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42 <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="CONTACT" id="CONTACT">8. Contacting the
43 developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</a></h1>
45 <p>We value your feedback. In fact, we rely on it to improve <span class=
46 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> and its configuration. However, please note
47 the following hints, so we can provide you with the best support.</p>
50 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="SUFFICIENT-INFORMATION" id=
51 "SUFFICIENT-INFORMATION">8.1. Please provide sufficient
54 <p>A lot of support requests don't contain enough information and can't
55 be solved without a lot of back and forth which causes unnecessary
56 delays. Reading this section should help to prevent that.</p>
58 <p>Before contacting us to report a problem, please try to verify that
59 it is a <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> problem, and not a
60 browser or site problem or documented behaviour that just happens to be
61 different than what you expected. If unsure, try <a href=
62 "http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable" target="_top">toggling
63 off</a> <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>, and see if the
66 <p>If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the
67 default configuration to see if the problem is configuration related.
68 If you're having problems with a feature that is disabled by default,
69 please ask around on the mailing list if others can reproduce the
72 <p>If you aren't using the latest Privoxy version, the problem may have
73 been found and fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could
74 take the time to <a href=
75 "http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/installation.html" target=
76 "_top">upgrade to the latest version</a> and verify that the problem
79 <p>Please be sure to provide the following information when reporting
80 problems or requesting support:</p>
84 <p>The exact <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> version you
89 <p>The operating system and versions you run <span class=
90 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> on, e.g. <span class=
91 "APPLICATION">Windows XP SP2</span>.</p>
95 <p>The name, platform, and version of the <span class=
96 "APPLICATION">browser</span> you were using (e.g. <span class=
97 "APPLICATION">Internet Explorer v5.5</span> for Mac).</p>
101 <p>The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to
102 duplicate the problem (e.g. <tt class=
103 "LITERAL">http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123</tt>).</p>
107 <p>Whether your version of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
108 is one supplied by the <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
109 developers via SourceForge, or if you got your copy somewhere
114 <p>Whether you are using <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
115 together with another proxy such as <span class=
116 "APPLICATION">Tor</span>. If so, please temporary disable the other
117 proxy to see if the symptoms change.</p>
121 <p>Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does
122 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> work without it?</p>
126 <p>Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem
127 such as config or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file
128 entries for each action taken). To get a meaningful logfile, please
129 make sure that the <a href="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE"
130 target="_top">logfile directive</a> is being used and the following
131 <a href="../user-manual/config.html#DEBUG" target="_top">debug
132 options</a> are enabled (all of them):</p>
134 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
135 debug 1 # Log the destination for each request Privoxy let through. See also debug 1024.<br>
137 debug 2 # show each connection status<br>
139 debug 4 # show I/O status<br>
141 debug 8 # show header parsing<br>
143 debug 128 # debug redirects<br>
144 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation<br>
146 debug 512 # Common Log Format<br>
148 debug 1024 # Log the destination for requests Privoxy didn't let through, and the reason why.<br>
150 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.<br>
152 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors</p>
154 <p>If you are having trouble with a filter, please additionally
157 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
158 debug 64 # debug regular expression filters</p>If
159 you are using Privoxy 3.0.17 or later and suspect that it
160 interprets the request or the response incorrectly, please enable
162 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
163 debug 32768 # log all data read from the network</p>
165 <p>It's easy for us to ignore log messages that aren't relevant but
166 missing log messages may make it impossible to investigate a
167 problem. If you aren't sure which of the debug directives are
168 relevant, please just enable all of them and let us worry about
171 <p>Note that Privoxy log files may contain sensitive information so
172 please don't submit any logfiles you didn't read first. You can
173 mask sensitive information as long as it's clear that you removed
178 <p>You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem
179 report, but if you don't, please use a nickname so we can differentiate
180 between your messages and the ones entered by other "anonymous" users
181 that may respond to your request if they have the same problem or
182 already found a solution. Note that due to spam the trackers may not
183 always allow to post without being logged into SourceForge. If that's
184 the case, you are still free to create a login that isn't directly
185 linked to your name, though.</p>
187 <p>Please also check the status of your request a few days after
188 submitting it, as we may request additional information. If you use a
189 SF id, you should automatically get a mail when someone responds to
190 your request. Please don't bother to add an email address when using
191 the tracker. If you prefer to communicate through email, just use one
192 of the mailing lists directly.</p>
194 <p>If you are new to reporting problems, you might be interested in
195 <a href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html" target=
196 "_top">How to Report Bugs Effectively</a>.</p>
199 "http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT" target=
200 "_top">appendix of the Privoxy User Manual</a> also has helpful
201 information on understanding <tt class="LITERAL">actions</tt>, and
202 <tt class="LITERAL">action</tt> debugging.</p>
206 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="CONTACT-SUPPORT" id="CONTACT-SUPPORT">8.2.
209 <p>For casual users, our <a href=
210 "http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118"
211 target="_top">support forum at SourceForge</a> is probably best suited:
213 "http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118"
214 target="_top">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118</a></p>
216 <p>All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the
217 <a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-users"
218 target="_top">users mailing list</a>, where the developers also hang
221 <p>Please don't sent private support requests to individual Privoxy
222 developers, either use the mailing lists or the support trackers.</p>
224 <p>If you have to contact a Privoxy developer directly for other
225 reasons, please send a real mail and do not bother with SourceForge's
226 messaging system. Answers to SourceForge messages are usually bounced
227 by SourceForge's mail server in which case the developer wasted time
228 writing a response you don't get. From your point of view it will look
229 like your message has been completely ignored, so this is frustrating
230 for all parties involved.</p>
232 <p>Note that the Privoxy mailing lists are moderated. Posts from
233 unsubscribed addresses have to be accepted manually by a moderator.
234 This may cause a delay of several days and if you use a subject that
235 doesn't clearly mention Privoxy or one of its features, your message
236 may be accidentally discarded as spam.</p>
238 <p>If you aren't subscribed, you should therefore spend a few seconds
239 to come up with a proper subject. Additionally you should make it clear
240 that you want to get CC'd. Otherwise some responses will be directed to
241 the mailing list only, and you won't see them.</p>
245 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="REPORTING" id="REPORTING">8.3. Reporting
248 <p><span class="QUOTE">"Problems"</span> for our purposes, come in two
253 <p>Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites
254 that don't function properly due to one <span class=
255 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> <span class="QUOTE">"action"</span> or
256 another being turned <span class="QUOTE">"on"</span>.</p>
260 <p><span class="QUOTE">"Bugs"</span> in the programming code that
261 makes up <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>, such as that
262 might cause a crash.</p>
267 <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="CONTACT-ADS" id="CONTACT-ADS">8.3.1.
268 Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems</a></h3>
270 <p>Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images
271 that were blocked, sites that don't work properly, and other
272 configuration related problem of <tt class=
273 "FILENAME">default.action</tt> file, to <a href=
274 "http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288"
276 "_top">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288</a>,
277 the Actions File Tracker.</p>
279 <p>New, improved <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> files may
280 occasionally be made available based on your feedback. These will be
281 announced on the <a href=
282 "http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce" target=
283 "_top">ijbswa-announce</a> list and available from our the <a href=
284 "http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118" target=
285 "_top">files section</a> of our <a href=
286 "http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/" target="_top">project page</a>.</p>
290 <h3 class="SECT3"><a name="CONTACT-BUGS" id="CONTACT-BUGS">8.3.2.
291 Reporting Bugs</a></h3>
293 <p>Please report all bugs through our bug tracker: <a href=
294 "http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118"
296 "_top">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118</a>.</p>
298 <p>Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has <span class=
299 "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not already been submitted</i></span>
300 and observe the additional hints at the top of the <a href=
301 "http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=11118&atid=111118"
302 target="_top">submit form</a>. If already submitted, please feel free
303 to add any info to the original report that might help to solve the
309 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="CONTACT-FEATURE" id="CONTACT-FEATURE">8.4.
310 Request New Features</a></h2>
312 <p>You are welcome to submit ideas on new features or other proposals
313 for improvement through our feature request tracker at <a href=
314 "http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118"
315 target="_top">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118</a>.</p>
319 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="MAILING-LISTS" id="MAILING-LISTS">8.5.
320 Mailing Lists</a></h2>
322 <p>If you prefer to communicate through email, instead of using a web
323 interface, feel free to use one of the mailing lists. To discuss issues
324 that haven't been completely diagnosed yet, please use the Privoxy
325 users list. Technically interested users and people who wish to
326 contribute to the project are always welcome on the developers list.
327 You can find an overview of all <span class=
328 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>-related mailing lists, including list
329 archives, at: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118"
330 target="_top">http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118</a>.</p>
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