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85 > The actions files are used to define what <SPAN
95 > takes for which URLs, and thus determines
96 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
97 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
98 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
99 Each action does something a little different.
100 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
101 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
102 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.</P
105 are three action files included with <SPAN
109 differing purposes:</P
118 >match-all.action</TT
119 > - is used to define which
123 > relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
124 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
125 It should be the first actions file loaded
133 > - defines many exceptions (both
134 positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
137 >match-all.action</TT
138 >. It is a set of rules that should
139 work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
140 be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
148 > - is intended to be for local site
149 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
150 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
151 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
161 >Set to Cautious</SPAN
167 >Set to Advanced</SPAN
171 > These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <SPAN
176 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
179 >. A default installation should be pre-set to
183 >. New users should try this for a while before
184 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
185 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
186 not working as they should.
192 > button allows you to turn each
193 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <SPAN
197 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
198 ad blocking and a minimal set of <SPAN
201 >'s features, and subsequently
202 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
206 > button sets the list to a medium level of
207 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
211 > button sets the list to a high level of
212 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
213 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
217 > button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
218 lower sections of this internal page.
221 > While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
222 actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
223 to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
226 > The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
240 >Table 1. Default Configurations</B
270 >Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</TD
280 >Ad-filtering by size</TD
290 >Ad-filtering by link</TD
310 >Privacy Features</TD
340 >GIF de-animation</TD
370 >JavaScript taming</TD
390 >Image tag reordering</TD
407 > The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
408 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
412 > is typically processed before
416 >). The content of these can all be viewed and
418 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
420 >http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</A
422 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
423 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
428 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
432 >), which are then followed lastly by any
433 local preferences (typically in <SPAN
449 > An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
453 > in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
455 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
457 > at the top of that file.
458 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
459 sites and pages (be <SPAN
469 > or any other actions file after
473 >, because it will override the result
474 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
475 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
479 > as an appendix to <TT
483 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
484 personal settings across <SPAN
487 > upgrades easier.</P
490 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
491 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
492 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
493 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
494 fooled, and much more. See below for a <A
495 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
505 >8.1. Finding the Right Mix</A
509 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
511 >, like cookie suppression
512 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
513 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
514 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
515 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
519 > your default settings (in the top section of the
520 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <SPAN
524 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
525 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
526 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
527 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.</P
529 > We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
530 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
531 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
532 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).</P
543 > The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
544 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <A
545 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
547 >http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</A
549 Note: the config file option <A
550 HREF="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS"
551 >enable-edit-actions</A
552 > must be enabled for
553 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
554 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
565 >. Warning: the <SPAN
569 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
570 Experienced users only!
573 > If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
574 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
578 > which is richly commented with many
587 >8.3. How Actions are Applied to Requests</A
590 > Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
594 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
597 > sections which will
598 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
599 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
600 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
601 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.</P
603 > To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
604 compared to all URL patterns in each <SPAN
608 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
609 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
610 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.</P
612 > If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
613 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
614 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <TT
618 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
622 then later another one with just <TT
626 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
636 > actions to apply. And there may well be
637 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
653 >block{Banner ads.}</TT
655 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
657 media.example.com/.*banners
658 .example.com/images/ads/</PRE
665 > You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <A
666 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
668 >http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</A
671 > Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <A
672 HREF="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT"
673 > Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</A
693 to determine what <SPAN
699 > might apply to which sites and
700 pages your browser attempts to access. These <SPAN
710 > matching to achieve a high degree of
711 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
712 against many similar patterns.</P
714 > Generally, an URL pattern has the form
717 ><domain><port>/<path></TT
721 ><domain></TT
729 > are optional. (This is why the special
733 > pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
734 portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <TT
744 > be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!</P
746 > The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
747 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
748 while the path part uses more flexible
750 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
759 > The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
763 >). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
764 it has to be put into angle brackets
780 >www.example.com/</TT
784 > is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <TT
788 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
789 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
793 > is different and would NOT match.
803 > means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <TT
813 >www.example.com/index.html</TT
817 > matches all the documents on <TT
821 whose name starts with <TT
830 >www.example.com/index.html$</TT
834 > matches only the single document <TT
851 > matches the document <TT
854 >, regardless of the domain,
861 > web server anywhere.
871 > Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
877 ><2001:db8::1>/</TT
881 > Matches any URL with the host address <TT
885 (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
895 > matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
896 there is no top-level domain called <TT
911 >8.4.1. The Domain Pattern</A
914 > The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
915 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
929 > matches any domain with first-level domain <TT
933 and second-level domain <TT
946 >foo.bar.baz.example.com</TT
948 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <TT
961 > matches any domain that <SPAN
971 > (It also matches the domain
975 > but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
985 > matches any domain that <SPAN
995 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
996 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
997 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <TT
1001 a domain.) This might be <TT
1003 >www.example.com</TT
1007 >news.example.de</TT
1011 >www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</TT
1012 > for instance. All these
1019 > Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
1020 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
1024 > represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
1027 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
1034 > based syntax of <SPAN
1041 > represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
1042 regular expression syntax of a simple <SPAN
1045 >), and you can define
1048 >"character classes"</SPAN
1049 > in square brackets which is similar to
1050 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:</P
1054 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1059 >ad*.example.com</TT
1065 >"adserver.example.com"</SPAN
1069 >"ads.example.com"</SPAN
1070 >, etc but not <SPAN
1072 >"sfads.example.com"</SPAN
1079 >*ad*.example.com</TT
1083 > matches all of the above, and then some.
