4705 Now a few examples of some things that one might do with a
4706 <filename>user.action</filename> file.
4709 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
4715 # Sample user.action file.
4717 # Any aliases you want to use need to be re-defined here.
4718 # Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
4719 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
4720 -session-cookies-only
4722 # Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
4723 fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
4724 -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
4726 # Allow persistent cookies for a few regular sites that we
4727 # trust via our above alias. These will be saved from one browser session
4728 # to the next. We are explicity turning off any and all cookie handling,
4729 # even though the prevent-*-cookie settings were disabled in our above
4730 # default.action anyway. So cookies from these domains will come through
4732 { -prevent-cookies }
4739 # My ISP uses obnoxious self promoting images on many pages.
4740 # Nuke them :) Note that <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink> need not be specified,
4741 # since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
4742 # general rules in default.action anyway.
4743 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
4744 www.my-isp-example.com/logo[0-9].gif
4747 # Say the site where you do your homebanking needs to open
4748 # popup windows, but you have chosen to kill popups by
4749 # default. This will allow it for your-example-bank.com:
4751 { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> }
4752 .my-example-bank.com
4755 # This site is delicate, and requires kid-glove
4767 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4770 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4771 <sect2 id="aliases">
4772 <title>Aliases</title>
4774 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
4775 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other <quote>actions</quote>.
4776 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in <quote>actions</quote>.
4777 Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, <quote>=</quote>,
4778 <quote>{</quote> or <quote>}</quote>. But please use only <quote>a</quote>-
4779 <quote>z</quote>, <quote>0</quote>-<quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and
4780 <quote>-</quote>. Alias names are not case sensitive, and
4781 <emphasis>must be defined before other actions</emphasis> in the
4782 actions file! And there can only be one set of <quote>aliases</quote>
4783 defined per file. Each actions file may have its own aliases, but they are
4784 only visible within that file. Aliases do not requir a <quote>+</quote> or
4785 <quote>-</quote> sign in front, since they are merely expanded.
4789 Now let's define a few aliases:
4796 # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first!
4798 +prevent-cookies = +prevent-setting-cookies +prevent-reading-cookies
4799 -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies
4800 fragile = -block -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4801 shop = -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects
4802 +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
4804 # Aliases defined from other aliases, for people who don't like to type
4806 c0 = +prevent-cookies
4807 c1 = -prevent-cookies
4808 #... etc. Customize to your heart's content.
4815 Some examples using our <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote>
4816 aliases from above. These would appear in the lower sections of an
4817 actions file as exceptions to the default actions (as defined in the
4825 # These sites are very complex and require
4826 # minimal interference.
4828 .office.microsoft.com
4829 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4832 # Shopping sites - but we still want to block ads.
4835 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4838 # These shops require pop-ups also
4848 The <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> aliases are often used for
4849 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require most actions to be disabled
4850 in order to function properly.
4857 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4861 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
4863 <sect1 id="filter-file">
4864 <title>The Filter File</title>
4866 Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This
4867 modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content,
4868 including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is
4869 oddly enough <filename>default.filter</filename>, located in the config
4874 This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both
4875 <quote>regular expression</quote> and HTML in order create custom
4876 filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with
4877 <application>Privoxy</application> for many common situations.
4881 The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins
4882 with the <literal>FILTER</literal> keyword, followed by the identifier
4883 for that section, e.g. <quote>FILTER: webbugs</quote>. Each section performs
4884 a similar type of filtering, such as <quote>html-annoyances</quote>.
4888 This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the
4889 target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some
4890 examples from the included default <filename>default.filter</filename>:
4894 Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by
4895 deleting such references:
4902 FILTER: html-annoyances
4904 # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and status
4907 s/resizable="?(no|0)"?/resizable=1/ig s/noresize/yesresize/ig
4908 s/location="?(no|0)"?/location=1/ig s/status="?(no|0)"?/status=1/ig
4909 s/scrolling="?(no|0|Auto)"?/scrolling=1/ig
4910 s/menubar="?(no|0)"?/menubar=1/ig
4912 # The <BLINK> tag was a crime!
