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 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes 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 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes 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. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
174 of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
175 <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
176 you.</emphasis> See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to
177 upgraders</link> section below.
180 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
181 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
183 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
186 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
187 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE RPMs and Conectiva</title>
190 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
191 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
192 of configuration files.
196 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
197 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
198 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
199 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
200 automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
204 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
205 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm;</literal>. This
206 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
210 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
211 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
212 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
213 automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
217 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
218 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
224 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
225 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
228 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
229 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
230 in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
231 use the registry of Windows.
235 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
236 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
239 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
240 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
245 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
246 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
249 First, make sure that no previous installations of
250 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
251 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
252 system. You can do this by
256 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
257 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
258 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
259 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
263 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
264 into will contain all of the configuration files.
268 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
269 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
271 Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
272 in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
273 double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
275 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
276 <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
277 <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
278 automatically on system bring-up via
279 <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
283 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
284 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
286 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
287 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
288 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
289 remove this directory.
292 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
293 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
294 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
295 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
296 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
297 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
298 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
303 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
304 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
307 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
308 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
313 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
314 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
315 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
316 CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
317 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
321 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
323 <!-- end boilerplate -->
329 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
331 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
332 <sect1 id="upgradersnote">
333 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
335 There are very significant changes from earlier
336 <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
337 <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
338 purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
339 <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
340 files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
341 and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
342 ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
343 <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
344 are now combined into the <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
345 files</quote></link>.
346 <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
347 exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
350 A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (typically
351 <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
352 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
353 below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
356 If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
357 files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
358 When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
359 to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
360 changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
361 recommended to use the new configuration files.
364 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
372 The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
378 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
379 important configuration files!
384 <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
385 at the special URL: <ulink
386 url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
387 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
388 aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
389 <application>Privoxy</application>.
394 The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
395 blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
396 configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
397 files</link>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
398 actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
399 should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
404 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
405 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
406 Some installers may not automatically start
407 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
415 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
416 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
422 If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
423 files. See 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 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
438 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
439 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
440 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options.
446 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
447 not done this already. See the section <link linkend="startup">Starting
448 <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
454 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and HTTPS
455 proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
456 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
457 (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
458 <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
459 linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
465 Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images.
471 Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy.
477 If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
478 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune <application>Privoxy's</application>
479 behaviour, take a look at the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>.
480 As a quick start, you might find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly
481 commented examples</link> helpful. You can also view and edit the actions
482 files through the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based
483 user interface</ulink>. The Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of
484 an Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that <quote>misbehave</quote>.
490 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
491 Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
500 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
502 <title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
504 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
505 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
506 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
507 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
508 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
512 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
513 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under <literal>Edit
514 -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy</literal>.
515 For <application>Internet Explorer</application>: <literal>Tools ->
516 Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting</literal>. Then,
517 check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info (Address:
518 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too.
522 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
523 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
524 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
525 <application>Privoxy</application>!
529 <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
530 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
531 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
532 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
533 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
536 <sect2 id="start-redhatdebian">
537 <title>RedHat, Conectiva and Debian</title>
539 We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
540 default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its
541 main configuration file. FIXME: Debian??
545 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
550 <sect2 id="start-suse">
553 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
554 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
564 <sect2 id="start-windows">
565 <title>Windows</title>
567 Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
568 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
569 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
570 automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
574 <sect2 id="start-unices">
575 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
577 Example Unix startup command:
581 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
586 <sect2 id="start-os2">
593 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
594 <title>MAX OSX</title>
601 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
602 <title>AmigaOS</title>
611 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
615 must find a better place for this paragraph
618 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
619 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
620 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
621 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
622 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
623 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
627 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
628 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
629 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
630 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
631 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
632 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
633 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
634 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
635 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
639 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
640 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
641 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
643 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
644 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
645 popups (explained below).
649 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
650 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
651 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
652 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
653 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
654 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
655 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
656 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
657 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
661 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
662 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
663 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
664 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
665 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
666 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
667 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
668 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
669 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
673 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
674 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
675 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
676 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
677 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
678 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
679 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
683 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
684 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
685 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
686 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
687 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
688 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
693 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
694 url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
695 or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
700 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
701 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
702 section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
703 Developers</quote></ulink> below.
708 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
709 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
710 <title>Command Line Options</title>
712 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
713 command-line options:
721 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
724 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
729 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
732 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
737 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
740 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
741 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
746 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
750 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
751 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
752 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
753 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
758 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
762 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
763 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
764 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
769 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
772 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
773 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
774 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
775 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
776 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
777 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
788 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
791 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
792 <sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
794 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
795 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
796 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
797 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
801 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
804 <title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
806 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
807 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
808 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
809 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
810 You will see the following section:
814 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
817 <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
821 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
824 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
827 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
830 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
833 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
841 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
842 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
843 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
844 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
845 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
846 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
850 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
851 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
852 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
853 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
854 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
855 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
856 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
857 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
863 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
868 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
870 <sect2 id="confoverview">
871 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
873 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
874 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
875 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
876 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
877 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
878 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
882 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
883 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
884 principle configuration files are:
892 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
893 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
894 on Windows. This is a required file.
900 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
901 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
902 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
903 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
904 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
905 as many websites as possible.
908 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
909 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
910 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
911 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
912 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
913 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
914 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
915 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
918 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
920 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
922 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
923 various actions files.
929 <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
930 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
931 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
932 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
933 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
941 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
942 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
943 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
944 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
945 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
946 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
951 The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
952 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
957 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
958 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
959 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
960 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
961 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
962 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
963 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
968 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
969 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
970 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
971 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
977 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
980 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
983 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
986 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
987 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
988 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
989 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
997 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
1003 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
1004 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
1005 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
1009 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
1010 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
1011 for what happens if you leave them unset.
1015 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
1016 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
1017 where you may be surfing).
1021 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1023 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
1024 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
1027 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
1028 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
1029 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
1030 where to find those other files.
1034 The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all
1035 configuration files, and write permission to any files that would
1036 be modified, such as log files.