1099 >pictures.epix.com</TT
1102 >a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</TT
1109 >www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</TT
1115 >www1.example.com</TT
1119 >www4.example.cc</TT
1122 >wwwd.example.cy</TT
1126 >wwwz.example.com</TT
1136 >wwww.example.com</TT
1143 > While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.</P
1151 >8.4.2. The Path Pattern</A
1162 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
1169 > for matching the path portion (after the slash),
1170 and is thus more flexible.</P
1173 HREF="appendix.html#REGEX"
1175 > with a brief quick-start into regular
1176 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
1177 on regular expressions (try <TT
1182 > Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <SPAN
1186 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <SPAN
1189 > (regular expression speak
1190 for the beginning of a line).</P
1192 > Please also note that matching in the path is <SPAN
1196 >CASE INSENSITIVE</I
1199 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
1205 >www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</TT
1207 only documents whose path starts with <TT
1217 > this capitalization.</P
1221 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1226 >.example.com/.*</TT
1230 > Is equivalent to just <SPAN
1232 >".example.com"</SPAN
1233 >, since any documents
1234 within that domain are matched with or without the <SPAN
1238 regular expression. This is redundant
1244 >.example.com/.*/index.html$</TT
1248 > Will match any page in the domain of <SPAN
1250 >"example.com"</SPAN
1255 >, and that is part of some path. For
1256 example, it matches <SPAN
1258 >"www.example.com/testing/index.html"</SPAN
1262 >"www.example.com/index.html"</SPAN
1263 > because the regular
1264 expression called for at least two <SPAN
1268 requirement. It also would match
1271 >"www.example.com/testing/index_html"</SPAN
1273 special meta-character <SPAN
1282 >.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</TT
1286 > This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
1290 > regardless of path which in this case can
1291 have one or more <SPAN
1294 >. And this one must contain exactly
1298 > (but does not have to end with that!).
1304 >.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</TT
1308 > This regular expression will match any path of <SPAN
1310 >"example.com"</SPAN
1312 that contains any of the words <SPAN
1322 > (because of the <SPAN
1329 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
1335 >.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</TT
1339 > This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
1353 one is limited to common image formats.
1359 > There are many, many good examples to be found in <TT
1363 and more tutorials below in <A
1364 HREF="appendix.html#REGEX"
1365 >Appendix on regular expressions</A
1374 >8.4.3. The Tag Pattern</A
1377 > Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
1378 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
1380 HREF="actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER"
1381 >client-header-tagger</A
1384 HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER"
1385 >server-header-tagger</A
1388 > Tag patterns have to start with <SPAN
1395 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
1396 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
1397 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
1398 automatically (<SPAN
1401 > doesn't silently add a <SPAN
1405 you have to do it yourself if you need it).</P
1407 > To match all requests that are tagged with <SPAN
1411 your pattern line should be <SPAN
1418 > would work as well, but it would also
1419 match requests whose tags contain <SPAN
1426 > wouldn't work as it requires white space.</P
1428 > Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
1429 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
1430 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.</P
1432 > Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
1433 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
1434 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
1435 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.</P
1437 > For example you could tag client requests which use the
1442 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
1443 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
1444 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
1445 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
1446 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
1447 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
1448 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.</P
1450 > While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
1451 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
1452 make too much sense.</P
1464 > All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
1465 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
1469 >, and turned off if preceded with a <SPAN
1478 >"do that action"</SPAN
1485 >"please block URLs that match the
1486 following patterns"</SPAN
1493 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <TT
1497 previously applied."</SPAN
1501 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
1502 separated by whitespace, like in
1505 >{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</TT
1507 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
1508 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
1509 of the actions file. </P
1512 Actions fall into three categories:</P
1520 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <SPAN
1543 > # enable action <TT
1554 > # disable action <TT
1569 >+handle-as-image</TT
1576 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
1598 >} # enable action and set parameter to <TT
1604 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
1610 > # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</PRE
1617 > Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
1618 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
1624 >+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</TT
1631 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
1632 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
1633 same URL, but with different parameters, <SPAN
1646 > matches are remembered. This is used for actions
1647 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
1648 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
1669 >} # enable action and add <TT
1674 > to the list of parameters
1685 >} # remove the parameter <TT
1690 > from the list of parameters
1691 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
1697 > # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</PRE
1707 >+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</TT
1711 >+filter{html-annoyances}</TT
1718 > If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <SPAN
1722 taken. So in this case <SPAN
1726 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
1727 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
1728 files will give a good starting point).</P
1730 > Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
1731 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
1732 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
1736 >). For multi-valued actions, the actions
1737 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
1738 the order they are defined in <TT
1742 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
1743 URL to match more than one <SPAN
1746 > (because of wildcards and
1747 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
1750 > The list of valid <SPAN
1760 >8.5.1. add-header</A
1765 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1771 >Confuse log analysis, custom applications</P
1777 > Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
1790 > Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
1791 It is recommended that you use the <SPAN
1805 > This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
1806 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
1809 >"HTTP headers"</SPAN
1810 > are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
1826 >+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</PRE
1847 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1853 >Block ads or other unwanted content</P
1859 > Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
1860 requests are trapped by <SPAN
1863 > and the requested URL is never retrieved,
1864 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
1868 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
1875 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
1876 >set-image-blocker</A
1882 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"
1883 >handle-as-empty-document</A
1899 >A block reason that should be given to the user.</P
1908 > sends a special <SPAN
1912 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
1913 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
1914 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
1919 A very important exception occurs if <SPAN
1932 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
1936 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
1940 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
1941 >set-image-blocker</A
1944 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
1945 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
1948 > It is important to understand this process, in order
1949 to understand how <SPAN
1953 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
1954 upon which various other features depend.
1960 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
1964 action can perform a very similar task, by <SPAN
1968 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
1969 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
1970 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
1974 >Example usage (section):</DT
1985 >{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
1986 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
1987 .nasty-stuff.example.com
1989 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
1990 # Block and replace with image
1994 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
1995 # Block and then ignore
1996 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</PRE
2011 NAME="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR"
2012 >8.5.3. change-x-forwarded-for</A
2017 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2023 >Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</P
2031 >"X-Forwarded-For:"</SPAN
2032 > HTTP header from the client request,
2053 > to delete the header.</P
2060 > to create the header (or append
2061 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
2070 > It is safe and recommended to use <TT
2076 > Forwarding the source address of the request may make
2077 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
2092 >+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</PRE
2107 NAME="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER"
2108 >8.5.4. client-header-filter</A
2113 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2119 > Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2126 > All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2127 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2140 > The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2142 HREF="filter-file.html"
2151 > Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2152 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2153 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2154 You can do that by using tags though.
2157 > Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2158 and use their output as input.
2161 > If the request URL gets changed, <SPAN
2164 > will detect that and use the new
2165 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2166 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2169 > Please refer to the <A
2170 HREF="filter-file.html"
2171 >filter file chapter</A
2173 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2178 >Example usage (section):</DT
2189 ># Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2190 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2207 NAME="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER"
2208 >8.5.5. client-header-tagger</A
2213 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2219 > Block requests based on their headers.
2226 > Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2227 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
2241 > The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
2243 HREF="filter-file.html"
2252 > Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
2253 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <SPAN
2260 > Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
2261 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
2265 >Example usage (section):</DT
2276 ># Tag every request with the User-Agent header
2277 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
2280 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
2281 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
2283 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
2284 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
2285 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
2286 -hide-if-modified-since \
2287 -overwrite-last-modified \
2292 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
2293 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
2294 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
2295 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
2296 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
2297 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
2313 NAME="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
2314 >8.5.6. content-type-overwrite</A
2319 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2325 >Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</P
2331 > Replaces the <SPAN
2333 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
2334 > HTTP server header.
2356 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
2357 > HTTP server header is used by the
2358 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
2359 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
2360 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
2361 supported by the browser.
2364 > The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
2365 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <SPAN
2369 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
2370 If it is send as <SPAN
2372 >"application/xml"</SPAN
2374 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
2377 > If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
2380 >"Content-Type: text/html"</SPAN
2381 >, you can use <SPAN
2385 to overwrite it with <SPAN
2387 >"application/xml"</SPAN
2389 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
2390 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
2393 > You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
2394 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
2395 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
2399 > and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
2404 >content-type-overwrite</TT
2408 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
2409 > headers that look like some kind of text.
2410 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
2414 HREF="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
2418 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
2421 > Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
2425 HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
2426 >server-header filter</A
2429 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
2430 only replace the content types you aimed at.
2433 > Of course you can apply <TT
2435 >content-type-overwrite</TT
2437 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
2438 more work to get the same precision.
2442 >Example usage (sections):</DT
2453 ># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
2454 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
2457 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
2458 {-content-type-overwrite}
2459 www.example.net/.*\.css$
2460 www.example.net/.*style</PRE
2475 NAME="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER"
2476 >8.5.7. crunch-client-header</A
2481 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2487 >Remove a client header <SPAN
2490 > has no dedicated action for.</P
2496 > Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
2516 > This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
2524 > will remove every client header that
2525 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
2528 > Regular expressions are <SPAN
2535 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
2536 they contain the same string.
2541 >crunch-client-header</TT
2542 > is only meant for quick tests.
2543 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
2544 parts of them, you should use a
2548 HREF="actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER"
2549 >client-header filter</A
2572 > Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
2580 >Example usage (section):</DT
2591 ># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
2592 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
2609 NAME="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
2610 >8.5.8. crunch-if-none-match</A
2615 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2621 >Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
2629 >"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
2630 > HTTP client header.
2650 > Removing the <SPAN
2652 >"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
2653 > HTTP client header
2654 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
2655 reload instead of getting status code <SPAN
2659 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
2662 > It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
2663 replacement (unlikely but possible).
2666 > Blocking the <SPAN
2668 >"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
2669 > header shouldn't cause any
2670 caching problems, as long as the <SPAN
2672 >"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
2674 isn't blocked or missing as well.
2677 > It is recommended to use this action together with
2681 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
2682 >hide-if-modified-since</A
2689 HREF="actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
2690 >overwrite-last-modified</A
2696 >Example usage (section):</DT
2707 ># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
2708 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
2709 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
2710 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
2711 +crunch-if-none-match}
2727 NAME="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
2728 >8.5.9. crunch-incoming-cookies</A
2733 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2739 > Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
2748 >"Set-Cookie:"</SPAN
2749 > HTTP headers from server replies.
2769 > This action is only concerned with <SPAN
2786 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
2787 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
2796 > to disable HTTP cookies completely.
2805 > to use this action in conjunction
2809 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
2810 >session-cookies-only</A
2813 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
2817 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
2818 >filter-content-cookies</A
2835 >+crunch-incoming-cookies</PRE
2850 NAME="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER"
2851 >8.5.10. crunch-server-header</A
2856 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2862 >Remove a server header <SPAN
2865 > has no dedicated action for.</P
2871 > Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
2891 > This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
2895 > action exists. <SPAN
2899 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
2902 > Regular expressions are <SPAN
2909 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
2910 they contain the same string.
2915 >crunch-server-header</TT
2916 > is only meant for quick tests.
2917 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
2918 parts of them, you should use a custom
2922 HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
2923 >server-header filter</A
2946 > Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
2954 >Example usage (section):</DT
2965 ># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
2966 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
2982 NAME="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
2983 >8.5.11. crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
2988 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2994 > Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3004 > HTTP headers from client requests.
3024 > This action is only concerned with <SPAN
3041 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
3042 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
3051 > to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3060 > to use this action in conjunction
3064 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
3065 >session-cookies-only</A
3068 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3083 >+crunch-outgoing-cookies</PRE
3098 NAME="DEANIMATE-GIFS"
3099 >8.5.12. deanimate-gifs</A
3104 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3110 >Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</P
3116 > De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3142 > This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3146 > is given, the first frame of the animation
3147 is used as the replacement. If <SPAN
3150 > is given, the last
3151 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3152 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3153 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3156 > You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3157 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3173 >+deanimate-gifs{last}</PRE
3188 NAME="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"
3189 >8.5.13. downgrade-http-version</A
3194 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3200 >Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</P
3206 > Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3226 > This is a left-over from the time when <SPAN
3230 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3231 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3232 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3233 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3237 >Example usage (section):</DT
3248 >{+downgrade-http-version}
3249 problem-host.example.com</PRE
3264 NAME="FAST-REDIRECTS"
3265 >8.5.14. fast-redirects</A
3270 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3276 >Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</P
3282 > Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3283 the redirection server first.
3302 >"simple-check"</SPAN
3303 > to just search for the string <SPAN
3307 to detect redirection URLs.
3314 >"check-decoded-url"</SPAN
3315 > to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3316 for redirection URLs.
3326 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3327 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3328 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3329 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3332 >"http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/"</SPAN
3336 > Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3337 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3338 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3339 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3340 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3344 > This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3345 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3346 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3349 > Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3350 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3351 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3355 > assumes that every URL parameter that
3356 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3357 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3358 the user gets redirected anyway.
3361 > Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3365 >"http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar"</SPAN
3367 contains the redirection URL <SPAN
3369 >"http://www.example.net/"</SPAN
3371 followed by another parameter. <TT
3375 and will cause a redirect to <SPAN
3377 >"http://www.example.net/&foo=bar"</SPAN
3379 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3382 >"page not found"</SPAN
3383 > error. You can prevent this problem by
3387 HREF="actions-file.html#REDIRECT"
3391 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3394 > To detect a redirection URL, <TT
3398 looks for the string <SPAN
3401 >, either in plain text
3402 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <SPAN
3406 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3407 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3411 > is fooled and the request reaches the
3412 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3427 > { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3430 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3431 another.example.com/testing</PRE
3452 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3458 >Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3459 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</P
3465 > All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3466 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3467 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3468 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3472 > MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3485 > The name of a content filter, as defined in the <A
3486 HREF="filter-file.html"
3489 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3493 HREF="config.html#FILTERFILE"
3504 > is the collection of filters
3505 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3506 in their own file, such as <TT
3512 > When used in its negative form,
3513 and without parameters, <SPAN
3519 > filtering is completely disabled.
3526 > For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3527 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3531 > Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3532 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3533 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3534 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3535 noticeable on slower connections.
3540 >"Rolling your own"</SPAN
3542 filters requires a knowledge of
3544 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
3553 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"
3560 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
3561 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
3568 > The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3572 HREF="config.html#BUFFER-LIMIT"
3576 option in the main <A
3580 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3581 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3584 > Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3585 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3586 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3587 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3588 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3589 by defining appropriate <TT
3595 > Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless <SPAN
3599 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least <SPAN
3606 > will decompress the content before filtering
3610 > If you use a <SPAN
3613 > version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
3614 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
3615 you must use the <TT
3618 HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
3619 >prevent-compression</A
3622 action in conjunction with <TT
3628 > Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3632 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
3636 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3637 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3638 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3645 > with suggestions for new or
3646 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3649 > The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3650 predefined filter. There are <A
3651 HREF="filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS"
3653 verbose explanations</A
3654 > of what these filters do in the <A
3655 HREF="filter-file.html"
3656 >filter file chapter</A
3661 >Example usage (with filters from the distribution <TT
3666 HREF="filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS"
3667 >the Predefined Filters section</A
3669 more explanation on each:</DT
3673 NAME="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES"
3684 >+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</PRE
3692 NAME="FILTER-JS-EVENTS"
3703 >+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</PRE
3711 NAME="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"
3722 >+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</PRE
3730 NAME="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
3741 >+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</PRE
3749 NAME="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"
3760 >+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</PRE
3768 NAME="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS"
3779 >+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</PRE
3787 NAME="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
3798 >+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</PRE
3806 NAME="FILTER-IMG-REORDER"
3817 >+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</PRE
3825 NAME="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
3836 >+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</PRE
3844 NAME="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"
3855 >+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</PRE
3863 NAME="FILTER-WEBBUGS"
3874 >+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</PRE
3882 NAME="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS"
3893 >+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</PRE
3901 NAME="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS"
3912 >+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</PRE
3920 NAME="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS"
3931 >+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</PRE
3939 NAME="FILTER-DEMORONIZER"
3950 >+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</PRE
3958 NAME="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH"
3969 >+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</PRE
3977 NAME="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE"
3988 >+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</PRE
4007 >+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</PRE
4015 NAME="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL"
4026 >+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</PRE
4034 NAME="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS"
4045 >+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</PRE
4053 NAME="FILTER-SITE-SPECIFICS"
4064 >+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</PRE
4072 NAME="FILTER-NO-PING"
4083 >+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</PRE
4091 NAME="FILTER-GOOGLE"
4102 >+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</PRE
4121 >+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</PRE
4140 >+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</PRE
4148 NAME="FILTER-BLOGSPOT"
4159 >+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</PRE
4174 NAME="FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
4175 >8.5.16. force-text-mode</A
4180 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4189 > to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <SPAN
4201 > Declares a document as text, even if the <SPAN
4203 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
4204 > isn't detected as such.
4227 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
4234 > tries to only filter files that are
4235 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4239 HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
4240 >content-type-overwrite</A
4245 >force-text-mode</TT
4246 > declares a document as text,
4247 without looking at the <SPAN
4249 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
4271 > Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4272 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4307 NAME="FORWARD-OVERRIDE"
4308 >8.5.17. forward-override</A
4313 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4319 >Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</P
4325 > Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4345 > to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</P
4351 >"forward 127.0.0.1:8123"</SPAN
4352 > to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4359 >"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 ."</SPAN
4360 > to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4361 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <SPAN
4363 >"forward-socks4a"</SPAN
4366 >"forward-socks4"</SPAN
4368 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <SPAN
4370 >"forward-socks5"</SPAN
4372 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4379 >"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000"</SPAN
4380 > to use the socks4a proxy
4381 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4384 >"forward-socks4a"</SPAN
4387 >"forward-socks4"</SPAN
4388 > to use a socks4 connection
4389 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <SPAN
4391 >"forward-socks5"</SPAN
4393 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4402 > This action takes parameters similar to the
4404 HREF="config.html#FORWARDING"
4406 > directives in the configuration
4407 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4408 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4429 > Please read the description for the <A
4430 HREF="config.html#FORWARDING"
4433 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4434 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4437 > If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4438 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4443 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
4445 >show-url-info CGI page</A
4447 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4466 ># Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4469 >"User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0"</SPAN
4471 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4472 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4473 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4474 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4475 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4476 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4477 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4478 -hide-if-modified-since \
4479 -overwrite-last-modified \
4481 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4497 NAME="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"
4498 >8.5.18. handle-as-empty-document</A
4503 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4509 >Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <SPAN
4513 >if they get blocked</I
4521 > This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4525 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
4535 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <SPAN
4539 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4546 > document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4566 > Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4567 are blocked with <SPAN
4571 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4572 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the <SPAN
4576 BLOCKED message in frames.
4579 > The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4583 HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
4584 >content-type-overwrite{}</A
4587 but usually this isn't necessary.
4602 ># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4603 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4604 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
4621 NAME="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
4622 >8.5.19. handle-as-image</A
4627 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4633 >Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <SPAN
4637 >if they do get blocked</I
4639 >, rather than HTML pages)</P
4645 > This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4649 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
4659 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <SPAN
4663 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <TT
4666 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
4667 >set-image-blocker</A
4669 > action) will be sent to the
4670 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4690 > The below generic example section is actually part of <TT
4694 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4698 > Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4702 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
4705 >, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4706 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4709 > Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4710 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4713 >handle-as-image</TT
4714 > in this situation will not replace the
4715 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4719 >Example usage (sections):</DT
4730 ># Generic image extensions:
4733 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4735 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4736 # blocked as images:
4738 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
4739 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash</PRE
4754 NAME="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE"
4755 >8.5.20. hide-accept-language</A
4760 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4766 >Pretend to use different language settings.</P
4772 > Deletes or replaces the <SPAN
4774 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4775 > HTTP header in client requests.
4791 >, or any user defined value.
4798 > Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4799 foreign User-Agent set with
4803 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"
4810 > However some sites with content in different languages check the
4813 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4814 > to decide which one to take by default.
4815 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4818 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4822 > Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4825 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4826 > header to languages you understand,
4827 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4830 > Before setting the <SPAN
4832 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4834 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4835 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4836 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4837 you should stick to a common language.
4841 >Example usage (section):</DT
4852 ># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4853 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4854 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4871 NAME="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION"
4872 >8.5.21. hide-content-disposition</A
4877 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4883 >Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</P
4889 > Deletes or replaces the <SPAN
4891 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4892 > HTTP header set by some servers.
4908 >, or any user defined value.
4915 > Some servers set the <SPAN
4917 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4919 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4922 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4923 > header contains the file name
4924 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4927 > In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4934 > the document, without downloading it first,
4935 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4938 > Removing the <SPAN
4940 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4942 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4945 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
4946 > header, before they decide if they can
4947 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4948 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4952 > It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4953 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4957 > This action will probably be removed in the future,
4958 use server-header filters instead.
4973 ># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4975 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4976 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4977 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</PRE
4992 NAME="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
4993 >8.5.22. hide-if-modified-since</A
4998 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5004 >Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
5012 >"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
5013 > HTTP client header or modifies its value.
5029 >, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
5036 > Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
5037 reload instead of getting status code <SPAN
5040 >, which would cause the
5041 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
5044 > Instead of removing the header, <TT
5046 >hide-if-modified-since</TT
5048 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
5049 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
5053 > does the rest. A negative value means
5054 subtracting, a positive value adding.
5057 > Randomizing the value of the <SPAN
5059 >"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
5061 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
5062 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
5065 > It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
5069 HREF="actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
5070 >overwrite-last-modified</A
5073 handle the greater changes.
5076 > It is also recommended to use this action together with
5080 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
5081 >crunch-if-none-match</A
5084 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
5088 >Example usage (section):</DT
5099 ># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
5100 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5101 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5102 +crunch-if-none-match}
5118 NAME="HIDE-FROM-HEADER"
5119 >8.5.23. hide-from-header</A
5124 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5130 >Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</P
5136 > Deletes any existing <SPAN
5139 > HTTP header, or replaces it with the
5156 >, or any user defined value.
5166 > will completely remove the header
5167 (not to be confused with the <TT
5170 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
5177 > Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
5178 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
5179 is actually used by a real person.
5182 > This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
5201 >+hide-from-header{block}</PRE
5214 >+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</PRE
5229 NAME="HIDE-REFERRER"
5230 >8.5.24. hide-referrer</A
5238 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5244 >Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</P
5253 > (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
5254 or replaces it with a forged one.
5273 >"conditional-block"</SPAN
5274 > to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</P
5280 >"conditional-forge"</SPAN
5281 > to forge the header if the host has changed.</P
5288 > to delete the header unconditionally.</P
5295 > to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</P
5299 >Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</P
5309 >conditional-block</TT
5310 > is the only parameter,
5311 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
5312 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
5313 typed in the address directly.
5316 > Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
5317 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <SPAN
5321 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
5322 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
5323 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
5327 > Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
5328 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
5329 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
5330 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
5335 >conditional-block</TT
5340 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
5341 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
5348 > is an alternate spelling of
5352 > and the two can be can be freely
5353 substituted with each other. (<SPAN
5357 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
5358 requires it to be spelled as <SPAN
5376 >+hide-referrer{forge}</PRE
5389 >+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</PRE
5404 NAME="HIDE-USER-AGENT"
5405 >8.5.25. hide-user-agent</A
5410 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5416 >Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</P
5422 > Replaces the value of the <SPAN
5424 >"User-Agent:"</SPAN
5426 in client requests with the specified value.
5439 > Any user-defined string.
5464 > This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
5465 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
5472 > the right thing to do: good web sites
5473 work browser-independently).
5480 > Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
5481 browsers will access the same <SPAN
5491 >. In single-user, single-browser
5492 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
5493 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
5494 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
5495 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
5496 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
5500 > enter, yet forging to a
5504 > user-agent works just fine.
5505 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
5508 > More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
5510 HREF="http://www.user-agents.org/"
5512 >http://www.user-agents.org/</A
5516 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent"
5518 >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</A
5534 >+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</PRE
5549 NAME="LIMIT-CONNECT"
5550 >8.5.26. limit-connect</A
5555 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5561 >Prevent abuse of <SPAN
5564 > as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</P
5570 > Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5583 > A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5584 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5591 > By default, i.e. if no <TT
5598 > allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
5602 > if fine-grained control
5603 is desired for some or all destinations.
5606 > The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5610 > URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5611 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5612 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5613 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5619 > relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5620 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent <SPAN
5624 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5628 >Example usages:</DT
5639 >+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
5640 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5641 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5642 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5643 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</PRE
5658 NAME="PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
5659 >8.5.27. prevent-compression</A
5664 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5670 > Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5674 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
5684 > Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5704 > More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5705 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <TT
5708 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
5715 HREF="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
5719 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
5722 > When compiled with zlib support (available since <SPAN
5725 > 3.0.7), content that should be
5726 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5727 If you are using an older <SPAN
5730 > version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5731 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5734 > Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5735 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5739 > Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5740 enable this action if you really need it. As of <SPAN
5743 > 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5744 predefined action settings.
5747 > Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5748 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5749 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5752 >prevent-compression</TT
5753 > per default, you might want to add
5754 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5758 >Example usage (sections):</DT
5769 ># Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5771 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5772 # Match only these sites
5777 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5779 { +prevent-compression }
5782 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5784 { -prevent-compression }
5800 NAME="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
5801 >8.5.28. overwrite-last-modified</A
5806 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5812 >Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
5820 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5821 > HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5834 > One of the keywords: <SPAN
5839 >"reset-to-request-time"</SPAN
5851 > Removing the <SPAN
5853 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5854 > header is useful for filter
5855 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5859 >, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5860 version of the page.
5866 > option overwrites the value of the
5869 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5870 > header with a randomly chosen time
5871 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5872 could send each document with a different <SPAN
5874 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5876 header to track visits without using cookies. <SPAN
5880 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5885 >"reset-to-request-time"</SPAN
5886 > overwrites the value of the
5889 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5890 > header with the current time. You could use
5891 this option together with
5895 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
5896 >hide-if-modified-since</A
5899 to further customize your random range.
5902 > The preferred parameter here is <SPAN
5906 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5907 If the server sets the <SPAN
5909 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5910 > header to the time
5911 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5912 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5916 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
5917 >hided-if-modified-since</A
5923 > It is also recommended to use this action together with
5927 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
5928 >crunch-if-none-match</A
5945 ># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5946 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5947 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5948 +crunch-if-none-match}
5965 >8.5.29. redirect</A
5970 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5976 > Redirect requests to other sites.
5983 > Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5984 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5997 > An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
6004 > Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
6005 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
6006 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
6007 single pcrs command to the original URL.
6010 > This action will be ignored if you use it together with
6014 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6018 It can be combined with
6022 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
6023 >fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</A
6026 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
6029 > Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
6030 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
6031 possible to fingerprint your requests.
6034 > In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
6035 them working, enable <A
6036 HREF="config.html#DEBUG"
6042 >Example usages:</DT
6053 ># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
6054 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
6055 example.com/stylesheet\.css
6057 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
6058 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to <SPAN
6062 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
6065 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
6066 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
6067 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
6068 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
6069 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
6071 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
6072 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
6075 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
6076 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
6077 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
6079 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
6080 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
6081 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
6082 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</PRE
6097 NAME="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
6098 >8.5.30. server-header-filter</A
6103 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6109 > Rewrite or remove single server headers.
6116 > All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
6117 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
6130 > The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
6132 HREF="filter-file.html"
6141 > Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
6142 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
6143 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
6144 You can do that by using tags though.
6147 > Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
6148 and use their output as input.
6151 > Please refer to the <A
6152 HREF="filter-file.html"
6153 >filter file chapter</A
6155 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
6160 >Example usage (section):</DT
6171 >{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
6172 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
6174 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
6175 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
6191 NAME="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER"
6192 >8.5.31. server-header-tagger</A
6197 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6203 > Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
6210 > Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
6211 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
6225 > The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
6227 HREF="filter-file.html"
6236 > Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
6237 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <SPAN
6244 > Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
6245 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
6246 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
6247 and the crunch actions (<A
6248 HREF="actions-file.html#REDIRECT"
6252 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6257 > Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
6258 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
6262 >Example usage (section):</DT
6273 ># Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
6274 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
6291 NAME="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
6292 >8.5.32. session-cookies-only</A
6297 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6303 > Allow only temporary <SPAN
6306 > cookies (for the current
6307 browser session <SPAN
6325 >"Set-Cookie:"</SPAN
6327 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
6328 forget them in between sessions.
6348 > This is less strict than <TT
6351 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6352 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6358 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6359 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6361 > and allows you to browse
6362 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
6365 > Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
6368 >session-cookies-only</TT
6369 > and will forget about them between sessions.
6370 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
6371 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
6372 sites, and is the recommended setting.
6383 >session-cookies-only</TT
6388 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6389 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6395 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6396 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6398 >. If you do, cookies
6399 will be plainly killed.
6402 > Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <SPAN
6406 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
6409 > This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
6410 previously by the browser before starting <SPAN
6414 These would have to be removed manually.
6422 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
6423 >content-cookies filter</A
6425 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
6428 >session-cookies-only</TT
6444 >+session-cookies-only</PRE
6459 NAME="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
6460 >8.5.33. set-image-blocker</A
6465 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6471 >Choose the replacement for blocked images</P
6477 > This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <SPAN
6487 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6499 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
6509 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
6516 > the parameter of this action decides what will be
6517 sent as a replacement.
6537 > to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
6538 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
6546 > to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
6547 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <SPAN
6551 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <SPAN
6555 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
6569 send a redirect to <TT
6575 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <SPAN
6579 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
6582 > A good application of redirects is to use special <SPAN
6586 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <TT
6592 This has the same visual effect as specifying <SPAN
6599 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
6600 it over and over again.
6609 > The URLs for the built-in images are <SPAN
6611 >"http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<TT
6632 > There is a third (advanced) type, called <SPAN
6644 >set-image-blocker</TT
6645 >, but meant for use from <A
6646 HREF="filter-file.html"
6649 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
6667 >+set-image-blocker{pattern}</PRE
6674 > Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6685 >+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</PRE
6692 > Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6703 >+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</PRE
6722 > Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6723 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6724 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6725 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6726 and fast rules for all sites. See the <A
6727 HREF="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT"
6729 > for a brief example on troubleshooting
6752 >, can be defined by combining other actions.
6753 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6754 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6772 > that you only use <SPAN
6792 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6799 > sign, since they are merely textually
6802 > Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <SPAN
6807 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</I
6810 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6811 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6812 within that file.</P
6814 > There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6815 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6816 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6820 >, you can later change your policy on shops in
6827 > place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6828 in the actions file where the <SPAN
6831 > alias is used. Calling aliases
6832 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.</P
6834 > Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6838 >'s built-in web-based action file
6839 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6840 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6841 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6844 > Now let's define some aliases...</P
6854 > # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6856 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6857 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6861 # These aliases just save typing later:
6862 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6864 +crunch-all-cookies = +<A
6865 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6866 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6868 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6869 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6871 -crunch-all-cookies = -<A
6872 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6873 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6875 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6876 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6878 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6879 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
6880 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
6881 >session-cookies-only</A
6883 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
6884 >filter{content-cookies}</A
6887 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6888 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6891 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6894 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
6896 > -crunch-all-cookies -<A
6897 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
6900 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER"
6903 HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
6904 >prevent-compression</A
6907 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
6908 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
6909 >filter{all-popups}</A
6912 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6914 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6915 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</PRE
6921 > ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6922 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6936 > # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6937 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6940 .office.microsoft.com
6941 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6942 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6946 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6950 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6953 # These shops require pop-ups:
6955 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6957 .overclockers.co.uk</PRE
6963 > Aliases like <SPAN
6969 > are typically used for
6973 > sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6974 in order to function properly.</P
6982 >8.7. Actions Files Tutorial</A
6985 > The above chapters have shown <A
6986 HREF="actions-file.html"
6987 >which actions files
6988 there are and how they are organized</A
6989 >, how actions are <A
6990 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
6993 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS-APPLY"
6997 HREF="actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
7001 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
7003 >. Now, let's look at an
7006 >match-all.action</TT
7014 > file and see how all these pieces come together:</P
7021 >8.7.1. match-all.action</A
7028 >all actions are disabled when matching starts</I
7031 so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.</P
7035 >match-all.action</TT
7036 > file only contains a
7037 single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
7046 HREF="actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
7047 >matches all URLs</A
7048 >. Therefore, the set of
7049 actions used in this <SPAN
7057 be applied to all requests as a start</I
7059 >. It can be partly or
7060 wholly overridden by other actions files like <TT
7067 >, but it will still be largely responsible
7068 for your overall browsing experience.</P
7070 > Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
7071 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <SPAN
7075 preceding the action name enables the action, a <SPAN
7079 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
7080 multiple lines with line continuation.</P
7092 HREF="actions-file.html#CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR"
7093 >change-x-forwarded-for{block}</A
7096 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER"
7097 >hide-from-header{block}</A
7100 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
7101 >set-image-blocker{pattern}</A
7111 > The default behavior is now set.</P
7119 >8.7.2. default.action</A
7122 > If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
7126 > file. It is maintained by
7130 > developers and if you disagree with some of the
7131 sections, you should overrule them in your <TT
7136 > Understanding the <TT
7140 help you with your <TT
7145 > The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
7146 that prevents older <SPAN
7149 > versions from reading the file:</P
7159 >##########################################################################
7160 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
7161 ##########################################################################
7163 for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</PRE
7169 > After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
7170 section from the above <A
7171 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
7172 >chapter on aliases</A
7174 that also explains why and how aliases are used:</P
7184 >##########################################################################
7186 ##########################################################################
7189 # These aliases just save typing later:
7190 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
7192 +crunch-all-cookies = +<A
7193 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
7194 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
7196 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
7197 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
7199 -crunch-all-cookies = -<A
7200 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
7201 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
7203 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
7204 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
7206 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
7207 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
7208 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
7209 >session-cookies-only</A
7211 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
7212 >filter{content-cookies}</A
7215 # These aliases define combinations of actions
7216 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
7219 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7222 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7224 > -crunch-all-cookies -<A
7225 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
7228 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER"
7231 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
7232 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
7233 >filter{all-popups}</A
7240 > The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <SPAN
7244 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
7245 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
7246 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
7250 > alias instead of stating the list
7251 of actions explicitly:</P
7261 >##########################################################################
7262 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
7263 ##########################################################################
7265 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
7268 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
7269 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
7270 mail.google.com</PRE
7276 > Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
7277 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
7278 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:</P
7292 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
7303 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
7307 action, which may have been enabled in <TT
7309 >match-all.action</TT
7311 breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:</P
7322 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
7328 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
7329 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
7336 > It is important that <SPAN
7340 URLs belong to images, so that <SPAN
7347 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
7348 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
7349 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
7350 would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
7351 URL as an image with the <TT
7354 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
7358 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
7369 >##########################################################################
7371 ##########################################################################
7373 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
7374 # blocked further down this file:
7377 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
7380 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</PRE
7386 > And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
7387 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
7388 request is for an image. Hence we block them <SPAN
7395 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
7398 >+block-as-image</TT
7399 > alias defined above. (We could of
7400 course just as well use <TT
7403 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7407 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
7411 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
7415 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
7416 >set-image-blocker</A
7419 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
7423 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
7424 >set-image-blocker</A
7427 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:</P
7437 ># Known ad generators:
7442 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
7443 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
7444 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
7452 > One of the most important jobs of <SPAN
7456 is to block banners. Many of these can be <SPAN
7463 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7465 >{banners-by-size}</TT
7467 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
7468 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
7469 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
7470 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
7471 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
7475 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7478 > action to them.</P
7480 > First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
7481 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
7482 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
7483 to keep the example short:</P
7493 >##########################################################################
7494 # Block these fine banners:
7495 ##########################################################################
7497 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7498 >+block{Banner ads.}</A
7507 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
7508 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
7510 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
7518 > It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
7524 >.com, or call the directory
7525 in which the banners are stored simply <SPAN
7529 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.</P
7531 > But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
7532 to block. The pattern <TT
7544 >.nasty-corp.com"</SPAN
7554 >.sourcefroge.net"</SPAN
7564 >l.some-provider.net."</SPAN
7566 well-known exceptions to the <TT
7569 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7575 > Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
7578 >"downloads.sourcefroge.net"</SPAN
7579 >: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
7580 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
7581 URL, but just deactivates the <TT
7584 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7588 action once again. Then it matches <TT
7591 >, an exception to the
7592 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
7596 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7599 > applies. And now, it'll match
7606 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7610 applies, so (unless it matches <SPAN
7616 > further down) it ends up
7620 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7623 > action applying.</P
7633 >##########################################################################
7634 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
7635 ##########################################################################
7640 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7643 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
7644 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
7645 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
7646 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
7647 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
7648 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
7656 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
7657 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</PRE
7663 > Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
7664 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
7665 and all paths with <SPAN
7668 > in them. Note that
7672 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7682 > filters in one fell swoop!</P
7692 ># Don't filter code!
7695 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7702 .sourceforge.net</PRE
7711 > is of course much more
7712 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.</P
7720 >8.7.3. user.action</A
7723 > So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
7724 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
7725 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
7726 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
7727 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
7731 >, which is parsed after all other
7732 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
7733 defined actions. <TT
7743 > place for your personal settings, since
7747 > is actively maintained by the
7751 > developers and you'll probably want
7752 to install updated versions from time to time.</P
7754 > So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
7768 ># My user.action file. <fred@example.com></PRE
7775 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
7777 > are local to the actions
7778 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
7782 >, unless you repeat them here:</P
7792 ># Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
7793 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
7797 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
7798 # be self explanatory.
7800 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
7801 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7802 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
7803 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
7804 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
7805 -block-as-image = -block
7807 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
7808 # certain types of sites:
7810 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
7811 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
7813 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
7815 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
7817 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
7818 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
7819 handle-as-text = -<A
7820 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7823 HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
7824 >content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</A
7826 HREF="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
7829 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION"
7830 >hide-content-disposition</A
7837 > Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
7838 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
7839 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
7842 >allow-all-cookies</TT
7843 > alias defined above does exactly
7844 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
7845 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.</P
7855 >{ allow-all-cookies }
7865 > Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:</P
7876 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7879 .your-home-banking-site.com</PRE
7885 > Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:</P
7895 ># Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
7896 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
7901 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
7902 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
7904 stupid-server.example.com/</PRE
7910 > Example of a simple <A
7911 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7913 > action. Say you've
7914 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
7915 You have right-clicked the image, selected <SPAN
7917 >"copy image location"</SPAN
7919 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
7923 > section. Note that <TT
7927 > need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
7931 > will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
7932 in default.action anyway:</P
7943 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7946 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
7947 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</PRE
7953 > The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
7954 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
7955 makes it impossible for <SPAN
7959 the file type just by looking at the URL.
7962 >+block-as-image</TT
7963 > alias defined above for
7965 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
7966 image are typically rendered as a <SPAN
7968 >"broken image"</SPAN
7970 browser. Use cautiously.</P
7980 >{ +block-as-image }
7990 > Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
7991 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
7992 were again too lazy to give <A
7996 you just used the <TT
7999 > alias on the site, and
8006 > -- it worked. The <TT
8010 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
8011 good for testing purposes to see if it is <SPAN
8015 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
8016 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:</P
8035 > You like the <SPAN
8038 > text replacements in <TT
8042 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
8043 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
8044 update-safe config, once and for all:</P
8055 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN"
8058 / # For ALL sites!</PRE
8064 > Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
8065 to the filters in <TT
8069 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
8073 > has the last word, these exceptions
8074 won't be valid for the <SPAN
8077 > filtering specified here.</P
8079 > You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
8080 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
8081 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
8082 sites that you feel provide value to you:</P
8104 > has been aliased to
8108 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
8115 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
8116 >filter{banners-by-size}</A
8122 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"
8123 >filter{banners-by-link}</A
8127 > Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <TT
8129 > application/x-sh</TT
8130 > which typically would open a download type
8131 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
8132 it should I choose to.</P
8152 > is generally the best place to define
8153 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
8157 >. Some actions are safe to have their
8158 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
8162 > image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
8172 > of course matches all URL
8173 paths and patterns:</P
8184 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
8185 >set-image-blocker{blank}</A
8200 SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
8229 HREF="filter-file.html"
8239 >The Main Configuration File</TD
projects / privoxy.git / blob