4914 s*<blink>|</blink>**ig
4918 #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig
4919 #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi
4926 Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of <quote>Microsoft</quote> with
4927 <quote>MicroSuck</quote>, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords:
4936 s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig
4940 s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig
4947 Kill those pesky little web-bugs:
4954 # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
4957 s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig
4964 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4966 <title>The <emphasis>+filter</emphasis> Action</title>
4968 Filters are enabled with the <ulink
4969 url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action from within
4970 one of the actions files. <quote>+filter</quote> requires one parameter, which
4971 should match one of the section identifiers in the filter file itself. Example:
4975 +filter{html-annoyances}
4979 This would activate that particular filter. Similarly, <quote>+filter</quote>
4980 can be turned off for selected sites as:
4981 <quote>-filter{html-annoyances}</quote>. Remember too, all actions are off by
4982 default, unless they are explicity enabled in one of the actions files.
4989 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
4993 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4995 <sect1 id="templates">
4996 <title>Templates</title>
4998 When <application>Privoxy</application> displays one of its internal
4999 pages, such as a <ulink url="http://bogus_404_page.com">404 Not Found error page</ulink>
5000 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for link to work as
5001 intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these
5002 are located in <filename>/etc/privoxy/templates</filename> by default. These
5003 may be customized, if desired. <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> is used to
5004 control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
5008 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Blocked
5009 (<application>Privoxy</application> needs to be running for page to display)</ulink>
5010 banner page with the bright red top
5011 banner, is called just <quote><filename>blocked</filename></quote>. This
5012 may be customized or replaced with something else if desired.
5017 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5021 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5023 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
5026 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
5028 <!-- end boilerplate -->
5032 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5035 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5036 <sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
5038 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5040 <!-- end copyright -->
5042 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5043 <sect2><title>License</title>
5044 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5046 <!-- end copyright -->
5048 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5051 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5053 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
5054 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
5056 <!-- end history -->
5060 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5063 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5064 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
5065 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
5067 <!-- end seealso -->
5072 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5073 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
5076 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5078 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
5080 <application>Privoxy</application> can use <quote>regular expressions</quote>
5081 in various config files. Assuming support for <quote>pcre</quote> (Perl
5082 Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such
5083 configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be
5084 used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against
5089 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
5090 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
5091 introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-)
5095 <quote>Regular expressions</quote> is a way of matching one character
5096 expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the
5097 <quote>expressions</quote> is a literal string of readable characters
5098 (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal
5099 characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called
5100 meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have special meanings and
5101 are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible
5102 Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language
5103 with backward compatibility.
5107 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
5108 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
5109 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
5110 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
5111 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
5112 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
5113 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
5114 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
5118 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
5119 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
5120 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
5121 and then some examples:
5126 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
5127 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
5129 </simplelist></para>
5133 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
5136 </simplelist></para>
5140 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
5143 </simplelist></para>
5147 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
5150 </simplelist></para>
5154 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
5155 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
5156 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
5157 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
5158 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
5159 meta-character meaning of any single character).
5161 </simplelist></para>
5165 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
5166 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
5167 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
5168 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
5170 </simplelist></para>
5174 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
5175 or multiple sub-expressions.
5177 </simplelist></para>
5181 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
5182 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
5183 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
5184 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
5185 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
5186 example</quote>, and nothing else.
5188 </simplelist></para>
5192 <emphasis>s/string1/string2/g</emphasis> - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
5193 <quote>string1</quote> is replaced by <quote>string2</quote> in this
5194 example. There must of course be a match on <quote>string1</quote> first.
5196 </simplelist></para>
5199 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
5200 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
5201 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
5202 be more illuminating:
5206 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
5207 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
5208 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
5209 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
5210 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
5211 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
5212 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
5213 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
5214 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
5215 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
5216 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
5217 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
5218 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
5219 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
5224 A now something a little more complex:
5228 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
5229 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
5230 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
5231 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
5232 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
5233 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
5234 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
5239 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
5240 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
5241 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
5242 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
5243 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
5244 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
5245 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
5246 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
5247 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
5248 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
5249 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
5250 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
5251 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
5252 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
5253 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
5254 changing our regular expression to:
5255 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
5260 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
5261 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
5262 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
5263 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
5264 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
5265 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
5266 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
5267 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
5268 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
5269 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
5270 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
5271 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
5272 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
5273 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
5274 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
5275 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
5276 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
5277 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
5278 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
5279 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
5280 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
5281 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
5282 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
5283 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
5284 in the expression anywhere).