1039 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
1043 <term>Specifies:</term>
1045 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
1049 <term>Type of value:</term>
1051 <para>Path name</para>
1055 <term>Default value:</term>
1057 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1061 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1063 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1070 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1073 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
1074 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
1075 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
1076 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
1077 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
1085 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
1089 <term>Specifies:</term>
1092 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
1093 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
1098 <term>Type of value:</term>
1100 <para>Path name</para>
1104 <term>Default value:</term>
1106 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
1110 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1112 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
1119 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
1126 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
1129 <anchor id="default.action">
1130 <anchor id="standard.action">
1131 <anchor id="user.action">
1132 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
1135 <term>Specifies:</term>
1138 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
1143 <term>Type of value:</term>
1145 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
1149 <term>Default values:</term>
1153 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
1156 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
1159 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
1165 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1168 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
1176 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
1179 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
1180 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
1181 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
1182 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
1185 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
1186 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
1187 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
1188 least one actions file.
1195 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
1196 <anchor id="default.filter">
1199 <term>Specifies:</term>
1202 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> to use
1207 <term>Type of value:</term>
1209 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1213 <term>Default value:</term>
1215 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
1219 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1222 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
1223 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
1224 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
1232 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> contains content modification
1233 rules that use <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link>. These rules permit
1234 powerful changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
1235 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
1236 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
1237 it appears on a Web page.
1241 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
1242 actions rely on the relevant filter (<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>)
1243 to be defined in the filter file!
1246 A pre-defined filter file called <filename>default.filter</filename> that contains
1247 a bunch of handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution.
1248 See the section on the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
1256 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
1260 <term>Specifies:</term>
1268 <term>Type of value:</term>
1270 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1274 <term>Default value:</term>
1276 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
1280 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1283 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>stderr</literal>).
1291 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
1294 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
1295 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
1296 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
1297 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
1298 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
1301 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
1302 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
1303 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
1304 script has been included.
1307 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
1308 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
1309 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
1310 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
1313 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
1314 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
1321 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
1325 <term>Specifies:</term>
1328 The file to store intercepted cookies in
1333 <term>Type of value:</term>
1335 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
1339 <term>Default value:</term>
1341 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
1345 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1348 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
1356 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
1363 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
1366 <term>Specifies:</term>
1369 The trust file to use
1374 <term>Type of value:</term>
1376 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
1380 <term>Default value:</term>
1382 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
1386 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1389 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
1397 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
1398 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
1401 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
1402 access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
1403 You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
1404 the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
1405 trusted referrer was used.
1406 The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
1407 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
1410 If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
1418 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1422 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1424 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
1425 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
1428 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
1429 than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
1430 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
1433 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
1436 <term>Specifies:</term>
1439 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
1444 <term>Type of value:</term>
1446 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
1450 <term>Default value:</term>
1452 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1456 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1459 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
1460 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
1468 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
1469 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want
1470 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
1471 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
1477 Unix, in local filesystem:
1480 <screen>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
1483 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
1486 <screen>user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
1490 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config file</emphasis>, because
1491 it is used while the config file is being read.
1499 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
1503 <term>Specifies:</term>
1506 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
1511 <term>Type of value:</term>
1517 <term>Default value:</term>
1519 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
1523 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1526 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
1534 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
1535 activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
1538 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
1539 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
1540 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
1543 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
1544 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
1551 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
1555 <term>Specifies:</term>
1558 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
1563 <term>Type of value:</term>
1565 <para>Email address</para>
1569 <term>Default value:</term>
1571 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1575 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1578 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1586 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1587 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1595 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
1599 <term>Specifies:</term>
1602 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
1603 configuration or policies.
1608 <term>Type of value:</term>
1614 <term>Default value:</term>
1616 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1620 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1623 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
1631 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
1632 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
1636 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
1644 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1646 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1648 <sect2 id="debugging">
1649 <title>Debugging</title>
1652 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
1653 Note that you might also want to invoke
1654 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
1655 command line option when debugging.
1658 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
1662 <term>Specifies:</term>
1665 Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
1666 <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
1671 <term>Type of value:</term>
1673 <para>Integer values</para>
1677 <term>Default value:</term>
1679 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
1683 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1686 Nothing gets logged.
1694 The available debug levels are:
1698 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
1699 debug 2 # show each connection status
1700 debug 4 # show I/O status
1701 debug 8 # show header parsing
1702 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
1703 debug 32 # debug force feature
1704 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
1705 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
1706 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
1707 debug 512 # Common Log Format
1708 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
1709 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
1710 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
1714 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
1715 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
1718 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
1719 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
1720 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
1721 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
1722 a hell of an output (especially 16).
1726 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
1727 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
1730 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
1731 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
1738 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1742 <term>Specifies:</term>
1745 Whether to run only one server thread
1750 <term>Type of value:</term>
1752 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1756 <term>Default value:</term>
1758 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1762 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1765 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1766 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1774 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1775 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1784 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1786 <sect2 id="access-control">
1787 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1790 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1791 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1794 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1798 <term>Specifies:</term>
1801 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1802 listen for client requests.
1807 <term>Type of value:</term>
1809 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1814 <term>Default value:</term>
1816 <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
1820 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1823 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1824 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1833 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1836 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1837 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1838 will need to override the default.
1841 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1842 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1843 from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's)
1844 (see <quote>ACLs</quote> below), or a firewall.
1849 <term>Example:</term>
1852 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1853 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1854 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1855 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1859 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1867 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1871 <term>Specifies:</term>
1874 Initial state of "toggle" status
1879 <term>Type of value:</term>
1885 <term>Default value:</term>
1891 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1894 Act as if toggled on
1902 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1903 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1904 proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
1905 <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
1906 anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
1907 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
1908 editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1911 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1912 if this option is present.
1920 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1923 <term>Specifies:</term>
1926 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1927 feature</ulink> may be used
1932 <term>Type of value:</term>
1938 <term>Default value:</term>
1944 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1947 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1955 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1956 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1960 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1961 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1962 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1963 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1964 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1965 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1968 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1969 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1977 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1980 <term>Specifies:</term>
1983 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1984 file editor</ulink> may be used
1989 <term>Type of value:</term>
1995 <term>Default value:</term>
2001 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2004 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
2012 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
2013 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
2014 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
2015 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
2016 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
2017 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
2020 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
2021 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
2028 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
2029 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
2030 <anchor id="permit-acces">
2031 <anchor id="deny-acces">
2035 <term>Specifies:</term>
2038 Who can access what.
2043 <term>Type of value:</term>
2046 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
2047 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
2050 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
2051 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
2052 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
2053 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
2054 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
2055 destination part are optional.
2060 <term>Default value:</term>
2062 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2066 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2069 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
2077 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
2078 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
2079 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
2080 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
2081 (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
2082 <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
2086 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
2087 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
2091 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
2092 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
2093 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
2094 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
2095 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
2098 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
2099 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
2100 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
2101 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
2102 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
2103 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
2106 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
2107 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
2108 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
2109 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
2112 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
2113 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
2118 <term>Examples:</term>
2121 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
2122 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
2123 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
2124 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
2128 permit-access localhost
2132 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
2133 nothing but www.example.com:
2137 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
2141 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
2142 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
2146 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
2147 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
2155 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
2159 <term>Specifies:</term>
2162 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
2167 <term>Type of value:</term>
2169 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
2173 <term>Default value:</term>
2179 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2182 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
2190 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
2191 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
2192 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
2193 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
2194 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
2198 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
2199 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
2200 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
2201 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
2202 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
2212 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2215 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2217 <sect2 id="forwarding">
2218 <title>Forwarding</title>
2221 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
2223 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
2224 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
2225 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
2226 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
2227 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
2228 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
2229 runs on has no direct Internet access.
2233 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
2234 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
2237 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
2240 <term>Specifies:</term>
2243 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
2248 <term>Type of value:</term>
2251 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2252 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2255 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2256 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2257 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is the address of the parent HTTP proxy
2258 as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or <quote>.</quote> to denote
2259 <quote>no forwarding</quote>, and the optional
2260 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer
2261 values from 1 to 64535
2266 <term>Default value:</term>
2268 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2272 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2275 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
2283 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2284 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
2287 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2292 <term>Examples:</term>
2295 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
2299 forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
2304 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
2305 to that ISP's sites:
2309 forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
2310 forward .example-isp.net .
2318 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
2319 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
2320 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
2321 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
2325 <term>Specifies:</term>
2328 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
2333 <term>Type of value:</term>
2336 <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2337 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2338 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
2341 Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
2342 chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
2343 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
2344 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
2345 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
2346 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
2351 <term>Default value:</term>
2353 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
2357 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
2360 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
2368 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
2371 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
2372 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
2373 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
2376 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
2377 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
2383 <term>Examples:</term>
2386 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
2387 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
2388 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
2393 forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
2394 forward .example.com .
2398 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
2402 forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
2410 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
2413 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
2414 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
2415 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
2416 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
2420 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
2421 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
2422 configuration can look like this:
2432 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
2443 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
2448 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
2449 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
2450 of both isp-a and isp-b.
2454 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
2455 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
2456 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
2460 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
2461 run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this:
2466 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
2467 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
2469 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
2472 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
2473 always_direct allow ftp
2475 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
2476 never_direct allow all</screen>
2480 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
2481 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
2488 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2491 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2493 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
2494 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
2496 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
2497 Windows GUI interface:
2500 <anchor id="activity-animation">
2502 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
2503 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
2504 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
2511 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
2517 <anchor id="log-messages">
2519 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2520 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
2528 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
2534 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
2536 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
2537 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
2538 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
2542 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
2543 eat up all your memory!
2550 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
2556 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
2558 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
2559 in the log buffer. See above.
2566 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
2572 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
2574 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2575 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
2576 messages with a bold-faced font:
2583 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
2589 <anchor id="log-font-name">
2591 The font used in the console window:
2598 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
2604 <anchor id="log-font-size">
2606 Font size used in the console window:
2613 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
2619 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
2621 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
2622 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
2630 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
2636 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
2638 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
2639 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
2640 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
2647 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2653 <anchor id="hide-console">
2655 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2656 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2657 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2665 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2674 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2678 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2680 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2683 The actions files are used to define what actions
2684 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
2685 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2686 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
2687 are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
2688 version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
2695 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
2696 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
2697 provide a base level of functionality for
2698 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
2699 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
2700 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
2706 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2707 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2708 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2709 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2714 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
2715 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
2716 in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
2717 aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
2718 you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
2726 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2727 file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
2728 can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
2729 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2733 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2734 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2735 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2736 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2737 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2738 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2739 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2740 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2741 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2742 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2743 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2744 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2748 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2749 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2750 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2751 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2752 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2756 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2758 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2760 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2761 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2762 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2763 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
2764 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2765 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2766 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
2767 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2768 regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
2769 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2773 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2774 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2775 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2776 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2780 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2782 <title>How to Edit</title>
2784 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2785 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2786 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2787 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
2788 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
2789 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
2793 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2794 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
2800 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2801 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
2803 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2804 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will be discussed later. For now
2805 let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split
2806 up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions,
2807 separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there
2808 is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
2812 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2813 compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
2814 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
2815 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
2816 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
2817 the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the
2818 <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
2819 and <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> actions).
2824 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
2825 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2829 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2830 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
2834 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2835 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2836 <title>Patterns</title>
2838 Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
2839 where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
2840 are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
2845 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2848 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2849 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
2854 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2857 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2863 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2866 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2867 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2872 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
2875 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2876 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
2881 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2884 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2885 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
2892 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2893 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2896 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2897 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2903 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2906 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
2907 <literal>.example.com</literal>
2912 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2915 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2916 <literal>www.</literal>
2921 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2924 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
2925 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
2932 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2933 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
2934 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
2935 any single character, you can define character classes in square
2936 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
2941 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2944 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2945 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2950 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2953 matches all of the above, and then some.
2958 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2961 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2962 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2967 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2970 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2971 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2972 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2973 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2981 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2984 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2985 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2988 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
2989 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2994 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2995 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2996 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2997 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2998 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2999 url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
3003 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
3004 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
3005 for the beginning of a line).
3009 Please also note that matching in the path is case
3010 <emphasis>INSENSITIVE</emphasis> by default, but you can switch to case
3011 sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
3012 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch:
3013 <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match only
3014 documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
3015 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
3021 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3024 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3026 <sect2 id="actions">
3027 <title>Actions</title>
3029 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
3030 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
3031 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
3032 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
3033 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
3034 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
3035 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
3036 previously applied.</quote>
3041 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
3042 separated by whitespace, like in
3043 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
3044 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
3045 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
3046 of the actions file.
3050 There are three classes of actions:
3057 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
3058 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
3062 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
3063 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
3066 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
3073 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
3078 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
3079 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
3080 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
3083 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
3084 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
3087 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
3093 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
3094 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
3095 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3096 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3097 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3098 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3102 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3103 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3104 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3105 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3108 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3109 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3117 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3118 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3119 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
3120 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3121 files will give a good starting point).
3125 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
3126 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3127 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
3128 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
3129 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
3130 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
3131 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
3132 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
3135 <!-- start actions listing -->
3137 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3141 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3142 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3143 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3145 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3148 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3150 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3151 <title><emphasis>add-header</emphasis></title>
3155 <term>Typical use:</term>
3157 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
3162 <term>Effect:</term>
3165 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
3172 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3174 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3179 <term>Parameter:</term>
3182 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3183 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3193 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3194 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3195 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3202 <term>Example usage:</term>
3205 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
3213 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3214 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3215 <title><emphasis>block</emphasis></title>
3219 <term>Typical use:</term>
3221 <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
3226 <term>Effect:</term>
3229 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
3230 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
3231 as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
3232 and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
3239 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3241 <para>Boolean.</para>
3246 <term>Parameter:</term>
3256 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3257 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
3258 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
3259 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
3260 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
3261 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
3262 right now, you can take a look at the
3263 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
3267 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3268 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3269 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
3270 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3271 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
3272 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
3275 It is important to understand this process, in order
3276 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
3277 ads and other unwanted content.
3280 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
3281 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
3282 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
3283 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
3284 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
3290 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3293 <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
3294 .nasty-stuff.example.com
3296 {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
3307 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3308 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3309 <title><emphasis>crunch-incoming-cookies</emphasis></title>
3313 <term>Typical use:</term>
3316 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
3322 <term>Effect:</term>
3325 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3332 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3334 <para>Boolean.</para>
3339 <term>Parameter:</term>
3351 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
3352 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
3353 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3354 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
3357 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3358 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3359 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set.
3365 <term>Example usage:</term>
3368 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3376 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3377 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3378 <title><emphasis>crunch-outgoing-cookies</emphasis></title>
3382 <term>Typical use:</term>
3385 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
3391 <term>Effect:</term>
3394 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3401 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3403 <para>Boolean.</para>
3408 <term>Parameter:</term>
3420 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
3421 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
3422 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3423 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
3426 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3427 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3428 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3434 <term>Example usage:</term>
3437 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3446 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3447 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3448 <title><emphasis>deanimate-gifs</emphasis></title>
3452 <term>Typical use:</term>
3454 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3459 <term>Effect:</term>
3462 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3469 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3471 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3476 <term>Parameter:</term>
3479 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3488 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3489 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3490 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3491 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3492 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3493 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3496 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3497 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3504 <term>Example usage:</term>
3507 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3514 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3515 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3516 <title><emphasis>downgrade-http-version</emphasis></title>
3520 <term>Typical use:</term>
3522 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3527 <term>Effect:</term>
3530 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3537 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3539 <para>Boolean.</para>
3544 <term>Parameter:</term>
3556 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3557 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3558 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3559 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
3560 is a chance you might need this action.
3566 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3569 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3570 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3578 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3579 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3580 <title><emphasis>fast-redirects</emphasis></title>
3584 <term>Typical use:</term>
3586 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
3591 <term>Effect:</term>
3594 Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
3601 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3603 <para>Boolean.</para>
3608 <term>Parameter:</term>
3620 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3621 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3622 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3623 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3624 <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
3627 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3628 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3629 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3630 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3631 browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3635 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3636 It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
3637 many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
3638 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
3645 <term>Example usage:</term>
3648 <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
3657 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3658 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3659 <title><emphasis>filter</emphasis></title>
3663 <term>Typical use:</term>
3665 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
3670 <term>Effect:</term>
3673 Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly
3674 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
3681 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3683 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3688 <term>Parameter:</term>
3691 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
3692 (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
3693 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3694 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>)
3703 For your convenience, there are a bunch of pre-defined filters available
3704 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the example below for
3708 This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <quote>rolling your own</quote>
3709 filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
3712 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3713 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3714 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3715 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3716 noticeable on slower connections.
3719 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
3720 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
3721 would normally be sent compressed, use the
3722 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3723 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3726 Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
3727 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3728 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners.
3731 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
3738 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file):</term>
3741 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3742 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
3745 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3746 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
3749 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3750 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)</screen>
3753 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3754 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</screen>
3757 <anchor id="filter-popups">
3758 <screen>+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</screen>
3761 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3762 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
3765 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3766 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
3769 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3770 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
3773 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3774 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
3777 <anchor id="filter-nimda">
3778 <screen>+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</screen>
3781 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3782 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
3785 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3786 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</screen>
3794 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3795 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
3796 <title><emphasis>handle-as-image</emphasis></title>
3800 <term>Typical use:</term>
3802 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
3807 <term>Effect:</term>
3810 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
3811 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
3812 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
3813 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
3814 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
3815 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
3822 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3824 <para>Boolean.</para>
3829 <term>Parameter:</term>
3841 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
3842 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
3846 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
3847 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
3848 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
3851 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (inline) ad
3852 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
3853 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
3854 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
3860 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3863 <screen># Generic image extensions:
3866 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
3868 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
3869 # blocked as images:
3871 {+block +handle-as-image}
3872 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
3874 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
3884 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3885 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
3886 <title><emphasis>hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis></title>
3890 <term>Typical use:</term>
3892 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
3897 <term>Effect:</term>
3900 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
3901 and prevents adding a new one.
3908 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3910 <para>Boolean.</para>
3915 <term>Parameter:</term>
3927 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
3930 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
3931 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
3932 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
3933 users sharing the same proxy.
3939 <term>Example usage:</term>
3942 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
3950 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3951 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
3952 <title><emphasis>hide-from-header</emphasis></title>
3956 <term>Typical use:</term>
3958 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
3963 <term>Effect:</term>
3966 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
3974 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3976 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3981 <term>Parameter:</term>
3984 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
3993 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
3994 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3998 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
3999 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4000 is actually used by a real person.
4003 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4004 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4010 <term>Example usage:</term>
4013 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4014 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4022 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4023 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4024 <title><emphasis>hide-referrer</emphasis></title>
4025 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4028 <term>Typical use:</term>
4030 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4035 <term>Effect:</term>
4038 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4039 or replaces it with a forged one.
4046 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4048 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4053 <term>Parameter:</term>
4057 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
4060 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4063 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4073 <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
4074 not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
4075 content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
4076 by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
4079 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4080 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4081 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4082 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4083 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4089 <term>Example usage:</term>
4092 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4093 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4101 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4102 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4103 <title><emphasis>hide-user-agent</emphasis></title>
4107 <term>Typical use:</term>
4109 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4114 <term>Effect:</term>
4117 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4118 in client requests with the specified value.
4125 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4127 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4132 <term>Parameter:</term>
4135 Any user-defined string.
4145 This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
4146 to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4147 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
4148 url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
4153 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4154 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4155 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4156 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4157 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4158 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4159 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4160 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4161 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4162 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4163 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4166 This action is scheduled for improvement.
4172 <term>Example usage:</term>
4175 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4184 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
4185 <title><emphasis>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></emphasis></title>
4189 <term>Typical use:</term>
4191 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</para>
4196 <term>Effect:</term>
4199 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
4200 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
4207 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4209 <para>Boolean.</para>
4214 <term>Parameter:</term>
4226 This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
4227 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
4228 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
4229 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
4231 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>popups</replaceable>}</literal>
4235 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
4236 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
4237 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
4238 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
4239 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
4240 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
4243 Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
4244 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
4245 would require artificial intelligence in <application>Privoxy</application>.
4246 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
4247 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
4248 one), you might want to use
4250 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
4256 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
4264 <term>Example usage:</term>
4266 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
4273 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4274 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
4275 <title><emphasis>limit-connect</emphasis></title>
4279 <term>Typical use:</term>
4281 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
4286 <term>Effect:</term>
4289 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
4296 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4298 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4303 <term>Parameter:</term>
4306 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
4307 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
4316 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
4317 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
4318 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
4319 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
4320 for some or all destinations.
4323 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4324 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
4325 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
4326 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
4327 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
4328 abused as TCP relays very easily.
4331 If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
4332 change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
4338 <term>Example usages:</term>
4340 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
4341 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
4342 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
4344 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
4345 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
4346 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4347 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
4354 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4355 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
4356 <title><emphasis>prevent-compression</emphasis></title>
4360 <term>Typical use:</term>
4363 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
4364 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
4370 <term>Effect:</term>
4373 Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
4380 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4382 <para>Boolean.</para>
4387 <term>Parameter:</term>
4399 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
4400 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
4401 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
4402 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
4403 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
4404 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
4405 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
4406 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
4409 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
4410 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
4414 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
4415 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
4416 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
4422 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4425 <screen># Set default:
4427 {+prevent-compression}
4430 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
4432 {-prevent-compression}
4434 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
4443 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4444 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
4445 <title><emphasis>send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis></title>
4449 <term>Typical use:</term>
4452 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
4458 <term>Effect:</term>
4461 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
4462 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
4469 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4471 <para>Boolean.</para>
4476 <term>Parameter:</term>
4488 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
4491 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
4497 <term>Example usage:</term>
4500 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
4509 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4510 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
4511 <title><emphasis>send-wafer</emphasis></title>
4515 <term>Typical use:</term>
4518 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
4524 <term>Effect:</term>
4527 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
4534 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4536 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4541 <term>Parameter:</term>
4544 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
4545 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
4554 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
4555 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
4558 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
4563 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4566 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
4567 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
4575 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4576 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
4577 <title><emphasis>session-cookies-only</emphasis></title>
4581 <term>Typical use:</term>
4584 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
4590 <term>Effect:</term>
4593 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> server headers.
4594 Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
4601 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4603 <para>Boolean.</para>
4608 <term>Parameter:</term>
4620 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
4621 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
4622 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
4625 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
4626 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
4627 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
4628 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
4629 sites, and is the recommended setting.
4632 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
4633 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
4634 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
4635 will be plainly killed.
4638 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
4639 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
4645 <term>Example usage:</term>
4648 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
4656 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4657 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
4658 <title><emphasis>set-image-blocker</emphasis></title>
4662 <term>Typical use:</term>
4664 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
4669 <term>Effect:</term>
4672 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
4673 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
4674 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
4675 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
4676 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
4677 sent as a replacement.
4684 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4686 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4691 <term>Parameter:</term>
4696 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
4697 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
4702 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
4703 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
4704 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
4705 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
4710 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
4711 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
4712 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
4715 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
4716 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
4717 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
4718 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
4719 it over and over again.
4730 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
4731 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
4732 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
4735 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
4736 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
4737 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
4743 <term>Example usage:</term>
4749 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
4752 Redirect to the BSD devil:
4755 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
4758 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
4761 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
4769 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4771 <title>Summary</title>
4773 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
4774 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
4775 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
4776 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
4777 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
4778 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
4784 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4785 <sect2 id="aliases">
4786 <title>Aliases</title>
4788 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
4789 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
4790 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
4791 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
4793 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
4794 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
4795 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
4796 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
4797 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
4801 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
4802 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
4803 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
4804 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
4808 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
4809 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
4810 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
4811 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
4812 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
4813 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
4814 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
4817 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
4818 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
4819 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
4820 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
4821 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
4823 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
4827 Now let's define some aliases...
4832 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
4834 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
4835 # must be at the top of the actions file!
4839 # These aliases just save typing later:
4840 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
4842 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
4843 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
4844 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
4845 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
4847 # These aliases define combinations of actions
4848 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
4850 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4851 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
4853 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
4855 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
4856 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
4860 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
4861 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
4862 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
4867 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
4868 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
4871 .office.microsoft.com
4872 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
4876 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
4880 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
4883 # These shops require pop-ups:
4885 {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
4887 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
4891 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
4892 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
4893 in order to function properly.
4897 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4898 <sect2 id="act-examples">
4899 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
4901 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
4902 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
4903 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
4904 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
4905 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
4906 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
4907 file and see how all these pieces come together:
4910 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
4913 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
4917 <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
4921 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
4922 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
4923 change or worry about:
4928 ##########################################################################
4929 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
4930 ##########################################################################
4933 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
4937 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
4938 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
4939 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
4944 ##########################################################################
4946 ##########################################################################
4949 # These aliases just save typing later:
4950 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
4952 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
4953 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
4954 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
4955 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
4957 # These aliases define combinations of actions
4958 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
4960 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
4961 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
4965 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
4966 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
4967 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
4968 enable the ones we want.
4972 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
4973 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
4974 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs.</link>. Therefore, the
4975 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
4976 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
4977 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
4978 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
4983 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
4984 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
4985 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: A <quote>+</quote>
4986 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
4987 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
4988 multiple lines with line continuation.
4993 ##########################################################################
4994 # "Defaults" section:
4995 ##########################################################################
4997 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
4998 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
4999 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
5000 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
5001 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
5002 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
5003 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
5004 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
5005 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
5006 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
5007 +<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> \
5008 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
5009 -<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
5010 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
5011 +<link linkend="FILTER-NIMDA">filter{nimda}</link> \
5012 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
5013 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
5014 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
5015 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
5016 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
5017 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
5018 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
5019 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
5020 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
5021 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
5022 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
5023 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
5024 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
5025 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
5026 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
5028 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
5032 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
5033 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
5034 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
5035 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
5036 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
5037 want to block in later sections.
5038 We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
5039 and use our defined aliases for that.
5043 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
5044 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
5045 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
5046 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
5047 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
5048 of actions explicitly:
5053 ##########################################################################
5054 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
5055 ##########################################################################
5057 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
5060 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
5061 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
5065 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
5066 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
5067 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
5076 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5078 .scan.co.uk</screen>
5082 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
5083 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
5084 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
5085 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
5087 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
5088 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
5089 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
5090 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
5091 chosen in the defaults section:
5096 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
5098 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
5101 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
5105 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
5106 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
5107 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
5112 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
5116 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
5117 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
5118 .nytimes.com</screen>
5122 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
5123 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
5124 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
5125 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
5126 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
5127 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5128 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
5129 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
5130 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
5136 ##########################################################################
5138 ##########################################################################
5140 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
5141 # blocked further down this file:
5143 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
5144 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
5148 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
5149 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
5150 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5151 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
5152 <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
5153 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
5154 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
5155 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
5156 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
5157 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
5158 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
5159 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
5164 # Known ad generators:
5169 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
5170 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
5171 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
5178 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
5179 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
5180 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
5181 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
5182 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
5183 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
5184 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
5185 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
5186 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
5189 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
5190 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
5191 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
5192 to keep the example short:
5197 ##########################################################################
5198 # Block these fine banners:
5199 ##########################################################################
5200 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
5208 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
5209 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
5211 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
5213 .hitbox.com</screen>
5217 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
5218 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
5219 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
5220 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
5223 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
5224 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
5225 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
5226 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
5227 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
5228 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
5232 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
5233 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
5234 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
5235 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
5236 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
5237 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
5238 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
5239 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
5240 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
5241 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
5246 ##########################################################################
5247 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
5248 ##########################################################################
5252 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
5253 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
5254 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
5255 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
5256 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
5257 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
5265 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
5266 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
5270 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
5271 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
5272 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
5273 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
5274 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
5279 # Don't filter code!
5281 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
5283 .sourceforge.net</screen>
5287 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
5288 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
5293 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
5296 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
5297 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
5298 you'd maybe want to be more specific and have customized rules that
5299 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
5300 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
5301 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
5302 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
5303 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
5304 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
5305 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
5306 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
5307 to install updated versions from time to time.
5311 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
5312 <filename>user.action</filename>:
5316 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
5320 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
5324 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
5325 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
5326 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
5331 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
5334 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5335 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
5336 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
5337 shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
5338 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below)</screen>
5343 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
5344 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
5345 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
5346 <literal>mercy-for-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
5347 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and
5348 processing of cookies to make them temporary.
5353 { mercy-for-cookies }
5358 .redhat.com</screen>
5362 Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
5363 know which, so you disable them all:
5368 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> }
5369 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
5373 While browsing the web with <application>Privoxy</application> you
5374 noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to
5375 report them through our fine and easy <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>
5376 system, so you have added them here:
5381 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
5382 www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
5383 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
5387 Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
5388 extensions (most do),
5389 <literal>+<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link></literal>
5390 need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will
5391 already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of
5392 <filename>default.action</filename> by now.
5396 Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
5397 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
5398 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
5399 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
5400 -- whoa! -- it worked:
5406 .forbes.com</screen>
5410 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
5411 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
5412 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
5413 update-safe config, once and for all:
5418 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
5419 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
5423 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
5424 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
5425 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
5426 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
5427 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
5431 Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are
5432 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
5433 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
5434 sites that you feel provide value to you:
5446 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
5447 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
5448 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>
5454 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5458 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5460 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
5462 <sect1 id="filter-file">
5463 <title>The Filter File</title>
5466 All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
5467 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
5468 must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
5469 called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
5470 selected through the <literal>
5471 <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
5476 Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
5477 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
5478 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
5479 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
5480 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
5481 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
5485 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain
5486 text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
5487 MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if
5488 you want to <quote>roll your own</quote> filters, you should be
5489 familiar with HTML syntax.
5493 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
5494 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
5495 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
5496 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
5497 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
5498 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
5499 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
5500 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
5501 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
5502 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
5503 user interface</ulink>.
5507 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
5508 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
5509 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
5510 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
5514 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
5519 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
5523 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
5524 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
5525 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
5526 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
5527 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
5528 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.1.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
5529 for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
5530 option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
5531 to ungreedy matching.
5535 If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
5536 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
5537 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
5539 <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
5540 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
5541 url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
5542 expressions</ulink> in general.
5543 The below examples might also help to get you started.
5546 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
5548 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
5550 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
5551 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
5552 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
5557 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
5561 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
5562 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
5563 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
5564 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
5568 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
5572 Our complete filter now looks like this:
5575 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
5576 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
5580 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
5581 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
5582 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
5588 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
5590 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
5592 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
5596 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
5597 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
5598 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
5599 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
5603 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
5604 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
5605 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
5606 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
5607 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
5611 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
5612 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
5613 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
5614 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
5615 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
5616 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
5617 in the page (and appear in that order).
5621 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
5622 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
5623 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
5624 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
5625 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
5629 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
5630 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
5631 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
5632 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
5633 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
5634 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
5635 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
5636 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
5637 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
5638 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
5639 substitution is global.
5643 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
5644 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
5645 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
5646 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
5647 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
5651 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
5652 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
5653 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
5654 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
5655 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
5656 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
5657 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
5658 Business!"</literal>.
5662 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
5663 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
5664 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
5665 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
5666 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
5667 information anymore.
5671 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
5672 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
5677 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
5679 s/window\.status\s*=\s*['"].*?['"]/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
5683 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
5684 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
5685 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
5686 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
5687 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
5688 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>.
5692 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
5693 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
5694 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
5695 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
5696 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
5697 you move your mouse over links.
5702 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
5704 s/(<body .*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
5709 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
5710 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
5711 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
5712 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
5713 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
5714 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
5719 The last example is from the fun department:
5724 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
5726 # Spice the daily news:
5728 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
5732 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
5733 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
5734 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
5735 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being messed, while
5736 still replacing the word everywhere else.
5741 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
5743 s* industry[ -]leading \
5745 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
5746 | high[ -]performance \
5747 | solutions[ -]based \
5751 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
5756 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
5757 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
5766 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5770 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5772 <sect1 id="templates">
5773 <title>Templates</title>
5775 When <application>Privoxy</application> displays one of its internal
5776 pages, such as a <ulink url="http://bogus_404_page.com">404 Not Found error page</ulink>
5777 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for link to work as
5778 intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these
5779 are located in <filename>/etc/privoxy/templates</filename> by default. These
5780 may be customized, if desired. <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> is used to
5781 control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
5786 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Blocked
5787 </ulink> (<application>Privoxy</application> needs to be running for page to
5788 display) banner page with the bright red top banner, is called just
5789 <quote><filename>blocked</filename></quote>. This may be customized or
5790 replaced with something else if desired (not recommended for the casual
5796 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5800 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5802 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
5805 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
5807 <!-- end boilerplate -->
5811 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5814 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5815 <sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
5817 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5819 <!-- end copyright -->
5821 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5822 <sect2><title>License</title>
5823 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
5825 <!-- end copyright -->
5827 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5830 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5832 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
5833 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
5835 <!-- end history -->
5839 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
5842 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5843 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
5844 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
5846 <!-- end seealso -->
5851 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5852 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
5855 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5857 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
5859 <application>Privoxy</application> can use <quote>regular expressions</quote>
5860 in various config files. Assuming support for <quote>pcre</quote> (Perl
5861 Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such
5862 configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be
5863 used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against
5868 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
5869 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
5870 introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-)
5874 <quote>Regular expressions</quote> is a way of matching one character
5875 expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the
5876 <quote>expressions</quote> is a literal string of readable characters
5877 (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal
5878 characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called
5879 meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have special meanings and
5880 are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible
5881 Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language
5882 with backward compatibility.
5886 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
5887 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
5888 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
5889 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
5890 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
5891 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
5892 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
5893 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
5897 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
5898 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
5899 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
5900 and then some examples:
5905 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
5906 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
5908 </simplelist></para>
5912 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
5915 </simplelist></para>
5919 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
5922 </simplelist></para>
5926 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
5929 </simplelist></para>
5933 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
5934 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
5935 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
5936 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
5937 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
5938 meta-character meaning of any single character).
5940 </simplelist></para>
5944 <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
5945 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
5946 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
5947 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
5949 </simplelist></para>
5953 <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
5954 or multiple sub-expressions.
5956 </simplelist></para>
5960 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
5961 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
5962 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
5963 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
5964 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
5965 example</quote>, and nothing else.
5967 </simplelist></para>
5971 <emphasis>s/string1/string2/g</emphasis> - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
5972 <quote>string1</quote> is replaced by <quote>string2</quote> in this
5973 example. There must of course be a match on <quote>string1</quote> first.
5975 </simplelist></para>
5978 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
5979 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
5980 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
5981 be more illuminating:
5985 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
5986 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
5987 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
5988 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
5989 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
5990 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
5991 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
5992 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
5993 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
5994 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
5995 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
5996 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
5997 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
5998 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
6003 A now something a little more complex:
6007 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
6008 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
6009 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
6010 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
6011 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
6012 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
6013 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
6018 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
6019 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
6020 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
6021 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
6022 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
6023 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
6024 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
6025 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
6026 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
6027 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
6028 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
6029 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
6030 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
6031 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
6032 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
6033 changing our regular expression to:
6034 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
6039 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
6040 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
6041 <quote>[]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
6042 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
6043 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
6044 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
6045 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
6046 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
6047 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
6048 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
6049 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
6050 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
6051 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
6052 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
6053 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
6054 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
6055 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
6056 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
6057 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
6058 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
6059 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
6060 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
6061 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
6062 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
6063 in the expression anywhere).
6067 <emphasis><literal>s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i</literal></emphasis> - This is
6068 a substitution. <quote>MicroSuck</quote> will replace any occurrence of
6069 <quote>microsoft</quote>. The <quote>i</quote> at the end of the expression
6070 means ignore case. The <quote>(?!.com)</quote> means
6071 the match should fail if <quote>microsoft</quote> is followed by
6072 <quote>.com</quote>. In other words, this acts like a <quote>NOT</quote>
6073 modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-).
6077 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
6078 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
6079 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
6080 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
6081 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
6086 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
6087 <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
6092 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6095 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6097 <title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
6100 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
6101 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
6102 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
6103 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
6104 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
6105 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
6106 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
6112 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
6113 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
6114 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
6115 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
6128 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
6132 Alternately, this may be reached at <ulink
6133 url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>, but this
6134 variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
6140 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
6141 editing of actions files:
6145 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
6152 Show the source code version numbers:
6156 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
6163 Show the browser's request headers:
6167 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
6174 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
6178 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
6185 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
6186 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
6190 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
6194 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
6198 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
6203 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
6212 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
6216 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
6217 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
6219 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
6220 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
6221 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
6222 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
6223 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
6224 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
6227 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
6228 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
6229 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
6230 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
6231 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
6232 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
6241 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>
6248 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>
6255 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)
6262 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>
6268 <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>
6278 Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
6279 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
6280 have more information about bookmarklets.
6289 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6291 <title>Chain of Events</title>
6293 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
6294 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
6301 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
6302 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
6303 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
6309 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
6310 pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
6315 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
6317 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
6318 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
6319 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
6320 is then checked and if it does not match, an
6321 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
6322 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
6323 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
6324 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
6329 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
6330 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
6335 If the URL pattern matches the <link
6336 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
6337 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
6342 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
6343 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
6344 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
6345 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
6351 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
6357 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
6358 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
6359 filtered as deterimed by the
6360 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
6361 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
6362 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
6368 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
6369 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
6370 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
6375 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
6377 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
6378 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
6379 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
6380 <filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
6381 content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
6382 <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
6383 reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
6384 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
6385 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
6388 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
6390 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
6391 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
6392 to the client browser as it becomes available.
6397 As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
6398 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
6399 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
6400 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
6401 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
6402 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
6412 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6413 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
6414 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
6417 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
6418 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>
6419 and <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>filters</quote></link>
6420 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
6421 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
6422 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
6423 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
6424 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
6425 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
6426 <quote>regular expressions</quote> whose consequences are not always
6431 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
6432 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
6433 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
6434 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!).
6438 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
6439 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
6440 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
6441 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
6445 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
6446 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
6447 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
6448 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
6449 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
6450 the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
6451 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
6452 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
6453 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
6454 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
6455 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
6456 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
6457 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
6462 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
6463 and look at it one section at a time:
6468 Matches for http://google.com:
6470 --- File standard ---
6471 (no matches in this file)
6473 --- File default ---
6475 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
6476 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
6477 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
6478 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
6479 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
6480 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
6481 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6482 -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
6485 { -session-cookies-only }
6492 (no matches in this file)
6497 This tells us how we have defined our
6498 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
6499 which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
6500 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
6501 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
6502 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
6503 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
6504 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
6505 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
6506 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
6507 -- <quote>/</quote>.
6511 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
6512 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
6513 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
6514 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
6516 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
6517 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
6518 second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
6520 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
6521 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
6522 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
6523 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
6524 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
6525 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
6526 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
6531 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
6535 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
6536 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
6537 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
6545 -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
6546 -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
6547 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
6548 +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
6549 +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
6550 -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
6551 +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6552 -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
6557 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
6558 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
6562 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
6568 { +block +handle-as-image }
6571 { +block +handle-as-image }
6574 { +block +handle-as-image }
6580 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
6581 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
6582 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
6583 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
6584 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
6585 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
6590 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
6591 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
6592 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
6593 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
6594 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
6595 is done here -- as both a <link
6596 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
6597 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
6599 linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
6600 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
6605 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
6606 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
6612 Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
6614 { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
6615 +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
6616 +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
6617 +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
6618 +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
6619 +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-incoming-cookies
6620 -crunch-outgoing-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
6623 { +block +handle-as-image }
6629 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
6630 we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
6631 now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
6632 block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
6633 various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
6645 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
6646 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
6650 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
6657 { +block +handle-as-image }
6663 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
6664 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
6665 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
6666 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
6667 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. Try
6668 adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
6676 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6684 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
6685 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
6686 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
6699 This would probably be most appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>,
6700 for local site exceptions.
6704 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
6705 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
6706 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
6707 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
6716 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
6717 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
6718 Public License as published by the Free Software
6719 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
6720 your option) any later version.
6722 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
6723 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
6724 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
6725 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
6726 License for more details.
6728 The GNU General Public License should be included with
6729 this file. If not, you can view it at
6730 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
6731 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
6732 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
6734 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
6735 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
6736 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
6738 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
6739 Extended and further commented the example actions files
6741 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
6742 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
6745 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
6748 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
6749 Restored alphabetical order of actions
6751 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
6752 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
6754 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
6755 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
6757 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
6758 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
6759 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
6761 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
6762 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
6763 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
6764 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
6766 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
6767 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
6769 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
6772 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
6773 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
6774 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
6776 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
6777 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
6779 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
6780 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
6781 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
6783 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
6784 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
6786 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
6787 more structure in starting section
6789 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
6790 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
6791 will probably break links elsewhere :(
6793 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
6794 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
6795 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
6797 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
6798 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
6799 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
6801 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
6802 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
6804 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
6805 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
6806 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
6808 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
6809 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
6810 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
6812 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
6813 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
6815 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
6816 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
6818 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
6819 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
6821 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
6822 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
6824 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
6825 Updated OSX installation section
6826 Added a few English tweaks here an there
6828 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
6829 Re-write actions section.
6831 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
6832 Fix ugly typo (mine).
6834 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
6835 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
6837 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
6838 Added RPM install detail
6840 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
6843 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
6844 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
6846 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
6847 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
6849 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
6850 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
6852 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
6855 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
6856 Proofreading, part one
6858 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
6859 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
6860 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
6862 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
6863 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
6865 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
6866 Add small section on submitting actions.
6868 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
6871 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
6872 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
6874 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
6875 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
6877 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
6880 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
6881 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
6882 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
6883 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
6884 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
6886 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
6887 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
6889 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
6890 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
6892 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
6893 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
6894 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
6895 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
6896 eventually be set by Makefile.
6897 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
6899 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
6900 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
6902 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
6903 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
6905 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
6906 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
6908 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
6909 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
6910 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
6911 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
6913 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
6916 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
6917 Added more to Anatomy section.
6919 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
6920 Touch up intro for new name.
6922 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
6923 we have a new homepage!
6925 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
6926 A few minor catch ups with name change.
6928 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
6929 configure needs to be generated.
6931 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
6932 we are too lazy to make a block-built
6933 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
6935 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
6936 name change related issue.
6938 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
6939 name change. changed filenames.
6941 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
6944 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
6945 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
6946 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
6947 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
6948 comments and remarks to history untouched.
6950 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
6953 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
6954 New section in Appendix.
6956 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
6957 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
6959 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
6960 correct feedback channels
6962 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
6963 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
6965 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
6968 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
6969 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
6971 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
6972 Added imageblock{pattern}.
6974 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
6977 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
6978 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
6980 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
6981 provide correct feedback channels
6983 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
6984 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
6986 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
6987 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
6989 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
6990 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
6992 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
6993 Add new - - user option.
6995 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
6996 Added section on command line options.
6998 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
6999 Changed default port to 8118
7001 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
7002 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
7004 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
7005 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
7006 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
7009 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
7012 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
7013 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
7015 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
7016 Update OS/2 build section
7018 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
7019 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
7020 will work - no other changes are needed.
7022 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
7023 Added a very short section on Templates
7025 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
7026 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
7028 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
7029 Touch ups for *.action files.
7031 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
7034 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
7035 Updates for recent changes.
7037 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
7038 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
7040 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
7041 Correct 2 minor errors
7043 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
7044 *** empty log message ***
7046 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
7047 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
7049 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
7050 wrong url in documentation
7052 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
7053 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
7055 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
7058 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
7061 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
7064 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
7065 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
7067 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
7068 Some additions, and re-arranging.
7070 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
7073 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
7074 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
7076 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
7079 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
7080 source files for junkbuster documentation
7082 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
7083 first proposal of a structure.
7085 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
7086 docs should have an author.
7088 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
7089 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob