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-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
13 <!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
14 <!entity p-version "3.0.18">
15 <!entity p-status "stable">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 <!entity % seealso-extra "INCLUDE"> <!-- extra stuff from seealso.sgml -->
28 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
31 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
34 This file belongs into
35 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
37 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.144 2011/12/26 17:01:29 fabiankeil Exp $
39 Copyright (C) 2001-2011 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
42 ========================================================================
43 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
44 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
45 ========================================================================
52 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
56 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
57 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
58 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2011 by
59 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
63 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.144 2011/12/26 17:01:29 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
67 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
68 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
69 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
70 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
83 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
84 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
85 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
91 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
92 install, configure and use <ulink
93 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
96 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
98 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
101 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
103 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
104 contact the developers.
108 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
114 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
115 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
117 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
118 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
119 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
120 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
121 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
122 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
126 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
129 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
130 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
131 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
137 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
139 In addition to the core
140 features of ad blocking and
141 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
142 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
143 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
144 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
146 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
148 <!-- end boilerplate -->
153 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
156 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
157 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
160 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
161 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
162 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
163 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
169 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
170 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
171 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
172 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
175 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
176 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
178 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
181 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
187 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
188 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
189 of configuration files.
193 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
194 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
195 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
196 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
200 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
201 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
202 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
206 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
207 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
208 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
209 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
213 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
214 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
216 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
217 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
226 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
227 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
228 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
231 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
232 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
233 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
234 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
238 <term>Arguments:</term>
241 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
244 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
250 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
251 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
252 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
253 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
254 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
255 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
256 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
257 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
258 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
259 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
260 write to its log and configuration files.
265 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
266 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
269 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
270 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
271 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
275 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
276 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
279 First, make sure that no previous installations of
280 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
281 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
282 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
283 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
289 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
290 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
291 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
292 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
296 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
297 into will contain all of the configuration files.
301 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
302 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
304 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
305 icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
306 Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
307 installation process.
310 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
311 installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
312 prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
313 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
314 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
317 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
318 for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
319 starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
323 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
324 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
326 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
327 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
328 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
329 remove this directory.
333 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
334 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
337 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
338 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
341 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
342 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
345 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
346 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
347 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
348 beta releases which are only available there.
352 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
353 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
355 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
356 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
357 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
358 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
361 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
362 first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
363 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
367 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
368 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
369 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
375 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
376 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
379 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
380 is to download the source tarball from our
381 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
386 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
387 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
388 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
389 CVS repository</ulink>.
391 deprecated...out of business.
392 or simply download <ulink
393 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
398 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
400 <!-- end boilerplate -->
403 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
404 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
406 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
407 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
408 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
409 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
414 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
415 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
416 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
417 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
421 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
422 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
423 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
424 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
425 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
426 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
434 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
438 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
440 <application>Privoxy 3.0.19</application> is a stable release.
441 The changes since 3.0.18 stable are:
452 Prevent a segmentation fault when de-chunking buffered content.
453 It could be triggered by malicious web servers if Privoxy was
454 configured to filter the content and running on a platform
455 where SIZE_T_MAX isn't larger than UINT_MAX, which probably
456 includes most 32-bit systems. On those platforms, all Privoxy
457 versions before 3.0.19 appear to be affected.
458 To be on the safe side, this bug should be presumed to allow
459 code execution as proving that it doesn't seems unrealistic.
464 Do not expect a response from the SOCKS4/4A server until it
465 got something to respond to. This regression was introduced
466 in 3.0.18 and prevented the SOCKS4/4A negotiation from working.
467 Reported by qqqqqw in #3459781.
475 General improvements:
479 Fix an off-by-one in an error message about connect failures.
484 Use a GNUMakefile variable for the webserver root directory and
485 update the path. Sourceforge changed it which broke various
491 Update the CODE_STATUS description.
501 The following changes were made between 3.0.17 and 3.0.18:
512 If a generated redirect URL contains characters RFC 3986 doesn't
513 permit, they are (re)encoded. Not doing this makes Privoxy versions
514 from 3.0.5 to 3.0.17 susceptible to HTTP response splitting (CWE-113)
515 attacks if the +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action is used.
520 Fix a logic bug that could cause Privoxy to reuse a server
521 socket after it got tainted by a server-header-tagger-induced
522 block that was triggered before the whole server response had
523 been read. If keep-alive was enabled and the request following
524 the blocked one was to the same host and using the same forwarding
525 settings, Privoxy would send it on the tainted server socket.
526 While the server would simply treat it as a pipelined request,
527 Privoxy would later on fail to properly parse the server's
528 response as it would try to parse the unread data from the
529 first response as server headers for the second one.
530 Regression introduced in 3.0.17.
535 When implying keep-alive in client_connection(), remember that
536 the client didn't. Fixes a regression introduced in 3.0.13 that
537 would cause Privoxy to wait for additional client requests after
538 receiving a HTTP/1.1 request with "Connection: close" set
539 and connection sharing enabled.
540 With clients which terminates the client connection after detecting
541 that the whole body has been received it doesn't really matter,
542 but with clients that don't the connection would be kept open until
548 Fix a subtle race condition between prepare_csp_for_next_request()
549 and sweep(). A thread preparing itself for the next client request
550 could briefly appear to be inactive.
551 If all other threads were already using more recent files,
552 the thread could get its files swept away under its feet.
553 So far this has only been reproduced while stress testing in
554 valgrind while touching action files in a loop. It's unlikely
555 to have caused any actual problems in the real world.
560 Disable filters if SDCH compression is used unless filtering is forced.
561 If SDCH was combined with a supported compression algorithm, Privoxy
562 previously could try to decompress it and ditch the Content-Encoding
563 header even though the SDCH compression wasn't dealt with.
564 Reported by zebul666 in #3225863.
569 Make a copy of the --user value and only mess with that when splitting
570 user and group. On some operating systems modifying the value directly
571 is reflected in the output of ps and friends and can be misleading.
572 Reported by zepard in #3292710.
577 If forwarded-connect-retries is set, only retry if Privoxy is actually
578 forwarding the request. Previously direct connections would be retried
584 Fixed a small memory leak when retrying connections with IPv6
590 Remove an incorrect assertion in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list()
591 It could be triggered by a pcrs job with an invalid pcre
592 pattern (for example one that contains a lone quantifier).
597 If the --user argument user[.group] contains a dot, always bail out
598 if no group has been specified. Previously the intended, but undocumented
599 (and apparently untested), behaviour was to try interpreting the whole
600 argument as user name, but the detection was flawed and checked for '0'
601 instead of '\0', thus merely preventing group names beginning with a zero.
606 In html_code_map[], use a numeric character reference instead of '
607 which wasn't standardized before XHTML 1.0.
612 Fix an invalid free when compiled with FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION
613 and shut down through http://config.privoxy.org/die
618 In get_actions(), fix the "temporary" backwards compatibility hack
619 to accept block actions without reason.
620 It also covered other actions that should be rejected as invalid.
621 Reported by Billy Crook.
629 General improvements:
633 Privoxy can (re)compress buffered content before delivering
634 it to the client. Disabled by default as most users wouldn't
640 The +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action checks URL
641 segments separately. If there are other parameters behind
642 the redirect URL, this makes it unnecessary to cut them off
643 by additionally using a +redirect{} pcrs command.
644 Initial patch submitted by Jamie Zawinski in #3429848.
649 When loading action sections, verify that the referenced filters
650 exist. Currently missing filters only result in an error message,
651 but eventually the severity will be upgraded to fatal.
656 Allow to bind to multiple separate addresses.
657 Patch set submitted by Petr Pisar in #3354485.
662 Set socket_error to errno if connecting fails in rfc2553_connect_to().
663 Previously rejected direct connections could be incorrectly reported
664 as DNS issues if Privoxy was compiled with IPv6 support.
669 Adjust url_code_map[] so spaces are replaced with %20 instead of '+'
670 While '+' can be used by client's submitting form data, this is not
671 actually what Privoxy is using the lookups for. This is more of a
672 cosmetic issue and doesn't fix any known problems.
677 When compiled without FEATURE_FAST_REDIRECTS, do not silently
678 ignore +fast-redirect{} directives
683 Added a workaround for GNU libc's strptime() reporting negative
684 year values when the parsed year is only specified with two digits.
685 On affected systems cookies with such a date would not be turned
686 into session cookies by the +session-cookies-only action.
687 Reported by Vaeinoe in #3403560
692 Fixed bind failures with certain GNU libc versions if no non-loopback
693 IP address has been configured on the system. This is mainly an issue
694 if the system is using DHCP and Privoxy is started before the network
695 is completely configured.
696 Reported by Raphael Marichez in #3349356.
697 Additional insight from Petr Pisar.
702 Privoxy log messages now use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
703 It's only slightly longer than the old format, but contains
704 the full date including the year and allows sorting by date
705 (when grepping in multiple log files) without hassle.
710 In get_last_url(), do not bother trying to decode URLs that do
711 not contain at least one '%' sign. It reduces the log noise and
712 a number of unnecessary memory allocations.
717 In case of SOCKS5 failures, dump the socks response in the log message.
722 Simplify the signal setup in main().
727 Streamline socks5_connect() slightly.
732 In socks5_connect(), require a complete socks response from the server.
733 Previously Privoxy didn't care how much data the server response
734 contained as long as the first two bytes contained the expected
735 values. While at it, shrink the buffer size so Privoxy can't read
736 more than a whole socks response.
741 In chat(), do not bother to generate a client request in case of
742 direct CONNECT requests. It will not be used anyway.
747 Reduce server_last_modified()'s stack size.
752 Shorten get_http_time() by using strftime().
757 Constify the known_http_methods pointers in unknown_method().
762 Constify the time_formats pointers in parse_header_time().
767 Constify the formerly_valid_actions pointers in action_used_to_be_valid().
772 Introduce a GNUMakefile MAN_PAGE variable that defaults to privoxy.1.
773 The Debian package uses section 8 for the man page and this
774 should simplify the patch.
779 Deduplicate the INADDR_NONE definition for Solaris by moving it to jbsockets.h
784 In block_url(), ditch the obsolete workaround for ancient Netscape versions
785 that supposedly couldn't properly deal with status code 403.
790 Remove a useless NULL pointer check in load_trustfile().
795 Remove two useless NULL pointer checks in load_one_re_filterfile().
800 Change url_code_map[] from an array of pointers to an array of arrays
801 It removes an unnecessary layer of indirection and on 64bit system reduces
802 the size of the binary a bit.
807 Fix various typos. Fixes taken from Debian's 29_typos.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
812 Add a dok-tidy GNUMakefile target to clean up the messy HTML
813 generated by the other dok targets.
818 GNUisms in the GNUMakefile have been removed.
823 Change the HTTP version in static responses to 1.1
828 Synced config.sub and config.guess with upstream
829 2011-11-11/386c7218162c145f5f9e1ff7f558a3fbb66c37c5.
834 Add a dedicated function to parse the values of toggles. Reduces duplicated
835 code in load_config() and provides better error handling. Invalid or missing
836 toggle values are now a fatal error instead of being silently ignored.
841 Terminate HTML lines in static error messages with \n instead of \r\n.
846 Simplify cgi_error_unknown() a bit.
851 In LogPutString(), don't bother looking at pszText when not
852 actually logging anything.
857 Change ssplit()'s fourth parameter from int to size_t.
858 Fixes a clang complaint.
863 Add a warning that the statistics currently can't be trusted.
864 Mention Privoxy-Log-Parser's --statistics option as
865 an alternative for the time being.
870 In rfc2553_connect_to(), start setting cgi->error_message on error.
875 Change the expected status code returned for http://p.p/die depending
876 on whether or not FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION is available.
881 In cgi_die(), mark the client connection for closing.
882 If the client will fetch the style sheet through another connection
883 it gets the main thread out of the accept() state and should thus
884 trigger the actual shutdown.
889 Add a proper CGI message for cgi_die().
894 Don't enforce a logical line length limit in read_config_line().
899 Slightly refactor server_last_modified() to remove useless gmtime*() calls.
904 In get_content_type(), also recognize '.jpeg' as JPEG extension.
909 Add '.png' to the list of recognized file extensions in get_content_type().
914 In block_url(), consistently use the block reason "Request blocked by Privoxy"
915 In two places the reason was "Request for blocked URL" which hides the
916 fact that the request got blocked by Privoxy and isn't necessarily
917 correct as the block may be due to tags.
922 In listen_loop(), reload the configuration files after accepting
923 a new connection instead of before.
924 Previously the first connection that arrived after a configuration
925 change would still be handled with the old configuration.
930 In chat()'s receive-data loop, skip a client socket check if
931 the socket will be written to right away anyway. This can
932 increase the transfer speed for unfiltered content on fast
938 The socket timeout is used for SOCKS negotiations as well which
939 previously couldn't timeout.
944 Don't keep the client connection alive if any configuration file
945 changed since the time the connection came in. This is closer to
946 Privoxy's behaviour before keep-alive support for client connection
947 has been added and also less confusing in general.
952 Treat all Content-Type header values containing the pattern
953 'script' as a sign of text. Reported by pribog in #3134970.
961 Action file improvements:
965 Moved the site-specific block pattern section below the one for the
966 generic patterns so for requests that are matched in both, the block
967 reason for the domain is shown which is usually more useful than showing
968 the one for the generic pattern.
973 Remove -prevent-compression from the fragile alias. It's no longer
974 used anywhere by default and isn't known to break stuff anyway.
979 Add a (disabled) section to block various Facebook tracking URLs.
980 Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421764.
985 Add a (disabled) section to rewrite and redirect click-tracking
986 URLs used on news.google.com.
987 Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421755.
992 Unblock linuxcounter.net/.
993 Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3422612.
998 Block 'www91.intel.com/' which is used by Omniture.
999 Reported by Adam Piggott in #3167370.
1004 Disable the handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok option and mark it as deprecated.
1005 Reminded by tceverling in #2790091.
1010 Add ".ivwbox.de/" to the "Cross-site user tracking" section.
1011 Reported by Nettozahler in #3172525.
1016 Unblock and fast-redirect ".awin1.com/.*=http://".
1017 Reported by Adam Piggott in #3170921.
1022 Block "b.collective-media.net/".
1027 Widen the Debian popcon exception to "qa.debian.org/popcon".
1028 Seen in Debian's 05_default_action.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
1033 Block ".gemius.pl/" which only seems to be used for user tracking.
1034 Reported by johnd16 in #3002731. Additional input from Lee and movax.
1039 Disable banners-by-size filters for '.thinkgeek.com/'.
1040 The filter only seems to catch pictures of the inventory.
1045 Block requests for 'go.idmnet.bbelements.com/please/showit/'.
1046 Reported by kacperdominik in #3372959.
1051 Unblock adainitiative.org/.
1056 Add a fast-redirects exception for '.googleusercontent.com/.*=cache'.
1061 Add a fast-redirects exception for webcache.googleusercontent.com/.
1066 Unblock http://adassier.wordpress.com/ and http://adassier.files.wordpress.com/.
1074 Filter file improvements:
1078 Let the yahoo filter hide '.ads'.
1083 Let the msn filter hide overlay ads for Facebook 'likes' in search
1084 results and elements with the id 's_notf_div'. They only seem to be
1085 used to advertise site 'enhancements'.
1090 Let the js-events filter additionally disarm setInterval().
1091 Suggested by dg1727 in #3423775.
1099 Documentation improvements:
1103 Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support.
1104 Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
1109 Point out that the SourceForge messaging system works like a black
1110 hole and should thus not be used to contact individual developers.
1115 Mention some of the problems one can experience when not explicitly
1116 configuring an IP addresses as listen address.
1121 Explicitly mention that hostnames can be used instead of IP addresses
1122 for the listen-address, that only the first address returned will be
1123 used and what happens if the address is invalid.
1124 Requested by Calestyo in #3302213.
1132 Log message improvements:
1136 If only the server connection is kept alive, do not pretend to
1137 wait for a new client request.
1142 Remove a superfluous log message in forget_connection().
1147 In chat(), properly report missing server responses as such
1148 instead of calling them empty.
1153 In forwarded_connect(), fix a log message nobody should ever see.
1158 Fix a log message in socks5_connect(), a failed write operation
1159 was logged as failed read operation.
1164 Let load_one_actions_file() properly complain about a missing
1165 '{' at the beginning of the file.
1166 Simply stating that a line is invalid isn't particularly helpful.
1171 Do not claim to listen on a socket until Privoxy actually does.
1172 Patch submitted by Petr Pisar #3354485
1177 Prevent a duplicated LOG_LEVEL_CLF message when sending out
1178 the "no-server-data" response.
1183 Also log the client socket when dropping a connection.
1188 Include the destination host in the 'Request ... marked for
1189 blocking. limit-connect{...} doesn't allow CONNECT ...' message
1190 Patch submitted by Saperski in #3296250.
1195 Prevent a duplicated log message if none of the resolved IP
1196 addresses were reachable.
1201 In connect_to(), do not pretend to retry if forwarded-connect-retries
1207 When a specified user or group can't be found, put the name in
1208 single-quotes when logging it.
1213 In rfc2553_connect_to(), explain getnameinfo() errors better.
1218 Remove a useless log message in chat().
1223 When retrying to connect, also log the maximum number of connection
1229 Rephrase a log message in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list().
1230 Divide the error code and its meaning with a colon. Call the pcrs
1231 job dynamic and not the filter. Filters may contain dynamic and
1232 non-dynamic pcrs jobs at the same time. Only mention the name of
1233 the filter or tagger, but don't claim it's a filter when it could
1239 In a fatal error message in load_one_actions_file(), cover both
1240 URL and TAG patterns.
1245 In pcrs_strerror(), properly report unknown positive error code
1246 values as such. Previously they were handled like 0 (no error).
1251 In compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list(), also log the actual error code as
1252 pcrs_strerror() doesn't handle all errors reported by pcre.
1257 Don't bother trying to continue chatting if the client didn't ask for it.
1258 Reduces log noise a bit.
1263 Make two fatal error message in load_one_actions_file() more descriptive.
1268 In cgi_send_user_manual(), log when rejecting a file name due to '/' or '..'.
1273 In load_file(), log a message if opening a file failed.
1274 The CGI error message alone isn't too helpful.
1279 In connection_destination_matches(), improve two log messages
1280 to help understand why the destinations don't match.
1285 Rephrase a log message in serve(). Client request arrival
1286 should be differentiated from closed client connections now.
1291 In serve(), log if a client connection isn't reused due to a
1292 configuration file change.
1297 Let mark_server_socket_tainted() always mark the server socket tainted,
1298 just don't talk about it in cases where it has no effect. It doesn't change
1299 Privoxy's behaviour, but makes understanding the log file easier.
1311 Added a --disable-ipv6-support switch for platforms where support
1312 is detected but doesn't actually work.
1317 Do not check for the existence of strerror() and memmove() twice
1322 Remove a useless test for setpgrp(2). Privoxy doesn't need it and
1323 it can cause problems when cross-compiling.
1328 Rename the --disable-acl-files switch to --disable-acl-support.
1329 Since about 2001, ACL directives are specified in the standard
1335 Update the URL of the 'Removing outdated PCRE version after the
1336 next stable release' posting. The old URL stopped working after
1337 one of SF's recent site "optimizations". Reported by Han Liu.
1345 Privoxy-Regression-Test:
1349 Added --shuffle-tests option to increase the chances of detection race conditions.
1354 Added a --local-test-file option that allows to use Privoxy-Regression-Test without Privoxy.
1359 Added tests for missing socks4 and socks4a forwarders.
1364 The --privoxy-address option now works with IPv6 addresses containing brackets, too.
1369 Perform limited sanity checks for parameters that are supposed to have numerical values.
1374 Added a --sleep-time option to specify a number of seconds to
1375 sleep between tests, defaults to 0.
1380 Disable the range-requests tagger for tests that break if it's enabled.
1385 Log messages use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
1390 Fix spelling in two error messages.
1395 In the --help output, include a list of supported tests and their default levels.
1400 Adjust the tests to properly deal with FEATURE_TOGGLE being disabled.
1412 Perform limited sanity checks for command line parameters that
1413 are supposed to have numerical values.
1418 Implement a --unbreak-lines-only option to try to revert MUA breakage.
1423 Accept and highlight: Added header: Content-Encoding: deflate
1428 Accept and highlight: Compressed content from 29258 to 8630 bytes.
1433 Accept and highlight: Client request arrived in time on socket 21.
1438 Highlight: Didn't receive data in time: a.fsdn.com:443
1443 Accept log messages with ISO 8601 time stamps, too.
1455 Bump generated Firefox version to 8.0.
1460 Only randomize the release date if the new --randomize-release-date
1461 option is enabled. Firefox versions after 4 use a fixed date string
1472 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1474 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
1475 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
1478 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
1479 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
1487 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
1488 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
1489 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
1490 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
1493 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
1494 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
1495 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
1496 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
1497 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
1502 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
1503 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
1504 any important configuration files!
1509 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
1510 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
1515 <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
1516 the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
1521 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
1522 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
1523 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
1524 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
1531 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
1532 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
1533 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
1534 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
1535 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
1536 be aware of the security issues involved.
1543 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
1544 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
1545 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
1546 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
1547 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
1548 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
1549 settings as yet (see above).
1556 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
1557 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
1558 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
1559 standards and past practices. See <ulink
1560 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1561 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
1562 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
1568 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
1569 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
1570 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
1571 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
1575 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
1579 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
1580 to turn off compression for all sites in
1581 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
1582 <filename>user.action</filename>).
1589 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
1590 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
1591 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
1598 Some installers may not automatically start
1599 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
1610 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1611 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
1617 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
1618 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
1625 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
1626 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
1627 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
1628 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
1635 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
1636 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
1637 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
1643 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
1644 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
1645 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
1646 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
1647 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
1648 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
1649 browser from using these protocols.
1655 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
1656 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
1657 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1658 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
1664 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
1665 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
1666 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
1667 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
1669 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
1670 Be sure to read the warnings first.
1673 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
1674 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
1675 You might also want to look at the <link
1676 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
1677 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
1684 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
1685 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
1686 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
1687 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
1688 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
1689 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
1690 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
1691 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
1692 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
1693 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
1698 Did anyone test these lately?
1702 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
1703 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
1711 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
1712 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
1719 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
1727 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1729 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
1730 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
1732 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
1733 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
1736 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1737 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
1738 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
1741 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
1742 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
1743 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
1746 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
1747 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
1748 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
1749 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
1750 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
1751 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
1752 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
1753 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
1754 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
1755 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
1756 habits and preferences.
1759 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
1760 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
1761 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
1762 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
1763 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
1764 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
1765 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
1766 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
1767 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
1768 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
1771 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1772 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
1773 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
1774 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
1775 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
1778 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
1779 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1780 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
1781 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
1782 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
1783 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
1784 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
1785 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
1786 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
1787 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
1788 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
1793 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
1794 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
1795 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
1797 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
1798 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
1806 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
1807 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
1808 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
1809 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
1810 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
1811 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
1812 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
1813 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
1819 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
1820 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
1821 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
1822 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
1823 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
1824 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
1825 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
1826 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
1827 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
1828 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
1829 an entire HTML page in most situations.
1835 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
1836 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1837 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
1838 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
1845 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
1846 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
1847 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
1848 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
1849 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
1850 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
1853 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
1857 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
1858 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
1863 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
1864 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
1869 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
1870 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
1879 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
1880 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
1881 are very different from <literal><link
1882 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
1883 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
1884 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
1885 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
1886 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
1887 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
1888 some pitfalls to be wary off.
1892 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
1893 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
1894 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1895 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
1896 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
1900 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
1901 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
1902 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
1903 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
1904 cases it's safe to enable again.
1908 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
1909 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
1910 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
1911 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
1912 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
1913 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
1914 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
1915 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
1919 A quick and simple step by step example:
1927 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1928 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1936 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1941 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1942 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1945 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1947 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1950 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1953 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1962 You should have a section with only
1963 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1964 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1965 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1966 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1967 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1968 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1969 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1970 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1971 just below the list.
1976 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1977 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1978 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1979 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1980 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1981 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1986 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1987 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1995 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1996 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1997 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1998 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
2003 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
2004 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
2005 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
2008 There are also various
2009 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
2010 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
2011 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
2012 depth in later sections.
2019 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2022 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2023 <sect1 id="startup">
2024 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
2026 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
2027 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
2028 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
2029 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
2030 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
2031 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
2035 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
2036 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
2039 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
2041 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
2042 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
2045 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
2048 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
2056 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
2060 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
2065 Or optionally on some platforms:
2069 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
2075 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
2076 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
2081 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
2082 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
2083 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
2088 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
2092 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
2096 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
2097 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
2098 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
2099 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
2100 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
2103 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
2105 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
2106 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
2109 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
2112 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
2120 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
2121 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
2122 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
2123 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
2124 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
2125 <application>Privoxy</application>!
2129 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
2130 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
2131 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
2132 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
2133 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
2136 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
2137 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
2139 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
2140 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
2145 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
2153 # service privoxy start
2158 <sect2 id="start-debian">
2159 <title>Debian</title>
2161 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
2162 default. It will use the file
2163 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
2168 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
2173 <sect2 id="start-windows">
2174 <title>Windows</title>
2176 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
2177 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
2178 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
2179 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
2183 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
2184 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
2185 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
2186 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
2187 instructions</link> for details.
2191 <sect2 id="start-unices">
2192 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
2194 Example Unix startup command:
2198 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
2203 <sect2 id="start-os2">
2206 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
2207 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
2208 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
2209 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
2213 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
2214 <title>Mac OS X</title>
2216 After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
2217 double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
2218 installer package icon and follow the installation process.
2221 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
2222 installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
2223 start every time your computer starts up.
2226 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
2227 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
2228 /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
2231 A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
2232 enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
2235 In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
2236 administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
2237 to uninstall the software is also available.
2240 An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
2241 the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
2246 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
2247 <title>AmigaOS</title>
2249 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
2250 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
2251 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
2252 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
2253 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
2254 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
2255 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
2259 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
2260 <title>Gentoo</title>
2262 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
2263 </filename> as its main configuration file.
2267 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
2271 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
2272 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
2277 rc-update add privoxy default
2285 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
2289 must find a better place for this paragraph
2292 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
2293 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
2294 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
2295 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
2296 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
2297 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
2301 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
2302 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
2303 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
2304 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
2305 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
2306 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
2307 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
2308 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
2309 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
2313 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
2314 sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
2315 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
2316 because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
2317 popups (explained below).
2321 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
2322 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
2323 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
2324 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
2325 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
2326 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
2327 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
2328 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
2329 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
2333 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
2334 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
2335 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
2336 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
2337 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
2338 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
2339 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
2340 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
2341 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
2345 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
2346 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
2347 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
2348 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
2349 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
2350 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
2351 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
2355 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
2356 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
2357 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
2358 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
2359 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
2360 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
2365 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
2366 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
2367 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
2372 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
2373 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
2374 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
2375 Developers</quote></link> below.
2380 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2381 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
2382 <title>Command Line Options</title>
2384 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
2385 command-line options:
2393 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
2396 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
2401 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
2404 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
2409 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
2412 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
2413 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
2418 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
2421 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
2422 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
2423 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
2424 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
2429 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
2432 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
2433 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
2434 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
2439 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
2442 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
2443 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
2444 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
2445 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
2451 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
2454 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
2455 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
2456 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
2457 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
2460 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
2461 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
2462 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
2463 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
2469 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
2472 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
2473 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
2474 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
2475 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
2476 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
2477 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
2485 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
2486 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
2487 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
2488 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
2496 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2499 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2500 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
2502 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
2503 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
2504 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
2505 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
2509 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2512 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
2514 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
2515 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
2516 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
2517 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
2518 You will see the following section:
2522 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
2525 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
2529 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
2532 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
2535 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
2538 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
2541 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
2544 ▪ <ulink
2545 url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
2553 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
2554 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
2555 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
2556 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
2557 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
2558 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
2562 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
2563 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
2564 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
2565 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
2566 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
2567 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
2568 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
2569 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
2574 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
2575 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
2577 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
2578 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
2583 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2588 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2590 <sect2 id="confoverview">
2591 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
2593 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
2594 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
2595 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
2596 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
2597 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
2598 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
2602 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
2603 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
2604 principle configuration files are:
2612 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
2613 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
2614 on Windows. This is a required file.
2620 <filename>match-all.action</filename> is used to define which <quote>actions</quote>
2621 relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie handling
2622 etc should be applied by default. It should be the first actions file loaded.
2625 <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
2626 from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
2627 It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
2630 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
2631 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
2632 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
2633 <filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
2634 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
2635 where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
2636 installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
2639 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
2641 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
2643 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
2644 various actions files.
2650 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
2651 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
2652 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
2653 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
2654 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
2655 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
2656 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
2657 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
2658 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
2659 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
2660 locally defined filters or customizations.
2668 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
2669 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
2670 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
2674 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
2675 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
2676 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
2677 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
2678 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
2679 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
2680 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
2684 The actions files and filter files
2685 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
2686 maximum flexibility.
2690 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
2691 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
2692 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
2693 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
2694 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
2695 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
2696 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
2701 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
2702 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
2703 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
2704 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
2710 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2713 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2715 <!-- **************************************************** -->
2716 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
2717 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
2719 <!-- end include -->
2722 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2726 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2728 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2732 XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
2733 We should only describe them at one place.
2736 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
2737 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
2738 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2739 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
2740 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
2741 Each action does something a little different.
2742 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
2743 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
2744 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
2748 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
2755 <filename>match-all.action</filename> - is used to define which
2756 <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
2757 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
2758 It should be the first actions file loaded
2763 <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
2764 positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
2765 in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
2766 work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
2767 be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
2772 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2773 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2774 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2775 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2780 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
2783 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
2784 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
2785 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
2786 <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
2787 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
2788 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
2789 not working as they should.
2792 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
2793 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
2794 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
2795 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
2796 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
2797 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
2798 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
2799 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
2800 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
2801 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
2802 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
2803 lower sections of this internal page.
2806 While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
2807 actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
2808 to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
2811 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
2812 <filename>default.action</filename> are:
2815 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
2816 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
2817 <colspec colname=c1>
2818 <colspec colname=c2>
2819 <colspec colname=c3>
2820 <colspec colname=c4>
2823 <entry>Feature</entry>
2824 <entry>Cautious</entry>
2825 <entry>Medium</entry>
2826 <entry>Advanced</entry>
2831 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
2832 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
2833 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
2834 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
2840 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
2841 <entry>medium</entry>
2847 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
2854 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
2860 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
2861 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2862 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2863 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2867 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
2869 <entry>medium</entry>
2870 <entry>medium/high</entry>
2874 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
2876 <entry>session-only</entry>
2881 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
2888 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
2895 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
2902 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
2909 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
2916 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2923 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2939 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2940 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2941 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2942 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2944 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2945 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2946 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2947 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2948 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2949 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2950 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2951 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2955 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2956 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2957 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2958 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2959 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2960 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2961 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2962 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2963 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2964 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2965 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2966 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2970 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2971 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2972 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2973 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2974 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2978 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2980 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2982 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2983 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2984 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2985 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2986 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2987 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2988 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2989 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2990 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2991 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2992 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2996 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2997 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2998 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2999 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
3003 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3005 <title>How to Edit</title>
3007 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
3008 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
3009 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
3010 Note: the config file option <link
3011 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
3012 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
3013 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
3014 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
3015 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
3016 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
3017 Experienced users only!
3021 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
3022 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
3023 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
3029 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
3030 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
3032 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
3033 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
3034 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
3035 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
3036 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
3037 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
3041 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
3042 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
3043 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
3044 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
3045 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
3049 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
3050 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
3051 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
3052 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
3053 then later another one with just <literal>{
3054 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
3055 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
3056 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
3062 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
3063 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
3065 media.example.com/.*banners
3066 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
3070 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
3071 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
3075 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
3076 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
3080 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3081 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
3082 <title>Patterns</title>
3084 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
3085 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
3086 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
3087 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
3088 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
3089 against many similar patterns.
3093 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
3094 <literal><domain><port>/<path></literal>, where the
3095 <literal><domain></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
3096 and the <literal><path></literal> are optional. (This is why the special
3097 <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
3098 portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <literal>http://</literal>) should
3099 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
3102 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
3103 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
3104 while the path part uses more flexible
3105 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3106 Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
3109 The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
3110 (<literal>:</literal>). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
3111 it has to be put into angle brackets
3112 (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
3117 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
3120 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
3121 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
3122 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
3123 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
3128 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
3131 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
3137 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
3140 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
3141 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
3146 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
3149 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
3150 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
3155 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
3158 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
3159 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
3164 <term><literal>/</literal></term>
3167 Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
3168 domain or the path to match anything.
3173 <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
3176 Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
3181 <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
3184 Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
3185 (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
3190 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
3193 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
3194 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
3202 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3203 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
3206 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
3207 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
3213 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
3216 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
3217 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
3218 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
3219 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
3220 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
3225 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
3228 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
3229 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
3230 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
3235 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
3238 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
3239 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
3240 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
3241 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
3242 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
3243 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
3244 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
3252 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
3253 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
3254 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
3256 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3257 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
3258 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
3259 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
3260 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
3261 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
3266 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
3269 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
3270 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
3275 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
3278 matches all of the above, and then some.
3283 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
3286 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
3287 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
3292 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
3295 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
3296 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
3297 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
3298 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
3305 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
3310 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3313 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3314 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
3317 <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
3318 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3319 Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
3320 and is thus more flexible.
3324 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
3325 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
3326 on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
3330 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
3331 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
3332 for the beginning of a line).
3336 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
3337 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
3338 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
3339 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
3340 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
3345 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
3348 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
3349 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
3350 regular expression. This is redundant
3355 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
3358 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
3359 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
3360 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
3361 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
3362 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
3363 requirement. It also would match
3364 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
3365 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
3370 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
3373 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
3374 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
3375 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
3376 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
3381 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
3384 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
3385 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
3386 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
3387 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
3392 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
3395 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
3396 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
3397 one is limited to common image formats.
3404 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
3405 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
3410 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3413 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3414 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
3417 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
3418 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
3419 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
3420 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
3424 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
3425 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
3426 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
3427 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
3428 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
3429 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
3433 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
3434 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
3435 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
3436 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
3437 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
3441 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
3442 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
3443 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
3447 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
3448 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
3449 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
3450 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
3454 For example you could tag client requests which use the
3455 <literal>POST</literal> method,
3456 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
3457 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
3458 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
3459 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
3460 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
3461 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
3462 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
3466 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
3467 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
3468 make too much sense.
3475 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3478 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3480 <sect2 id="actions">
3481 <title>Actions</title>
3483 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
3484 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
3485 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
3486 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
3487 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
3488 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
3489 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
3490 previously applied.</quote>
3495 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
3496 separated by whitespace, like in
3497 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
3498 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
3499 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
3500 of the actions file.
3504 Actions fall into three categories:
3511 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
3512 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
3516 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
3517 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
3520 Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
3527 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
3532 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
3533 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
3534 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
3537 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
3538 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
3541 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</literal>
3547 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
3548 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
3549 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3550 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3551 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3552 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3556 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3557 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3558 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3559 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3562 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3563 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3571 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3572 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3573 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
3574 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3575 files will give a good starting point).
3579 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
3580 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3581 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
3582 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
3583 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
3584 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
3585 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
3586 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
3587 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
3591 <!-- start actions listing -->
3593 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3597 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3598 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3599 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3601 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3604 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3606 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3607 <title>add-header</title>
3611 <term>Typical use:</term>
3613 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
3618 <term>Effect:</term>
3621 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
3628 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3630 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3635 <term>Parameter:</term>
3638 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3639 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3649 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3650 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3651 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3655 Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
3661 <term>Example usage:</term>
3664 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
3672 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3673 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3674 <title>block</title>
3678 <term>Typical use:</term>
3680 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
3685 <term>Effect:</term>
3688 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
3689 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
3690 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
3692 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3694 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
3696 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
3704 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3706 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3711 <term>Parameter:</term>
3713 <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
3721 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3722 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
3723 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
3724 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
3728 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3729 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3730 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
3731 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3732 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
3733 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
3736 It is important to understand this process, in order
3737 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
3738 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
3739 upon which various other features depend.
3742 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
3743 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
3744 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
3745 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
3746 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
3752 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3755 <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
3756 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
3757 .nasty-stuff.example.com
3759 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
3760 # Block and replace with image
3764 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
3765 # Block and then ignore
3766 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
3776 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3777 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
3778 <title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
3782 <term>Typical use:</term>
3784 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
3789 <term>Effect:</term>
3792 Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
3800 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3802 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3807 <term>Parameter:</term>
3811 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
3815 <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
3816 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
3827 It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
3830 Forwarding the source address of the request may make
3831 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
3836 <term>Example usage:</term>
3839 <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
3846 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3847 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
3848 <title>client-header-filter</title>
3852 <term>Typical use:</term>
3855 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
3861 <term>Effect:</term>
3864 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3865 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
3872 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3874 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3879 <term>Parameter:</term>
3882 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
3883 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3892 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
3893 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3894 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
3895 You can do that by using tags though.
3898 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
3899 and use their output as input.
3902 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
3903 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
3904 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
3907 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
3908 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
3916 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3920 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
3921 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
3932 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3933 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
3934 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
3938 <term>Typical use:</term>
3941 Block requests based on their headers.
3947 <term>Effect:</term>
3950 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3951 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
3959 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3961 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3966 <term>Parameter:</term>
3969 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
3970 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3979 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3980 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3984 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3985 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3991 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3995 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3996 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3999 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
4000 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
4002 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
4003 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
4004 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
4005 -hide-if-modified-since \
4006 -overwrite-last-modified \
4011 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
4012 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
4013 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
4014 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
4015 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
4016 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
4026 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4027 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
4028 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
4032 <term>Typical use:</term>
4034 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
4039 <term>Effect:</term>
4042 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
4049 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4051 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4056 <term>Parameter:</term>
4068 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
4069 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
4070 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
4071 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
4072 supported by the browser.
4075 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
4076 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
4077 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
4078 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
4079 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
4082 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
4083 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
4084 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
4085 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
4086 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
4089 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
4090 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
4091 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
4092 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
4095 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
4096 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
4097 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
4098 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
4099 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
4102 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
4103 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
4104 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
4105 only replace the content types you aimed at.
4108 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
4109 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
4110 more work to get the same precision.
4116 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4119 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
4120 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
4123 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
4124 {-content-type-overwrite}
4125 www.example.net/.*\.css$
4126 www.example.net/.*style
4135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4136 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
4140 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
4144 <term>Typical use:</term>
4146 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
4151 <term>Effect:</term>
4154 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
4161 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4163 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4168 <term>Parameter:</term>
4180 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
4181 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
4182 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
4183 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
4186 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
4187 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
4188 they contain the same string.
4191 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
4192 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
4193 parts of them, you should use a
4194 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
4198 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
4205 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4208 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
4209 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
4219 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4220 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
4221 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
4227 <term>Typical use:</term>
4229 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4234 <term>Effect:</term>
4237 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
4244 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4246 <para>Boolean.</para>
4251 <term>Parameter:</term>
4263 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
4264 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4265 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
4266 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4269 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
4270 replacement (unlikely but possible).
4273 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
4274 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
4275 isn't blocked or missing as well.
4278 It is recommended to use this action together with
4279 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
4281 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
4287 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4290 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
4291 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
4292 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4293 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4294 +crunch-if-none-match}
4303 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4304 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
4305 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
4309 <term>Typical use:</term>
4312 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
4318 <term>Effect:</term>
4321 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
4328 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4330 <para>Boolean.</para>
4335 <term>Parameter:</term>
4347 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
4348 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
4349 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
4350 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
4353 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
4354 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
4355 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
4356 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
4362 <term>Example usage:</term>
4365 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
4373 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4374 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
4375 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
4381 <term>Typical use:</term>
4383 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
4388 <term>Effect:</term>
4391 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
4398 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4400 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4405 <term>Parameter:</term>
4417 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
4418 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
4419 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
4422 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
4423 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
4424 they contain the same string.
4427 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
4428 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
4429 parts of them, you should use a custom
4430 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
4434 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
4441 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4444 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
4445 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
4454 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4455 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
4456 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
4460 <term>Typical use:</term>
4463 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
4469 <term>Effect:</term>
4472 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
4479 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4481 <para>Boolean.</para>
4486 <term>Parameter:</term>
4498 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
4499 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
4500 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
4501 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
4504 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
4505 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
4506 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
4512 <term>Example usage:</term>
4515 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
4524 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4525 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
4526 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
4530 <term>Typical use:</term>
4532 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
4537 <term>Effect:</term>
4540 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
4547 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4549 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4554 <term>Parameter:</term>
4557 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
4566 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
4567 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
4568 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
4569 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
4570 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
4571 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
4574 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
4575 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
4582 <term>Example usage:</term>
4585 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
4592 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4593 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
4594 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
4598 <term>Typical use:</term>
4600 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
4605 <term>Effect:</term>
4608 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
4615 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4617 <para>Boolean.</para>
4622 <term>Parameter:</term>
4634 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
4635 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
4636 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1-related problems with some server
4640 Note that enabling this action is only a workaround. It should not
4641 be enabled for sites that work without it. While it shouldn't break
4642 any pages, it has an (usually negative) performance impact.
4645 If you come across a site where enabling this action helps, please report it,
4646 so the cause of the problem can be analyzed. If the problem turns out to be
4647 caused by a bug in <application>Privoxy</application> it should be
4648 fixed so the following release works without the work around.
4654 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4657 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
4658 problem-host.example.com</screen>
4666 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4667 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
4668 <title>fast-redirects</title>
4672 <term>Typical use:</term>
4674 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
4679 <term>Effect:</term>
4682 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
4683 the redirection server first.
4690 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4692 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4697 <term>Parameter:</term>
4702 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
4703 to detect redirection URLs.
4708 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
4709 for redirection URLs.
4720 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
4721 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
4722 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
4723 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
4724 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
4727 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
4728 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
4729 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
4730 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
4731 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
4735 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
4736 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
4737 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
4740 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
4741 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
4742 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
4743 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
4744 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
4745 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
4746 the user gets redirected anyway.
4749 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
4751 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
4752 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
4753 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
4754 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
4755 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
4756 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
4757 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
4758 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
4761 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
4762 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
4763 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
4764 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
4765 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
4766 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
4767 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
4773 <term>Example usage:</term>
4777 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
4780 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
4781 another.example.com/testing</screen>
4790 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4791 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
4792 <title>filter</title>
4796 <term>Typical use:</term>
4798 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
4799 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
4804 <term>Effect:</term>
4807 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
4808 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
4809 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
4810 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
4811 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
4818 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4820 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4825 <term>Parameter:</term>
4828 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
4829 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
4830 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
4831 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
4832 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
4833 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
4834 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
4837 When used in its negative form,
4838 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
4847 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
4848 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
4852 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
4853 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
4854 passed the filters. (The total time until the page is completely rendered
4855 doesn't change much, but it may be perceived as slower since the page is
4856 not incrementally displayed.)
4857 This effect will be more noticeable on slower connections.
4860 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
4861 filters requires a knowledge of
4862 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
4863 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
4864 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
4865 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
4866 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
4867 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
4870 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
4871 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
4872 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
4873 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
4874 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
4877 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
4878 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
4879 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
4880 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
4881 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
4882 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
4885 Compressed content can't be filtered either, but if &my-app;
4886 is compiled with zlib support and a supported compression algorithm
4887 is used (gzip or deflate), &my-app; can first decompress the content
4891 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
4892 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
4893 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
4894 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
4897 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
4898 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4899 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
4900 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
4901 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
4905 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
4906 improved filters is particularly welcome!
4909 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
4910 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
4911 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
4912 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
4918 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
4919 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
4920 more explanation on each:</term>
4923 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
4924 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
4927 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
4928 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
4931 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
4932 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
4935 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
4936 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
4939 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
4940 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
4943 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
4944 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4947 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
4948 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4951 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
4952 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</screen>
4955 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
4956 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
4959 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
4960 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
4963 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
4964 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
4967 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
4968 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
4971 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
4972 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
4975 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
4976 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
4979 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
4980 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
4983 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
4984 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
4987 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
4988 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
4991 <anchor id="filter-fun">
4992 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
4995 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
4996 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
4999 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
5000 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
5003 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
5004 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
5007 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
5008 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
5011 <anchor id="filter-google">
5012 <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
5015 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
5016 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
5019 <anchor id="filter-msn">
5020 <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
5023 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
5024 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
5032 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5033 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
5034 <title>force-text-mode</title>
5040 <term>Typical use:</term>
5042 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
5047 <term>Effect:</term>
5050 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
5057 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5059 <para>Boolean.</para>
5064 <term>Parameter:</term>
5076 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
5077 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
5078 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
5079 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
5080 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
5081 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
5085 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
5086 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
5093 <term>Example usage:</term>
5106 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5107 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
5108 <title>forward-override</title>
5114 <term>Typical use:</term>
5116 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
5121 <term>Effect:</term>
5124 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
5131 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5133 <para>Multi-value.</para>
5138 <term>Parameter:</term>
5142 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
5146 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
5151 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
5152 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
5153 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
5154 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
5159 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
5160 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
5161 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
5162 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
5163 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
5174 This action takes parameters similar to the
5175 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
5176 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
5177 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
5181 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
5182 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
5183 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
5186 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
5187 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
5191 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
5192 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
5199 <term>Example usage:</term>
5203 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
5204 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
5205 # resuming downloads continues to work.
5206 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
5207 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
5208 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
5209 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
5210 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
5211 {+forward-override{forward .} \
5212 -hide-if-modified-since \
5213 -overwrite-last-modified \
5215 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
5224 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5225 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
5226 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
5232 <term>Typical use:</term>
5234 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
5239 <term>Effect:</term>
5242 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
5243 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
5244 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
5245 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
5246 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
5253 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5255 <para>Boolean.</para>
5260 <term>Parameter:</term>
5272 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
5273 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
5274 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
5275 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
5276 BLOCKED message in frames.
5279 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
5280 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
5281 but usually this isn't necessary.
5287 <term>Example usage:</term>
5290 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
5291 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
5292 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
5302 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5303 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
5304 <title>handle-as-image</title>
5308 <term>Typical use:</term>
5310 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
5315 <term>Effect:</term>
5318 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
5319 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
5320 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
5321 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
5322 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
5323 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
5330 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5332 <para>Boolean.</para>
5337 <term>Parameter:</term>
5349 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
5350 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
5354 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
5355 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
5356 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
5359 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
5360 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
5361 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
5362 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
5368 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5371 <screen># Generic image extensions:
5374 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
5376 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
5377 # blocked as images:
5379 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
5380 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
5389 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5390 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
5391 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
5397 <term>Typical use:</term>
5399 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
5404 <term>Effect:</term>
5407 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
5414 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5416 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5421 <term>Parameter:</term>
5424 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
5433 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
5434 foreign User-Agent set with
5435 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
5439 However some sites with content in different languages check the
5440 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
5441 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
5442 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
5445 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
5446 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
5447 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
5450 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
5451 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
5452 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
5453 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
5454 you should stick to a common language.
5460 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5463 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
5464 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
5465 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
5475 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5476 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
5477 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
5483 <term>Typical use:</term>
5485 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
5490 <term>Effect:</term>
5493 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
5500 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5502 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5507 <term>Parameter:</term>
5510 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
5519 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
5520 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
5521 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
5522 the browser is supposed to use by default.
5525 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
5526 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
5527 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
5530 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
5531 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
5532 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
5533 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
5534 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
5538 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
5539 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
5543 This action will probably be removed in the future,
5544 use server-header filters instead.
5550 <term>Example usage:</term>
5553 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
5555 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
5556 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
5557 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
5565 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5566 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
5567 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
5573 <term>Typical use:</term>
5575 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5580 <term>Effect:</term>
5583 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
5590 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5592 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5597 <term>Parameter:</term>
5600 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
5609 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
5610 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
5611 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
5614 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
5615 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
5616 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
5617 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
5618 subtracting, a positive value adding.
5621 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
5622 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
5623 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
5626 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
5627 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
5628 handle the greater changes.
5631 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5632 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
5633 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
5639 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5642 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
5643 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5644 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5645 +crunch-if-none-match}
5654 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5655 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
5656 <title>hide-from-header</title>
5660 <term>Typical use:</term>
5662 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
5667 <term>Effect:</term>
5670 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
5678 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5680 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5685 <term>Parameter:</term>
5688 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
5697 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
5698 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
5702 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
5703 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
5704 is actually used by a real person.
5707 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
5708 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
5714 <term>Example usage:</term>
5717 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
5718 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
5726 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5727 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
5728 <title>hide-referrer</title>
5729 <anchor id="hide-referer">
5732 <term>Typical use:</term>
5734 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
5739 <term>Effect:</term>
5742 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
5743 or replaces it with a forged one.
5750 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5752 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5757 <term>Parameter:</term>
5761 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
5764 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
5767 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
5770 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
5773 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
5783 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
5784 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
5785 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
5786 typed in the address directly.
5789 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
5790 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
5791 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
5792 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
5793 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
5797 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
5798 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
5799 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
5800 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
5803 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
5804 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
5805 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
5808 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
5809 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
5810 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
5811 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
5812 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
5818 <term>Example usage:</term>
5821 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
5822 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
5830 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5831 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
5832 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
5836 <term>Typical use:</term>
5838 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
5843 <term>Effect:</term>
5846 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
5847 in client requests with the specified value.
5854 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5856 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5861 <term>Parameter:</term>
5864 Any user-defined string.
5874 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
5875 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
5876 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
5877 work browser-independently).
5881 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
5882 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
5883 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
5884 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
5885 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
5886 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
5887 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
5888 reason in some cases).
5891 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
5892 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
5894 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
5900 <term>Example usage:</term>
5903 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
5911 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5912 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
5913 <title>limit-connect</title>
5917 <term>Typical use:</term>
5919 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
5924 <term>Effect:</term>
5927 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5934 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5936 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5941 <term>Parameter:</term>
5944 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5945 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5954 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5955 <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
5956 ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
5957 is desired for some or all destinations.
5960 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5961 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5962 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5963 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5964 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5967 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5968 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5969 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5975 <term>Example usages:</term>
5977 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5978 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5979 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5981 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
5982 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5983 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5984 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5985 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5992 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5993 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5994 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5998 <term>Typical use:</term>
6001 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
6002 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
6008 <term>Effect:</term>
6011 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
6018 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6020 <para>Boolean.</para>
6025 <term>Parameter:</term>
6037 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
6038 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
6039 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
6040 <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
6041 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
6044 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
6045 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
6046 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
6047 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
6050 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
6051 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
6055 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
6056 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
6057 predefined action settings.
6060 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
6061 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
6062 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
6063 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
6064 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
6070 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
6074 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
6076 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
6077 # Match only these sites
6082 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
6084 { +prevent-compression }
6087 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
6089 { -prevent-compression }
6090 .compusa.com/</screen>
6099 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6100 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
6101 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
6107 <term>Typical use:</term>
6109 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
6114 <term>Effect:</term>
6117 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
6124 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6126 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6131 <term>Parameter:</term>
6134 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
6135 and <quote>randomize</quote>
6144 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
6145 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
6146 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
6147 version of the page.
6150 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
6151 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
6152 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
6153 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
6154 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
6155 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
6158 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
6159 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
6160 this option together with
6161 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
6162 to further customize your random range.
6165 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
6166 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
6167 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
6168 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
6169 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
6170 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
6174 It is also recommended to use this action together with
6175 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
6181 <term>Example usage:</term>
6184 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
6185 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
6186 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
6187 +crunch-if-none-match}
6196 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6197 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
6198 <title>redirect</title>
6204 <term>Typical use:</term>
6207 Redirect requests to other sites.
6213 <term>Effect:</term>
6216 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
6217 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
6224 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6226 <para>Parameterized</para>
6231 <term>Parameter:</term>
6234 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
6243 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
6244 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
6245 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
6246 single pcrs command to the original URL.
6249 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
6250 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
6251 It can be combined with
6252 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
6253 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
6256 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
6257 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
6258 possible to fingerprint your requests.
6261 In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
6262 them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
6268 <term>Example usages:</term>
6271 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
6272 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
6273 example.com/stylesheet\.css
6275 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
6276 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
6277 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
6280 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
6281 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
6282 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
6283 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
6284 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
6286 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
6287 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
6290 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
6291 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
6292 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
6294 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
6295 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
6296 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
6297 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
6306 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6307 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
6308 <title>server-header-filter</title>
6312 <term>Typical use:</term>
6315 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
6321 <term>Effect:</term>
6324 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
6325 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
6332 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
6334 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6339 <term>Parameter:</term>
6342 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
6343 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
6352 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
6353 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
6354 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
6355 You can do that by using tags though.
6358 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
6359 and use their output as input.
6362 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
6363 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
6370 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
6374 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
6375 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
6377 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
6378 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
6388 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6389 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
6390 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
6394 <term>Typical use:</term>
6397 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
6403 <term>Effect:</term>
6406 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
6407 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
6415 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
6417 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6422 <term>Parameter:</term>
6425 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
6426 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
6435 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
6436 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
6440 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
6441 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
6442 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
6443 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
6444 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
6447 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
6448 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
6455 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
6459 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
6460 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
6471 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6472 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
6473 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
6477 <term>Typical use:</term>
6480 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
6481 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
6487 <term>Effect:</term>
6490 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
6491 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
6492 forget them in between sessions.
6499 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6501 <para>Boolean.</para>
6506 <term>Parameter:</term>
6518 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
6519 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
6520 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
6523 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
6524 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
6525 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
6526 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
6527 sites, and is the recommended setting.
6530 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
6531 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
6532 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
6533 will be plainly killed.
6536 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
6537 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
6540 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
6541 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
6542 These would have to be removed manually.
6545 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
6546 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
6547 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
6548 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
6554 <term>Example usage:</term>
6557 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
6565 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6566 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
6567 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
6571 <term>Typical use:</term>
6573 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
6578 <term>Effect:</term>
6581 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
6582 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
6583 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
6584 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
6585 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
6586 sent as a replacement.
6593 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6595 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6600 <term>Parameter:</term>
6605 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
6606 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
6611 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
6612 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
6613 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
6614 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
6619 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
6620 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
6621 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
6622 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
6625 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
6626 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
6627 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
6628 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
6629 it over and over again.
6640 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
6641 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
6642 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
6645 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
6646 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
6647 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
6653 <term>Example usage:</term>
6659 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
6662 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6665 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
6668 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6671 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
6679 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6681 <title>Summary</title>
6683 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6684 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6685 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6686 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6687 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
6688 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
6694 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6695 <sect2 id="aliases">
6696 <title>Aliases</title>
6698 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
6699 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
6700 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6701 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6703 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
6704 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
6705 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
6706 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6707 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
6711 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
6712 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
6713 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6714 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6718 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6719 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6720 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6721 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
6722 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6723 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
6724 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
6727 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6728 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
6729 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6730 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6731 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6736 Now let's define some aliases...
6741 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6743 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6744 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6748 # These aliases just save typing later:
6749 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6751 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6752 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6753 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6754 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6756 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6757 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6759 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
6761 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
6763 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6765 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6766 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
6770 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6771 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6772 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
6777 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6778 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6781 .office.microsoft.com
6782 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6783 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6787 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6791 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6794 # These shops require pop-ups:
6796 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6798 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
6802 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
6803 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6804 in order to function properly.
6810 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6811 <sect2 id="act-examples">
6812 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
6814 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
6815 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
6816 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
6817 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
6818 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
6819 example <filename>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
6820 and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
6824 <title>match-all.action</title>
6826 Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
6827 so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
6831 While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
6832 single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
6833 pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
6834 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the set of
6835 actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
6836 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
6837 wholly overridden by other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
6838 and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
6839 for your overall browsing experience.
6843 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
6844 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
6845 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
6846 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
6847 multiple lines with line continuation.
6853 +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
6854 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
6855 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
6862 The default behavior is now set.
6867 <title>default.action</title>
6870 If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
6871 <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
6872 the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
6873 sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
6877 Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
6878 help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
6882 The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
6883 that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
6888 ##########################################################################
6889 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
6890 ##########################################################################
6892 for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
6896 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
6897 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
6898 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
6903 ##########################################################################
6905 ##########################################################################
6908 # These aliases just save typing later:
6909 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6911 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6912 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6913 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6914 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6916 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6917 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6919 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link>
6920 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
6924 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
6925 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
6926 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
6927 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
6928 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
6929 of actions explicitly:
6934 ##########################################################################
6935 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
6936 ##########################################################################
6938 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
6941 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6942 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6943 mail.google.com</screen>
6947 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6948 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6949 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6958 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6960 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6964 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6965 action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
6966 breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6971 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6975 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6976 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6977 .nytimes.com</screen>
6981 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6982 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6983 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6984 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6985 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6986 would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
6987 URL as an image with the <literal><link
6988 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6989 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6995 ##########################################################################
6997 ##########################################################################
6999 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
7000 # blocked further down this file:
7002 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
7003 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
7007 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
7008 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
7009 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
7010 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
7011 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
7012 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
7013 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
7014 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
7015 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
7016 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
7017 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
7018 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
7023 # Known ad generators:
7028 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
7029 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
7030 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
7036 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
7037 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
7038 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
7039 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
7040 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
7041 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
7042 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
7043 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
7044 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
7047 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
7048 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
7049 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
7050 to keep the example short:
7055 ##########################################################################
7056 # Block these fine banners:
7057 ##########################################################################
7058 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
7066 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
7067 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
7069 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
7071 .hitbox.com</screen>
7075 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
7076 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
7077 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
7078 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
7081 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
7082 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
7083 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
7084 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
7085 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
7086 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
7090 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
7091 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
7092 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
7093 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
7094 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
7095 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
7096 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
7097 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
7098 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
7099 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
7104 ##########################################################################
7105 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
7106 ##########################################################################
7110 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
7111 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
7112 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
7113 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
7114 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
7115 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
7116 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
7124 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
7125 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
7129 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
7130 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
7131 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
7132 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
7133 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
7138 # Don't filter code!
7140 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
7145 .sourceforge.net</screen>
7149 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
7150 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
7155 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
7158 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
7159 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
7160 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
7161 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
7162 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
7163 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
7164 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
7165 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
7166 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
7167 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
7168 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
7169 to install updated versions from time to time.
7173 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
7174 <filename>user.action</filename>:
7178 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
7182 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
7186 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
7187 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
7188 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
7193 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
7194 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
7198 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
7199 # be self explanatory.
7201 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
7202 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7203 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
7204 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
7205 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
7206 -block-as-image = -block
7208 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
7209 # certain types of sites:
7211 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
7212 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
7214 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
7216 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
7218 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
7219 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
7220 handle-as-text = -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> +-<link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</link> +-<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link></screen>
7225 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
7226 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
7227 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
7228 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
7229 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
7230 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
7235 { allow-all-cookies }
7239 .redhat.com</screen>
7243 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
7248 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
7249 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
7253 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
7258 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
7259 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
7264 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
7265 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
7267 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
7271 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
7272 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
7273 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
7274 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
7275 <literal>{ +block{} }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
7276 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
7277 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
7278 in default.action anyway:
7283 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
7284 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
7285 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
7289 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
7290 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
7291 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
7292 the file type just by looking at the URL.
7293 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
7295 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
7296 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
7297 browser. Use cautiously.
7306 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
7310 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
7311 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
7312 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
7313 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
7314 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
7315 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
7316 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
7317 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
7318 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
7326 .mybank.com</screen>
7330 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
7331 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
7332 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
7333 update-safe config, once and for all:
7338 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
7339 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
7343 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
7344 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
7345 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
7346 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
7347 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
7351 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
7352 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
7353 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
7354 sites that you feel provide value to you:
7366 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
7367 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
7368 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
7369 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
7373 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
7374 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
7375 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
7376 it should I choose to.
7386 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
7387 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
7388 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
7389 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
7390 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
7391 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
7397 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
7398 / # ALL sites</screen>
7404 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7408 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7410 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7412 <sect1 id="filter-file">
7413 <title>Filter Files</title>
7416 On-the-fly text substitutions need
7417 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
7418 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
7422 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
7423 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
7424 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
7425 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
7426 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
7427 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
7428 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
7432 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
7433 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
7435 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
7436 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
7437 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
7438 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
7439 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
7444 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
7445 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
7446 as supplied by the developers are located in
7447 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
7448 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
7449 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
7453 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
7454 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
7455 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
7456 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
7457 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
7458 or just to have fun.
7462 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
7463 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
7464 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
7465 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
7466 to also filter other content.
7470 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
7471 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
7472 and, of course, regular expressions.
7476 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
7477 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
7478 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
7479 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
7480 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
7481 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
7482 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
7483 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
7484 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
7485 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
7486 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7487 user interface</ulink>.
7491 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
7492 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
7493 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
7494 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
7498 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
7499 type, the filter name and the filter description.
7500 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
7505 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
7509 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
7510 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
7511 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
7512 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
7513 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
7514 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
7515 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
7516 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
7521 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
7522 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
7523 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
7524 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
7526 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
7527 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
7528 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
7529 expressions</ulink> in general.
7530 The below examples might also help to get you started.
7534 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7536 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
7538 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
7539 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
7540 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
7545 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
7549 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
7550 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
7551 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
7552 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
7556 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7560 Our complete filter now looks like this:
7563 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
7564 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7568 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
7569 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
7570 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
7576 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
7578 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
7580 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
7584 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
7585 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
7586 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
7587 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
7591 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
7592 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
7593 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
7594 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
7595 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
7599 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
7600 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
7601 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
7602 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
7603 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
7604 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
7605 in the page (and appear in that order).
7609 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
7610 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
7611 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
7612 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
7613 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
7617 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
7618 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
7619 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
7620 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
7621 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
7622 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
7623 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
7624 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
7625 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
7626 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
7627 substitution is global.
7631 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
7632 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
7633 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
7634 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
7635 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
7639 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
7640 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
7641 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
7642 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
7643 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
7644 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
7645 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
7646 Business!"</literal>.
7650 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
7651 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
7652 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
7653 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
7654 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
7655 information anymore.
7659 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
7660 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
7665 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
7667 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
7671 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
7672 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
7673 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
7674 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
7675 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
7676 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
7677 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
7678 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
7679 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
7683 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
7684 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
7685 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
7686 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
7687 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
7688 you move your mouse over links.
7693 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
7695 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
7700 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
7701 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
7702 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
7703 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
7704 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
7705 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
7706 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
7707 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
7708 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
7709 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
7714 The last example is from the fun department:
7719 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
7721 # Spice the daily news:
7723 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
7727 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
7728 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
7729 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
7730 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
7731 still replacing the word everywhere else.
7736 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
7738 s* industry[ -]leading \
7740 | customer[ -]focused \
7741 | market[ -]driven \
7742 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
7743 | high[ -]performance \
7744 | solutions[ -]based \
7748 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
7753 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
7754 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
7762 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7764 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
7768 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
7769 keep these listings in sync.
7774 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
7775 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
7780 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7783 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
7788 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
7789 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
7790 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
7795 removes the bindings to the DOM's
7796 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
7797 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
7798 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
7803 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
7804 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
7810 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
7811 rely heavily on JavaScript.
7817 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
7820 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
7821 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
7822 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
7825 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
7826 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
7833 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7836 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
7839 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
7840 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
7841 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
7842 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
7848 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
7851 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
7853 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
7854 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
7855 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
7856 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
7859 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
7860 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
7861 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
7862 use the cookie crunch actions.
7868 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
7871 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
7872 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
7873 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
7880 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
7883 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
7884 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
7885 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
7886 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
7889 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
7890 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
7891 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
7892 restoring the function afterward.
7895 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
7896 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
7897 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
7903 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
7906 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
7907 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
7908 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
7909 usage. Use with caution.
7915 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
7918 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
7919 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
7920 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
7926 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
7929 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
7930 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
7931 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
7934 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
7935 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
7938 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
7939 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7945 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7948 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7949 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7950 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7956 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7959 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7960 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7961 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7962 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7963 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7964 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7965 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7968 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7974 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7977 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7978 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7979 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7980 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7983 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7989 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7992 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7993 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7994 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
8000 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
8003 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
8004 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
8005 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
8006 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
8007 small to show their whole content.
8010 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
8017 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
8020 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
8021 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
8022 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
8025 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
8026 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
8027 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
8028 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
8029 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
8032 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
8033 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
8034 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
8041 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
8044 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
8045 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
8053 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
8056 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
8057 prevents saving, is disabled.
8063 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
8066 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
8067 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
8073 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
8076 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
8077 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
8083 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
8086 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
8087 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
8090 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
8091 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
8097 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
8100 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
8101 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
8104 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
8105 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
8106 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
8107 anything regarding this filter.
8113 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
8116 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
8117 and the toolbar advertisement.
8123 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
8126 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
8127 a width limitation as well.
8133 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
8136 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
8137 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
8143 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
8146 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
8149 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
8150 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
8151 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
8152 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
8158 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
8161 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
8167 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
8170 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
8176 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
8179 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
8180 anchor and area HTML tags.
8186 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
8189 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
8190 found in Host and Referer headers.
8193 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
8194 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
8195 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
8196 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
8199 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
8200 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
8201 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
8202 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
8205 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
8206 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
8207 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
8210 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
8211 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
8212 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
8213 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
8214 the request is coming from.
8221 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
8235 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8239 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8241 <sect1 id="templates">
8242 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
8244 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
8245 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
8246 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
8247 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
8249 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
8250 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
8251 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
8256 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
8257 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
8259 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
8263 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
8264 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
8265 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
8266 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
8267 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
8268 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
8269 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
8273 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
8274 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
8278 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
8279 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
8280 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
8281 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
8282 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
8286 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
8287 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
8288 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
8289 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
8290 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
8295 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
8297 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
8299 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
8303 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
8304 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
8305 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
8309 <screen><!-- --></screen>
8313 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
8314 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
8319 All templates refer to a style located at
8320 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
8321 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
8322 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
8323 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
8328 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8332 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8334 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
8337 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
8339 <!-- end boilerplate -->
8343 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8346 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8347 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
8349 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
8351 <!-- end copyright -->
8353 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8354 <sect2><title>License</title>
8355 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
8357 <!-- end copyright -->
8359 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8362 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8364 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
8365 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
8367 <!-- end history -->
8370 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
8371 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
8373 <!-- end authors -->
8378 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8381 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8382 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
8383 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
8385 <!-- end seealso -->
8390 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8391 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
8394 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8396 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
8398 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
8399 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
8400 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
8401 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
8404 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
8406 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
8410 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
8411 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
8412 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
8413 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
8417 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
8418 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
8419 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
8420 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
8421 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
8422 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
8423 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
8424 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
8428 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
8429 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
8430 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
8431 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
8432 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
8433 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
8434 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
8435 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
8439 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
8440 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
8441 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
8442 and then some examples:
8447 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
8448 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
8450 </simplelist></para>
8454 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
8457 </simplelist></para>
8461 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
8464 </simplelist></para>
8468 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
8471 </simplelist></para>
8475 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
8476 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
8477 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
8478 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
8479 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
8480 meta-character meaning of any single character).
8482 </simplelist></para>
8486 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
8487 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
8488 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
8489 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
8491 </simplelist></para>
8495 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
8496 or multiple sub-expressions.
8498 </simplelist></para>
8502 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
8503 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
8504 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
8505 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
8506 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
8507 example</quote>, and nothing else.
8509 </simplelist></para>
8512 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
8513 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
8514 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
8515 be more illuminating:
8519 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
8520 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
8521 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
8522 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
8523 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
8524 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
8525 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
8526 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
8527 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
8528 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
8529 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
8530 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
8531 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
8532 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
8537 And now something a little more complex:
8541 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
8542 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
8543 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
8544 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
8545 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
8546 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
8547 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
8552 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
8553 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
8554 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
8555 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
8556 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
8557 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
8558 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
8559 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
8560 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
8561 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
8562 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
8563 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
8564 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
8565 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
8566 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
8567 changing our regular expression to:
8568 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
8573 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
8574 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
8575 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
8576 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
8577 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
8578 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
8579 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
8580 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
8581 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
8582 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
8583 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
8584 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
8585 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
8586 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
8587 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
8588 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
8589 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
8590 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
8591 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
8592 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
8593 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
8594 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
8595 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
8596 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
8597 in the expression anywhere).
8601 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
8602 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
8603 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
8604 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
8605 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
8610 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
8611 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
8615 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
8616 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
8621 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8624 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8626 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
8629 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
8630 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
8631 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
8632 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
8633 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
8634 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
8635 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
8641 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
8642 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
8643 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
8644 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
8657 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
8661 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
8662 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
8663 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
8669 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
8670 editing of actions files:
8674 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
8681 Show the source code version numbers:
8685 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
8692 Show the browser's request headers:
8696 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
8703 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
8707 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8714 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
8715 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
8716 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
8721 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
8725 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
8729 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
8734 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
8743 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
8747 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
8748 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
8750 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
8751 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8752 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
8753 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
8754 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
8755 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
8758 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
8759 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
8760 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
8761 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
8762 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
8763 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
8772 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>
8779 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>
8786 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)
8793 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>
8799 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
8805 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
8812 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
8813 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
8814 have more information about bookmarklets.
8823 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8825 <title>Chain of Events</title>
8827 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8828 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
8829 page is requested by your browser:
8836 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
8837 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
8838 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
8844 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
8845 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
8850 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
8852 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
8853 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
8854 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
8856 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
8857 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
8858 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
8859 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
8860 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
8861 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
8862 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
8867 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
8868 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
8873 If the URL pattern matches the <link
8874 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
8875 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
8880 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
8881 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
8882 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
8883 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
8889 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
8895 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
8896 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
8897 filtered as determined by the
8898 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
8899 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
8900 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
8906 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8908 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8909 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
8910 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
8911 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
8912 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
8913 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
8914 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
8915 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
8916 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
8919 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8921 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8922 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
8923 to the client browser as it becomes available.
8928 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
8929 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
8930 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
8931 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
8932 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
8933 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
8934 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
8935 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
8936 differing set of actions is triggered.
8943 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8944 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8945 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8951 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8952 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8953 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8956 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8957 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8958 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8959 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8960 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8961 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8962 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8963 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8964 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8969 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8970 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8971 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8972 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8973 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8974 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8975 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8978 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8979 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8980 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8981 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8982 configuration issue.
8986 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8987 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8988 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8989 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8993 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8994 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8995 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8996 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8997 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8998 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8999 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
9000 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
9001 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
9002 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
9003 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
9004 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
9005 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
9010 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
9011 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
9012 configuration may vary):
9017 Matches for http://www.google.com:
9019 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
9021 {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
9022 +deanimate-gifs {last}
9023 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
9024 +filter {refresh-tags}
9025 +filter {img-reorder}
9026 +filter {banners-by-size}
9028 +filter {jumping-windows}
9029 +filter {ie-exploits}
9030 +hide-from-header {block}
9031 +hide-referrer {forge}
9032 +session-cookies-only
9033 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
9036 { -session-cookies-only }
9042 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
9043 (no matches in this file)
9048 This is telling us how we have defined our
9049 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
9050 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
9051 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
9052 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
9053 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
9054 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
9055 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
9059 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
9060 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
9061 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
9062 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
9063 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
9064 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
9068 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
9069 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
9070 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
9071 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
9072 cookie setting, which was for <link
9073 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
9074 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
9075 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
9076 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
9077 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
9078 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
9079 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
9080 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
9081 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
9082 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
9083 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
9084 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
9085 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
9089 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
9090 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
9091 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
9092 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
9093 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
9094 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
9098 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
9099 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
9100 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
9111 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
9112 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
9113 -content-type-overwrite
9114 -crunch-client-header
9115 -crunch-if-none-match
9116 -crunch-incoming-cookies
9117 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
9118 -crunch-server-header
9119 +deanimate-gifs {last}
9120 -downgrade-http-version
9123 -filter {content-cookies}
9124 -filter {all-popups}
9125 -filter {banners-by-link}
9126 -filter {tiny-textforms}
9127 -filter {frameset-borders}
9128 -filter {demoronizer}
9129 -filter {shockwave-flash}
9130 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
9132 -filter {crude-parental}
9133 -filter {site-specifics}
9134 -filter {js-annoyances}
9135 -filter {html-annoyances}
9136 +filter {refresh-tags}
9137 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
9138 +filter {img-reorder}
9139 +filter {banners-by-size}
9141 +filter {jumping-windows}
9142 +filter {ie-exploits}
9149 -handle-as-empty-document
9151 -hide-accept-language
9152 -hide-content-disposition
9153 +hide-from-header {block}
9154 -hide-if-modified-since
9155 +hide-referrer {forge}
9158 -overwrite-last-modified
9159 -prevent-compression
9161 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
9162 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
9163 -session-cookies-only
9164 +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
9168 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
9169 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
9170 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
9171 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
9175 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
9181 { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
9184 { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
9187 { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
9188 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
9193 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
9194 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
9195 and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
9196 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
9197 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
9198 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
9199 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
9204 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
9205 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
9206 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
9207 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
9208 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
9209 is done here -- as both a <link
9210 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
9211 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
9212 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
9213 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
9214 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
9218 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
9219 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
9225 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
9227 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
9231 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
9232 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
9233 -content-type-overwrite
9234 -crunch-client-header
9235 -crunch-if-none-match
9236 -crunch-incoming-cookies
9237 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
9238 -crunch-server-header
9240 -downgrade-http-version
9241 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
9243 -filter {content-cookies}
9244 -filter {all-popups}
9245 -filter {banners-by-link}
9246 -filter {tiny-textforms}
9247 -filter {frameset-borders}
9248 -filter {demoronizer}
9249 -filter {shockwave-flash}
9250 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
9252 -filter {crude-parental}
9253 -filter {site-specifics}
9254 -filter {js-annoyances}
9255 -filter {html-annoyances}
9256 +filter {refresh-tags}
9257 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
9258 +filter {img-reorder}
9259 +filter {banners-by-size}
9261 +filter {jumping-windows}
9262 +filter {ie-exploits}
9269 -handle-as-empty-document
9271 -hide-accept-language
9272 -hide-content-disposition
9273 +hide-from-header{block}
9274 +hide-referer{forge}
9276 -overwrite-last-modified
9277 +prevent-compression
9279 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
9280 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
9281 +session-cookies-only
9282 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
9285 { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
9291 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
9292 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
9293 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
9294 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
9295 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
9296 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
9297 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
9298 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
9299 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
9300 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
9301 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
9313 Now the page displays ;-)
9314 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
9315 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
9316 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
9320 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
9327 { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
9333 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
9334 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
9335 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
9336 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
9337 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
9338 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
9339 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
9340 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
9341 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
9349 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
9357 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
9358 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
9359 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
9367 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
9375 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
9376 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
9377 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
9378 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
9379 automatically in the scope of the action.
9383 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
9384 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
9386 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
9387 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
9391 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
9392 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
9393 last resort for problem sites.
9399 # Handle with care: easy to break
9401 mybank.example.com</screen>
9406 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
9407 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
9408 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
9409 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
9413 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
9414 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
9423 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
9424 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
9425 Public License as published by the Free Software
9426 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
9427 your option) any later version.
9429 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
9430 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
9431 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
9432 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
9433 License for more details.
9435 The GNU General Public License should be included with
9436 this file. If not, you can view it at
9437 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
9438 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
9439 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
9442 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
9443 Revision 2.144 2011/12/26 17:01:29 fabiankeil
9444 Try to be less misleading in the downgrade-http-version description
9446 Revision 2.143 2011/11/20 17:16:36 fabiankeil
9447 Last minute ChangeLog changes that didn't make it into the tarball
9449 Revision 2.142 2011/11/20 12:43:38 fabiankeil
9450 Update ChangeLog. Once more, with feeling.
9452 Revision 2.141 2011/11/20 12:41:22 fabiankeil
9453 Document the +fast-redirects{} HTTP response splitting fix
9455 Revision 2.140 2011/11/19 15:18:02 fabiankeil
9458 Revision 2.139 2011/11/18 16:49:29 fabiankeil
9461 Revision 2.138 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil
9462 Bump entities for 3.0.18 stable
9464 Revision 2.137 2011/11/13 17:02:59 fabiankeil
9465 Import the first ChangeLog draft for 3.0.18 stable
9467 Revision 2.136 2011/10/14 16:53:10 fabiankeil
9468 Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support
9470 Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
9472 zlib support has been available for years now,
9473 so drop the reference to Privoxy 3.0.7
9475 Revision 2.135 2011/09/04 11:10:12 fabiankeil
9476 Ditch trailing whitespace
9478 Revision 2.134 2011/08/18 11:45:02 fabiankeil
9479 Don't use unspecified MSN sites as examples for User-Agent-based descrimination
9481 Without knowing the URLs, nobody can easily verify it and it could
9482 be mistaken as FUD. I also assume that it's no longer an issue anyway.
9484 Revision 2.133 2011/08/18 11:42:50 fabiankeil
9485 Bump some more documentation copyright ranges.
9487 Revision 2.132 2011/08/17 10:40:07 fabiankeil
9488 Update the entities.
9490 This commit is chronological out of order.
9492 Revision 2.131 2011/04/19 13:14:10 fabiankeil
9493 Fix spelling errors in the documentation. Found with codespell.
9495 Revision 2.130 2010/12/01 19:28:28 fabiankeil
9496 Hopefully unbreak the dok target when using some kind of jade.
9500 Revision 2.129 2010/11/13 20:17:11 fabiankeil
9501 Merge ChangeLog updates
9503 Revision 2.128 2010/11/10 22:00:13 fabiankeil
9504 Update the first paragraph of the 'What's New' section.
9506 Revision 2.127 2010/11/10 21:48:54 fabiankeil
9507 Update the "What's New" section.
9509 Revision 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil
9510 Set p-version to 3.0.17
9512 Revision 2.125 2010/09/03 17:39:37 fabiankeil
9513 Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear slower than it is.
9515 Revision 2.124 2010/05/01 18:21:30 fabiankeil
9516 Explicitly mention how to match any URL.
9518 Revision 2.123 2010/02/19 16:00:38 fabiankeil
9521 Revision 2.122 2010/02/19 15:22:47 fabiankeil
9524 Revision 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil
9525 Mention the use of the no-such-domain template for DNS problems with FEATURE_IPV6_SUPPORT enabled.
9527 Revision 2.120 2010/02/13 17:38:39 fabiankeil
9528 Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
9530 Revision 2.119 2010/02/13 16:37:37 fabiankeil
9531 Update 'What's new?' section.
9533 Revision 2.118 2010/02/11 13:59:48 fabiankeil
9534 Mention that the headers added by the add-header action aren't modified by other actions.
9536 Revision 2.117 2010/01/11 12:56:04 fabiankeil
9537 Bump copyright range as p-config.sgml's copyright line is only used in the config file.
9539 Revision 2.116 2009/11/15 14:24:12 fabiankeil
9540 Prepare to generate docs for 3.0.16 UNRELEASED.
9542 Revision 2.115 2009/10/10 06:19:34 fabiankeil
9543 Ditch a duplicated 'since'.
9545 Revision 2.114 2009/10/10 05:51:48 fabiankeil
9546 Update "What's new" section.
9548 Revision 2.113 2009/10/10 05:48:55 fabiankeil
9549 Prepare for 3.0.15 beta.
9551 Revision 2.112 2009/07/24 12:20:30 fabiankeil
9552 Remove duplicated period.
9554 Revision 2.111 2009/07/18 18:11:11 fabiankeil
9555 Don't claim that NTLM should work when there are multiple reports that it doesn't.
9557 Revision 2.110 2009/07/18 16:25:17 fabiankeil
9558 Fix trailing whitespace.
9560 Revision 2.109 2009/07/18 16:24:39 fabiankeil
9561 Bump entities for 3.0.14 beta.
9563 Revision 2.108 2009/07/18 15:49:23 fabiankeil
9564 Add most of the changes in 3.0.14 to the "What's New" section.
9566 Revision 2.107 2009/06/12 14:30:58 fabiankeil
9567 Update entities for 3.0.13 beta.
9569 Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
9570 Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
9572 Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
9573 Grammar and spelling fixes.
9575 Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
9576 Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
9578 Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
9579 Merge updated ChangeLog.
9581 Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
9582 Update "What's New in this Release" section.
9584 Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
9587 Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
9588 - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
9589 the "What's New" section.
9590 - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
9591 The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
9593 Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
9594 Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
9596 Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
9597 Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
9599 Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
9602 Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
9605 Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
9606 Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
9608 Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
9609 Some indentation fixes.
9611 Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
9612 Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
9614 Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
9615 Declare the code stable.
9617 Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
9618 The standard.action file is gone.
9620 Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
9621 Update "What's new" section.
9623 Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
9624 Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
9625 Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
9627 Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
9628 Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
9629 remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
9631 Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
9634 Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
9635 Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
9637 Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
9638 Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
9640 Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
9641 Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
9643 Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
9644 Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
9646 Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
9647 Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
9649 Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
9650 Update version-related entities.
9652 Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
9653 Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
9654 Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
9656 Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
9657 remove outdated startup information for mac os x
9659 Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
9662 Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
9663 Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
9665 Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
9666 Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
9668 Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
9669 Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
9670 the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
9672 Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
9673 - Update "default profiles" table.
9674 - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
9675 enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
9677 Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
9678 Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
9680 Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
9681 Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
9683 Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
9684 Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
9685 expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
9687 Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
9688 Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
9689 how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
9691 Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
9692 Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
9694 Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
9695 Remove inspect-jpegs action.
9697 Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
9698 Remove kill-popups action.
9700 Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
9701 If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
9703 Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
9704 Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
9705 use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
9707 Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
9708 Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
9710 Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
9713 Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
9714 Fix entity ... s/&/&
9716 Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
9717 more updates for mac os x
9719 Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
9720 more updates for mac os x
9722 Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
9723 reflect new changes for mac os x
9725 Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
9726 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
9728 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
9729 Mention forward-socks5.
9731 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
9732 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
9733 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
9735 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
9736 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
9738 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
9739 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
9741 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
9742 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
9744 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
9745 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
9748 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
9749 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
9751 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
9752 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
9753 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
9755 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
9756 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
9758 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
9759 - Mention request rewriting.
9760 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
9763 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
9764 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
9766 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
9767 - Use new action defaults.
9768 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
9770 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
9771 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
9773 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
9774 Results of spell check.
9776 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
9777 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
9780 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
9781 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
9782 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
9784 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
9785 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
9786 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
9788 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
9789 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
9790 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
9792 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
9793 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
9795 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
9796 Update embedded show-url-info output.
9798 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
9799 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
9800 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
9802 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
9803 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
9804 extensive comments moved to user manual.
9806 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
9807 Minor rewordings and fixes.
9809 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
9810 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
9811 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
9812 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
9813 leading and trailing space.
9814 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
9816 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
9817 that it's only meant to protect against a single
9820 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
9821 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
9823 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
9824 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
9825 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
9827 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
9828 Start to document forward-override{}.
9830 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
9831 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
9832 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
9833 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
9835 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
9836 Some updates regarding header filtering,
9837 handling of compressed content and redirect's
9838 support for pcrs commands.
9840 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
9841 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
9843 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
9844 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
9847 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
9850 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
9851 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
9852 compression to make filters work on all sites.
9854 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
9855 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
9857 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
9858 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
9861 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
9862 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
9863 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
9865 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
9866 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
9868 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
9869 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
9872 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
9873 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
9874 to reflect the recent changes.
9876 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
9878 -Fix a number of broken links.
9879 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
9881 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
9884 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
9885 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
9887 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
9888 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
9890 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
9891 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
9892 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
9893 and proof reading left to do.
9895 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
9896 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
9897 files, and assorted other minor changes.
9899 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
9900 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
9901 stubbed in. More to be done.
9903 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
9904 Documented new actions that were part of
9905 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
9907 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
9908 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
9909 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
9911 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
9914 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
9915 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
9917 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
9920 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
9921 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
9922 is dependent on browser.
9924 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
9925 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
9927 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
9928 Some minor clarifications
9930 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
9931 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
9932 and copyright notice dates.
9934 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
9935 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
9937 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
9938 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
9940 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
9941 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
9943 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
9944 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
9945 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
9947 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
9948 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
9951 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
9952 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
9954 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
9955 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
9957 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
9958 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
9960 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
9961 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
9962 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
9965 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
9966 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
9968 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
9969 Added documentation for new chroot option
9971 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
9972 Adapted to the new filters
9974 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
9975 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
9978 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
9979 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
9981 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
9982 Add demoronizer to filter section.
9984 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
9985 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
9987 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
9988 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
9989 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
9991 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
9992 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
9994 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
9995 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
9998 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
9999 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
10001 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
10002 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
10004 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
10005 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
10007 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
10008 Nits re: actions file download
10010 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
10011 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
10013 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
10014 Added 2 Gentoo sections
10016 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
10017 - Added version info to title
10018 - Added info on new filters
10019 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
10020 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
10022 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
10023 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
10025 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
10027 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
10029 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
10030 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
10032 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
10033 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
10035 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
10036 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
10038 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
10039 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
10040 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
10041 so that these are in sync with each other.
10043 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
10044 Ooops missed something from David.
10046 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
10047 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
10048 That's a wrap, I think.
10050 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
10051 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
10053 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
10054 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
10056 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
10057 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
10058 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
10060 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
10061 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
10063 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
10064 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
10065 <literal><link> style.
10066 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
10067 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
10068 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
10069 renders them red (bad in TOC).
10071 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
10072 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
10074 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
10075 Added Security hint
10077 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
10078 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
10079 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
10081 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
10082 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
10083 - Small changes to Regex appendix
10084 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
10086 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
10087 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
10089 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
10090 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
10092 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
10093 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
10095 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
10096 Extended and further commented the example actions files
10098 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
10099 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
10102 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
10105 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
10106 Restored alphabetical order of actions
10108 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
10109 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
10111 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
10112 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
10114 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
10115 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
10116 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
10118 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
10119 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
10120 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
10121 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
10123 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
10124 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
10126 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
10129 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
10130 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
10131 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
10133 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
10134 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
10136 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
10137 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
10138 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
10140 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
10141 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
10143 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
10144 more structure in starting section
10146 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
10147 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
10148 will probably break links elsewhere :(
10150 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
10151 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
10152 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
10154 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
10155 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
10156 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
10158 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
10159 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
10161 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
10162 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
10163 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
10165 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
10166 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
10167 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
10169 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
10170 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
10172 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
10173 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
10175 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
10176 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
10178 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
10179 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
10181 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
10182 Updated Mac OS X installation section
10183 Added a few English tweaks here an there
10185 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
10186 Re-write actions section.
10188 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
10189 Fix ugly typo (mine).
10191 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
10192 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
10194 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
10195 Added RPM install detail
10197 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
10200 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
10201 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
10203 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
10204 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
10206 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
10207 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
10209 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
10210 Proofreading part 2
10212 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
10213 Proofreading, part one
10215 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
10216 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
10217 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
10219 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
10220 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
10222 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
10223 Add small section on submitting actions.
10225 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
10228 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
10229 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
10231 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
10232 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
10234 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
10237 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
10238 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
10239 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
10240 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
10241 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
10243 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
10244 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
10246 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
10247 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
10249 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
10250 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
10251 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
10252 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
10253 eventually be set by Makefile.
10254 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
10256 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
10257 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
10259 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
10260 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
10262 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
10263 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
10265 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
10266 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
10267 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
10268 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
10270 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
10273 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
10274 Added more to Anatomy section.
10276 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
10277 Touch up intro for new name.
10279 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
10280 we have a new homepage!
10282 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
10283 A few minor catch ups with name change.
10285 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
10286 configure needs to be generated.
10288 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
10289 we are too lazy to make a block-built
10290 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
10292 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
10293 name change related issue.
10295 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
10296 name change. changed filenames.
10298 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
10301 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
10302 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
10303 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
10304 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
10305 comments and remarks to history untouched.
10307 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
10310 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
10311 New section in Appendix.
10313 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
10314 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
10316 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
10317 correct feedback channels
10319 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
10320 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
10322 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
10325 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
10326 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
10328 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
10329 Added imageblock{pattern}.
10331 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
10334 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
10335 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
10337 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
10338 provide correct feedback channels
10340 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
10341 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
10343 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
10344 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
10346 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
10347 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
10349 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
10350 Add new - - user option.
10352 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
10353 Added section on command line options.
10355 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
10356 Changed default port to 8118
10358 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
10359 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
10361 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
10362 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
10363 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
10366 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
10369 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
10370 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
10372 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
10373 Update OS/2 build section
10375 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
10376 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
10377 will work - no other changes are needed.
10379 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
10380 Added a very short section on Templates
10382 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
10383 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
10385 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
10386 Touch ups for *.action files.
10388 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
10391 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
10392 Updates for recent changes.
10394 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
10395 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
10397 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
10398 Correct 2 minor errors
10400 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
10401 *** empty log message ***
10403 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
10404 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
10406 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
10407 wrong url in documentation
10409 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
10410 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
10412 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
10413 Very minor changes.
10415 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
10418 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
10421 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
10422 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
10424 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
10425 Some additions, and re-arranging.
10427 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
10430 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
10431 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
10433 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
10436 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
10437 source files for junkbuster documentation
10439 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
10440 first proposal of a structure.
10442 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
10443 docs should have an author.
10445 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
10446 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
projects / privoxy.git / blob