5288 <emphasis><literal>s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i</literal></emphasis> - This is
5289 a substitution. <quote>MicroSuck</quote> will replace any occurrence of
5290 <quote>microsoft</quote>. The <quote>i</quote> at the end of the expression
5291 means ignore case. The <quote>(?!.com)</quote> means
5292 the match should fail if <quote>microsoft</quote> is followed by
5293 <quote>.com</quote>. In other words, this acts like a <quote>NOT</quote>
5294 modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-).
5298 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
5299 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
5300 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
5301 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
5302 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
5307 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
5308 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
5313 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5316 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5318 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
5321 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
5322 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
5323 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
5324 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
5325 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
5326 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
5327 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
5333 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
5334 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
5335 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
5336 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
5349 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
5353 Alternately, this may be reached at <ulink
5354 url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>, but this
5355 variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
5361 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
5362 editing of actions files:
5366 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
5373 Show the source code version numbers:
5377 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
5384 Show the browser's request headers:
5388 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
5395 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
5399 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5406 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
5407 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
5411 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
5415 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
5419 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
5424 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
5433 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
5437 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
5438 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
5440 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
5441 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
5442 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
5443 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
5444 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
5445 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
5448 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
5449 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
5450 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
5451 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
5452 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
5453 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
5462 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>
5469 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>
5476 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)
5483 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>
5489 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions','Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback</ulink>
5499 Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
5500 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
5501 have more information about bookmarklets.
5510 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5512 <title>Chain of Events</title>
5514 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
5515 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
5522 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
5523 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
5524 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
5530 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
5531 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
5536 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
5538 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> patterns. If
5539 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
5540 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
5541 is then checked and if it does not match, an
5542 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
5543 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <ulink
5544 url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
5545 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
5550 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
5551 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
5556 If the URL pattern matches the <ulink
5557 url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink> action,
5558 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
5563 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
5564 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <ulink
5565 url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></ulink>,
5566 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
5572 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
5578 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
5579 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
5580 filtered as deterimed by the
5581 <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES"><quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote></ulink>,
5582 <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>,
5583 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></ulink>
5589 If the <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
5590 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
5591 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
5596 If a <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
5598 url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
5599 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
5600 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
5601 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
5602 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
5603 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
5604 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
5605 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
5606 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
5609 If neither <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
5611 url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
5612 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
5613 to the client browser as it becomes available.
5618 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
5619 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
5620 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
5621 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
5622 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
5623 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
5633 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5634 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
5635 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
5638 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
5639 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>
5640 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>filters</quote></ulink>
5641 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
5642 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
5643 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
5644 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
5645 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
5646 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
5647 <quote>regular expressions</quote> whose consequences are not always
5652 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
5653 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
5654 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
5655 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!).
5659 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
5660 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
5661 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
5662 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
5666 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
5667 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
5668 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
5669 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <ulink
5670 url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action) from
5671 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
5672 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
5673 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
5674 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
5675 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
5676 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
5677 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
5678 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
5683 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
5684 and look at it one section at a time:
5689 Matches for http://google.com:
5691 --- File standard ---
5692 (no matches in this file)
5694 --- File default ---
5696 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
5697 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
5698 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
5699 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
5700 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
5701 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
5702 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
5703 -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
5706 { -session-cookies-only }
5713 (no matches in this file)
5718 This tells us how we have defined our
5719 <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>, and
5720 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
5721 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
5722 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
5723 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
5724 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
5725 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
5726 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
5727 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
5728 -- <quote>/</quote>.
5732 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
5733 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
5734 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
5735 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
5736 which was for <ulink
5737 url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
5738 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
5739 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
5741 url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink>
5742 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
5743 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
5744 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
5745 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
5746 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
5747 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
5752 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
5756 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
5757 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
5758 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
5766 -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
5767 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
5768 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
5769 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
5770 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
5771 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
5772 +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
5773 -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
5778 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
5779 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
5783 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
5789 { +block +handle-as-image }
5792 { +block +handle-as-image }
5795 { +block +handle-as-image }
5801 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
5802 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
5803 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
5804 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<ulink
5805 url="actions-file.html#ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></ulink> are defined in
5806 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
5811 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
5812 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
5813 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
5814 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
5815 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
5816 is done here -- as both a <ulink
5817 url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
5818 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
5820 url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>.
5821 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
5826 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
5827 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
5833 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
5835 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
5836 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
5837 +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
5838 +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
5839 +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
5840 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-setting-cookies
5841 -prevent-reading-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
5844 { +block +handle-as-image }
5850 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
5851 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
5852 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
5853 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
5854 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
5866 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
5867 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
5871 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
5878 { +block +handle-as-image }
5884 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
5885 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
5886 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
5887 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
5888 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. Try
5889 adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
5897 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5905 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
5906 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
5907 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
5920 This would probably be most appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>,
5921 for local site exceptions.
5925 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
5926 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
5927 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
5928 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
5937 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
5938 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
5939 Public License as published by the Free Software
5940 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
5941 your option) any later version.
5943 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
5944 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
5945 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
5946 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
5947 License for more details.
5949 The GNU General Public License should be included with
5950 this file. If not, you can view it at
5951 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
5952 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
5953 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
5955 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
5956 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
5957 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
5959 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
5962 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
5963 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
5964 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
5966 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
5967 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
5969 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
5970 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
5971 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
5973 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
5974 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
5976 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
5977 more structure in starting section
5979 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
5980 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
5981 will probably break links elsewhere :(
5983 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
5984 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
5985 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
5987 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
5988 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
5989 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
5991 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
5992 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
5994 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
5995 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
5996 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
5998 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
5999 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
6000 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
6002 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
6003 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
6005 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
6006 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
6008 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
6009 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
6011 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
6012 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
6014 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
6015 Updated OSX installation section
6016 Added a few English tweaks here an there
6018 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
6019 Re-write actions section.
6021 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
6022 Fix ugly typo (mine).
6024 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
6025 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
6027 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
6028 Added RPM install detail
6030 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
6033 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
6034 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
6036 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
6037 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
6039 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
6040 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
6042 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
6045 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
6046 Proofreading, part one
6048 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
6049 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
6050 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
6052 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
6053 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
6055 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
6056 Add small section on submitting actions.
6058 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
6061 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
6062 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
6064 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
6065 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
6067 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
6070 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
6071 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
6072 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
6073 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
6074 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
6076 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
6077 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
6079 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
6080 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
6082 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
6083 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
6084 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
6085 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
6086 eventually be set by Makefile.
6087 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
6089 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
6090 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
6092 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
6093 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
6095 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
6096 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
6098 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
6099 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
6100 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
6101 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
6103 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
6106 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
6107 Added more to Anatomy section.
6109 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
6110 Touch up intro for new name.
6112 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
6113 we have a new homepage!
6115 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
6116 A few minor catch ups with name change.
6118 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
6119 configure needs to be generated.
6121 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
6122 we are too lazy to make a block-built
6123 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
6125 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
6126 name change related issue.
6128 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
6129 name change. changed filenames.
6131 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
6134 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
6135 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
6136 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
6137 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
6138 comments and remarks to history untouched.
6140 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
6143 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
6144 New section in Appendix.
6146 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
6147 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
6149 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
6150 correct feedback channels
6152 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
6153 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
6155 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
6158 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
6159 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
6161 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
6162 Added imageblock{pattern}.
6164 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
6167 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
6168 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
6170 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
6171 provide correct feedback channels
6173 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
6174 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
6176 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
6177 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
6179 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
6180 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
6182 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
6183 Add new - - user option.
6185 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
6186 Added section on command line options.
6188 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
6189 Changed default port to 8118
6191 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
6192 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
6194 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
6195 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
6196 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
6199 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
6202 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
6203 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
6205 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
6206 Update OS/2 build section
6208 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
6209 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
6210 will work - no other changes are needed.
6212 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
6213 Added a very short section on Templates
6215 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
6216 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
6218 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
6219 Touch ups for *.action files.
6221 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
6224 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
6225 Updates for recent changes.
6227 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
6228 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
6230 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
6231 Correct 2 minor errors
6233 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
6234 *** empty log message ***
6236 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
6237 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
6239 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
6240 wrong url in documentation
6242 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
6243 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
6245 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
6248 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
6251 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
6254 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
6255 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
6257 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
6258 Some additions, and re-arranging.
6260 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
6263 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
6264 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
6266 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
6269 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
6270 source files for junkbuster documentation
6272 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
6273 first proposal of a structure.
6275 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
6276 docs should have an author.
6278 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
6279 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob