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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
120 > - is the primary action file
121 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
122 provide a base level of functionality for
126 > array of features. So it is
127 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
128 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <A
129 HREF="installation.html#INSTALLATION-KEEPUPDATED"
130 >making available to users</A
132 The user's preferences as set in <TT
155 > - is intended to be for local site
156 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
157 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
158 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
166 > - is used only by the web based editor
168 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default"
170 > http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</A
172 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
184 >Set to Cautious</SPAN
190 >Set to Advanced</SPAN
194 > These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <SPAN
199 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
202 >. A default installation should be pre-set to
206 > (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
210 >). New users should try this for a while before
211 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
212 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
213 not working as they should.
219 > button allows you to turn each
220 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <SPAN
224 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
225 ad blocking and a minimal set of <SPAN
228 >'s features, and subsequently
229 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
233 > button sets the list to a medium level of
234 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
238 > button sets the list to a high level of
239 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
240 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
244 > button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
245 lower sections of this internal page.
248 > It is not recommend to edit the <TT
255 > The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
269 >Table 1. Default Configurations</B
299 >Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</TD
309 >Ad-filtering by size</TD
319 >Ad-filtering by link</TD
339 >Privacy Features</TD
369 >GIF de-animation</TD
399 >JavaScript taming</TD
419 >Image tag reordering</TD
437 > The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
438 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
442 > is typically processed before
446 >). The content of these can all be viewed and
448 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
450 >http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</A
452 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
453 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
458 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
462 >), which are then followed lastly by any
463 local preferences (typically in <SPAN
479 > An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
483 > in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
485 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
487 > at the top of that file.
488 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
489 sites and pages (be <SPAN
499 > or any other actions file after
503 >, because it will override the result
504 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
505 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
509 > as an appendix to <TT
513 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
514 personal settings across <SPAN
517 > upgrades easier.</P
520 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
521 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
522 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
523 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
524 fooled, and much more. See below for a <A
525 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
535 >8.1. Finding the Right Mix</A
539 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
541 >, like cookie suppression
542 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
543 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
544 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
545 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
549 > your default settings (in the top section of the
550 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <SPAN
554 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
555 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
556 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
557 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.</P
559 > We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
560 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
561 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
562 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).</P
573 > The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
574 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <A
575 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
577 >http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</A
579 Note: the config file option <A
580 HREF="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS"
581 >enable-edit-actions</A
582 > must be enabled for
583 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
584 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
595 >. Warning: the <SPAN
599 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
600 Experienced users only!
603 > If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
604 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
608 > which is richly commented with many
617 >8.3. How Actions are Applied to Requests</A
620 > Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
624 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
627 > sections which will
628 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
629 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
630 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
631 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.</P
633 > To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
634 compared to all URL patterns in each <SPAN
638 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
639 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
640 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.</P
642 > If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
643 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
644 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <TT
648 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
652 then later another one with just <TT
656 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
666 > actions to apply. And there may well be
667 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
683 >block{Banner ads.}</TT
685 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
687 media.example.com/.*banners
688 .example.com/images/ads/</PRE
695 > You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <A
696 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
698 >http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</A
701 > Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <A
702 HREF="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT"
703 > Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</A
723 to determine what <SPAN
729 > might apply to which sites and
730 pages your browser attempts to access. These <SPAN
740 > matching to achieve a high degree of
741 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
742 against many similar patterns.</P
744 > Generally, an URL pattern has the form
747 ><domain>/<path></TT
751 ><domain></TT
756 optional. (This is why the special <TT
759 > pattern matches all
760 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
771 the pattern. This is assumed already!</P
773 > The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
774 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
775 while the path part uses more flexible
777 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
793 >www.example.com/</TT
797 > is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <TT
801 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
802 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
806 > is different and would NOT match.
816 > means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <TT
826 >www.example.com/index.html</TT
830 > matches all the documents on <TT
834 whose name starts with <TT
843 >www.example.com/index.html$</TT
847 > matches only the single document <TT
864 > matches the document <TT
867 >, regardless of the domain,
874 > web server anywhere.
884 > matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
885 there is no top-level domain called <TT
900 >8.4.1. The Domain Pattern</A
903 > The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
904 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
918 > matches any domain with first-level domain <TT
922 and second-level domain <TT
935 >foo.bar.baz.example.com</TT
937 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <TT
950 > matches any domain that <SPAN
960 > (It also matches the domain
964 > but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
974 > matches any domain that <SPAN
984 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
985 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
986 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <TT
990 a domain.) This might be <TT
1000 >www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</TT
1001 > for instance. All these
1008 > Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
1009 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
1013 > represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
1016 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
1023 > based syntax of <SPAN
1030 > represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
1031 regular expression syntax of a simple <SPAN
1034 >), and you can define
1037 >"character classes"</SPAN
1038 > in square brackets which is similar to
1039 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:</P
1043 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1048 >ad*.example.com</TT
1054 >"adserver.example.com"</SPAN
1058 >"ads.example.com"</SPAN
1059 >, etc but not <SPAN
1061 >"sfads.example.com"</SPAN
1068 >*ad*.example.com</TT
1072 > matches all of the above, and then some.
1088 >pictures.epix.com</TT
1091 >a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</TT
1098 >www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</TT
1104 >www1.example.com</TT
1108 >www4.example.cc</TT
1111 >wwwd.example.cy</TT
1115 >wwwz.example.com</TT
1125 >wwww.example.com</TT
1132 > While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.</P
1140 >8.4.2. The Path Pattern</A
1151 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
1158 > for matching the path portion (after the slash),
1159 and is thus more flexible.</P
1162 HREF="appendix.html#REGEX"
1164 > with a brief quick-start into regular
1165 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
1166 on regular expressions (try <TT
1171 > Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <SPAN
1175 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <SPAN
1178 > (regular expression speak
1179 for the beginning of a line).</P
1181 > Please also note that matching in the path is <SPAN
1185 >CASE INSENSITIVE</I
1188 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
1194 >www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</TT
1196 only documents whose path starts with <TT
1206 > this capitalization.</P
1210 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1215 >.example.com/.*</TT
1219 > Is equivalent to just <SPAN
1221 >".example.com"</SPAN
1222 >, since any documents
1223 within that domain are matched with or without the <SPAN
1227 regular expression. This is redundant
1233 >.example.com/.*/index.html$</TT
1237 > Will match any page in the domain of <SPAN
1239 >"example.com"</SPAN
1244 >, and that is part of some path. For
1245 example, it matches <SPAN
1247 >"www.example.com/testing/index.html"</SPAN
1251 >"www.example.com/index.html"</SPAN
1252 > because the regular
1253 expression called for at least two <SPAN
1257 requirement. It also would match
1260 >"www.example.com/testing/index_html"</SPAN
1262 special meta-character <SPAN
1271 >.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</TT
1275 > This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
1279 > regardless of path which in this case can
1280 have one or more <SPAN
1283 >. And this one must contain exactly
1287 > (but does not have to end with that!).
1293 >.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</TT
1297 > This regular expression will match any path of <SPAN
1299 >"example.com"</SPAN
1301 that contains any of the words <SPAN
1311 > (because of the <SPAN
1318 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
1324 >.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</TT
1328 > This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
1342 one is limited to common image formats.
1348 > There are many, many good examples to be found in <TT
1352 and more tutorials below in <A
1353 HREF="appendix.html#REGEX"
1354 >Appendix on regular expressions</A
1363 >8.4.3. The Tag Pattern</A
1366 > Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
1367 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
1369 HREF="actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER"
1370 >client-header-tagger</A
1373 HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER"
1374 >server-header-tagger</A
1377 > Tag patterns have to start with <SPAN
1384 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
1385 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
1386 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
1387 automatically (<SPAN
1390 > doesn't silently add a <SPAN
1394 you have to do it yourself if you need it).</P
1396 > To match all requests that are tagged with <SPAN
1400 your pattern line should be <SPAN
1407 > would work as well, but it would also
1408 match requests whose tags contain <SPAN
1415 > wouldn't work as it requires white space.</P
1417 > Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
1418 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
1419 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.</P
1421 > Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
1422 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
1423 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
1424 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.</P
1426 > For example you could tag client requests which use the
1431 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
1432 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
1433 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
1434 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
1435 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
1436 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
1437 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.</P
1439 > While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
1440 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
1441 make too much sense.</P
1453 > All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
1454 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
1458 >, and turned off if preceded with a <SPAN
1467 >"do that action"</SPAN
1474 >"please block URLs that match the
1475 following patterns"</SPAN
1482 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <TT
1486 previously applied."</SPAN
1490 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
1491 separated by whitespace, like in
1494 >{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</TT
1496 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
1497 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
1498 of the actions file. </P
1501 Actions fall into three categories:</P
1509 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <SPAN
1532 > # enable action <TT
1543 > # disable action <TT
1558 >+handle-as-image</TT
1565 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
1587 >} # enable action and set parameter to <TT
1593 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
1599 > # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</PRE
1606 > Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
1607 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
1613 >+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
1620 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
1621 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
1622 same URL, but with different parameters, <SPAN
1635 > matches are remembered. This is used for actions
1636 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
1637 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
1658 >} # enable action and add <TT
1663 > to the list of parameters
1674 >} # remove the parameter <TT
1679 > from the list of parameters
1680 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
1686 > # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</PRE
1696 >+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</TT
1700 >+filter{html-annoyances}</TT
1707 > If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <SPAN
1711 taken. So in this case <SPAN
1715 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
1716 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
1717 files will give a good starting point).</P
1719 > Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
1720 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
1721 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
1725 >). For multi-valued actions, the actions
1726 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
1727 the order they are defined in <TT
1731 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
1732 URL to match more than one <SPAN
1735 > (because of wildcards and
1736 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
1739 > The list of valid <SPAN
1749 >8.5.1. add-header</A
1754 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1760 >Confuse log analysis, custom applications</P
1766 > Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
1779 > Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
1780 It is recommended that you use the <SPAN
1794 > This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
1795 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
1798 >"HTTP headers"</SPAN
1799 > are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
1815 >+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</PRE
1836 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
1842 >Block ads or other unwanted content</P
1848 > Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
1849 requests are trapped by <SPAN
1852 > and the requested URL is never retrieved,
1853 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
1857 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
1864 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
1865 >set-image-blocker</A
1871 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"
1872 >handle-as-empty-document</A
1888 >A block reason that should be given to the user.</P
1897 > sends a special <SPAN
1901 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
1902 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
1903 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
1908 A very important exception occurs if <SPAN
1921 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
1925 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
1929 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
1930 >set-image-blocker</A
1933 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
1934 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
1937 > It is important to understand this process, in order
1938 to understand how <SPAN
1942 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
1943 upon which various other features depend.
1949 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
1953 action can perform a very similar task, by <SPAN
1957 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
1958 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
1959 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
1963 >Example usage (section):</DT
1974 >{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
1975 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
1976 .nasty-stuff.example.com
1978 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
1979 # Block and replace with image
1983 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
1984 # Block and then ignore
1985 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</PRE
2000 NAME="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR"
2001 >8.5.3. change-x-forwarded-for</A
2006 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2012 >Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</P
2020 >"X-Forwarded-For:"</SPAN
2021 > HTTP header from the client request,
2042 > to delete the header.</P
2049 > to create the header (or append
2050 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
2059 > It is safe and recommended to use <TT
2065 > Forwarding the source address of the request may make
2066 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
2081 >+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</PRE
2096 NAME="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER"
2097 >8.5.4. client-header-filter</A
2102 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2108 > Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2115 > All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2116 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2129 > The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2131 HREF="filter-file.html"
2140 > Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2141 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2142 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2143 You can do that by using tags though.
2146 > Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2147 and use their output as input.
2150 > If the request URL gets changed, <SPAN
2153 > will detect that and use the new
2154 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2155 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2158 > Please refer to the <A
2159 HREF="filter-file.html"
2160 >filter file chapter</A
2162 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2167 >Example usage (section):</DT
2178 ># Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2179 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2196 NAME="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER"
2197 >8.5.5. client-header-tagger</A
2202 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2208 > Block requests based on their headers.
2215 > Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2216 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
2230 > The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
2232 HREF="filter-file.html"
2241 > Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
2242 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <SPAN
2249 > Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
2250 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
2254 >Example usage (section):</DT
2265 ># Tag every request with the User-Agent header
2266 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
2269 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
2270 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
2272 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
2273 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
2274 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
2275 -hide-if-modified-since \
2276 -overwrite-last-modified \
2281 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
2282 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
2283 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
2284 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
2285 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
2286 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
2302 NAME="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
2303 >8.5.6. content-type-overwrite</A
2308 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2314 >Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</P
2320 > Replaces the <SPAN
2322 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
2323 > HTTP server header.
2345 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
2346 > HTTP server header is used by the
2347 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
2348 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
2349 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
2350 supported by the browser.
2353 > The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
2354 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <SPAN
2358 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
2359 If it is send as <SPAN
2361 >"application/xml"</SPAN
2363 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
2366 > If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
2369 >"Content-Type: text/html"</SPAN
2370 >, you can use <SPAN
2374 to overwrite it with <SPAN
2376 >"application/xml"</SPAN
2378 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
2379 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
2382 > You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
2383 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
2384 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
2388 > and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
2393 >content-type-overwrite</TT
2397 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
2398 > headers that look like some kind of text.
2399 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
2403 HREF="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
2407 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
2410 > Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
2414 HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
2415 >server-header filter</A
2418 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
2419 only replace the content types you aimed at.
2422 > Of course you can apply <TT
2424 >content-type-overwrite</TT
2426 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
2427 more work to get the same precision.
2431 >Example usage (sections):</DT
2442 ># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
2443 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
2446 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
2447 {-content-type-overwrite}
2448 www.example.net/.*\.css$
2449 www.example.net/.*style</PRE
2464 NAME="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER"
2465 >8.5.7. crunch-client-header</A
2470 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2476 >Remove a client header <SPAN
2479 > has no dedicated action for.</P
2485 > Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
2505 > This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
2513 > will remove every client header that
2514 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
2517 > Regular expressions are <SPAN
2524 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
2525 they contain the same string.
2530 >crunch-client-header</TT
2531 > is only meant for quick tests.
2532 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
2533 parts of them, you should use a
2537 HREF="actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER"
2538 >client-header filter</A
2561 > Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
2569 >Example usage (section):</DT
2580 ># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
2581 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
2598 NAME="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
2599 >8.5.8. crunch-if-none-match</A
2604 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2610 >Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
2618 >"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
2619 > HTTP client header.
2639 > Removing the <SPAN
2641 >"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
2642 > HTTP client header
2643 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
2644 reload instead of getting status code <SPAN
2648 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
2651 > It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
2652 replacement (unlikely but possible).
2655 > Blocking the <SPAN
2657 >"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
2658 > header shouldn't cause any
2659 caching problems, as long as the <SPAN
2661 >"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
2663 isn't blocked or missing as well.
2666 > It is recommended to use this action together with
2670 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
2671 >hide-if-modified-since</A
2678 HREF="actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
2679 >overwrite-last-modified</A
2685 >Example usage (section):</DT
2696 ># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
2697 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
2698 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
2699 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
2700 +crunch-if-none-match}
2716 NAME="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
2717 >8.5.9. crunch-incoming-cookies</A
2722 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2728 > Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
2737 >"Set-Cookie:"</SPAN
2738 > HTTP headers from server replies.
2758 > This action is only concerned with <SPAN
2775 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
2776 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
2785 > to disable HTTP cookies completely.
2794 > to use this action in conjunction
2798 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
2799 >session-cookies-only</A
2802 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
2806 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
2807 >filter-content-cookies</A
2824 >+crunch-incoming-cookies</PRE
2839 NAME="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER"
2840 >8.5.10. crunch-server-header</A
2845 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2851 >Remove a server header <SPAN
2854 > has no dedicated action for.</P
2860 > Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
2880 > This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
2884 > action exists. <SPAN
2888 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
2891 > Regular expressions are <SPAN
2898 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
2899 they contain the same string.
2904 >crunch-server-header</TT
2905 > is only meant for quick tests.
2906 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
2907 parts of them, you should use a custom
2911 HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
2912 >server-header filter</A
2935 > Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
2943 >Example usage (section):</DT
2954 ># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
2955 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
2971 NAME="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
2972 >8.5.11. crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
2977 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
2983 > Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
2993 > HTTP headers from client requests.
3013 > This action is only concerned with <SPAN
3030 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
3031 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
3040 > to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3049 > to use this action in conjunction
3053 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
3054 >session-cookies-only</A
3057 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3072 >+crunch-outgoing-cookies</PRE
3087 NAME="DEANIMATE-GIFS"
3088 >8.5.12. deanimate-gifs</A
3093 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3099 >Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</P
3105 > De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3131 > This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3135 > is given, the first frame of the animation
3136 is used as the replacement. If <SPAN
3139 > is given, the last
3140 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3141 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3142 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3145 > You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3146 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3162 >+deanimate-gifs{last}</PRE
3177 NAME="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"
3178 >8.5.13. downgrade-http-version</A
3183 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3189 >Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</P
3195 > Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3215 > This is a left-over from the time when <SPAN
3219 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3220 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3221 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3222 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3226 >Example usage (section):</DT
3237 >{+downgrade-http-version}
3238 problem-host.example.com</PRE
3253 NAME="FAST-REDIRECTS"
3254 >8.5.14. fast-redirects</A
3259 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3265 >Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</P
3271 > Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3272 the redirection server first.
3291 >"simple-check"</SPAN
3292 > to just search for the string <SPAN
3296 to detect redirection URLs.
3303 >"check-decoded-url"</SPAN
3304 > to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3305 for redirection URLs.
3315 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3316 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3317 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3318 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3321 >"http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/"</SPAN
3325 > Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3326 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3327 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3328 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3329 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3333 > This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3334 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3335 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3338 > Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3339 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3340 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3344 > assumes that every URL parameter that
3345 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3346 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3347 the user gets redirected anyway.
3350 > Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3354 >"http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar"</SPAN
3356 contains the redirection URL <SPAN
3358 >"http://www.example.net/"</SPAN
3360 followed by another parameter. <TT
3364 and will cause a redirect to <SPAN
3366 >"http://www.example.net/&foo=bar"</SPAN
3368 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3371 >"page not found"</SPAN
3372 > error. You can prevent this problem by
3376 HREF="actions-file.html#REDIRECT"
3380 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3383 > To detect a redirection URL, <TT
3387 looks for the string <SPAN
3390 >, either in plain text
3391 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <SPAN
3395 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3396 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3400 > is fooled and the request reaches the
3401 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3416 > { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3419 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3420 another.example.com/testing</PRE
3441 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
3447 >Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3448 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</P
3454 > All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3455 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3456 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3457 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3461 > MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3474 > The name of a content filter, as defined in the <A
3475 HREF="filter-file.html"
3478 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3482 HREF="config.html#FILTERFILE"
3493 > is the collection of filters
3494 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3495 in their own file, such as <TT
3501 > When used in its negative form,
3502 and without parameters, <SPAN
3508 > filtering is completely disabled.
3515 > For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3516 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3520 > Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3521 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3522 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3523 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3524 noticeable on slower connections.
3529 >"Rolling your own"</SPAN
3531 filters requires a knowledge of
3533 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
3542 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"
3549 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
3550 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
3557 > The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3561 HREF="config.html#BUFFER-LIMIT"
3565 option in the main <A
3569 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3570 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3573 > Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3574 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3575 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3576 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3577 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3578 by defining appropriate <TT
3584 > Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless <SPAN
3588 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least <SPAN
3595 > will decompress the content before filtering
3599 > If you use a <SPAN
3602 > version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
3603 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
3604 you must use the <TT
3607 HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
3608 >prevent-compression</A
3611 action in conjunction with <TT
3617 > Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3621 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
3625 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3626 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3627 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3634 > with suggestions for new or
3635 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3638 > The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3639 predefined filter. There are <A
3640 HREF="filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS"
3642 verbose explanations</A
3643 > of what these filters do in the <A
3644 HREF="filter-file.html"
3645 >filter file chapter</A
3650 >Example usage (with filters from the distribution <TT
3655 HREF="filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS"
3656 >the Predefined Filters section</A
3658 more explanation on each:</DT
3662 NAME="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES"
3673 >+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</PRE
3681 NAME="FILTER-JS-EVENTS"
3692 >+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</PRE
3700 NAME="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"
3711 >+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</PRE
3719 NAME="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
3730 >+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</PRE
3738 NAME="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"
3749 >+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</PRE
3757 NAME="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS"
3768 >+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</PRE
3776 NAME="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
3787 >+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</PRE
3795 NAME="FILTER-IMG-REORDER"
3806 >+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</PRE
3814 NAME="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
3825 >+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</PRE
3833 NAME="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"
3844 >+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</PRE
3852 NAME="FILTER-WEBBUGS"
3863 >+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</PRE
3871 NAME="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS"
3882 >+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</PRE
3890 NAME="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS"
3901 >+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</PRE
3909 NAME="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS"
3920 >+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</PRE
3928 NAME="FILTER-DEMORONIZER"
3939 >+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</PRE
3947 NAME="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH"
3958 >+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</PRE
3966 NAME="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE"
3977 >+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</PRE
3996 >+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</PRE
4004 NAME="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL"
4015 >+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</PRE
4023 NAME="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS"
4034 >+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</PRE
4042 NAME="FILTER-SITE-SPECIFICS"
4053 >+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</PRE
4061 NAME="FILTER-NO-PING"
4072 >+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</PRE
4080 NAME="FILTER-GOOGLE"
4091 >+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</PRE
4110 >+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</PRE
4129 >+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</PRE
4137 NAME="FILTER-BLOGSPOT"
4148 >+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</PRE
4163 NAME="FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
4164 >8.5.16. force-text-mode</A
4169 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4178 > to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <SPAN
4190 > Declares a document as text, even if the <SPAN
4192 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
4193 > isn't detected as such.
4216 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
4223 > tries to only filter files that are
4224 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4228 HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
4229 >content-type-overwrite</A
4234 >force-text-mode</TT
4235 > declares a document as text,
4236 without looking at the <SPAN
4238 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
4260 > Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4261 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4296 NAME="FORWARD-OVERRIDE"
4297 >8.5.17. forward-override</A
4302 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4308 >Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</P
4314 > Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4334 > to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</P
4340 >"forward 127.0.0.1:8123"</SPAN
4341 > to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4348 >"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 ."</SPAN
4349 > to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4350 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <SPAN
4352 >"forward-socks4a"</SPAN
4355 >"forward-socks4"</SPAN
4357 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <SPAN
4359 >"forward-socks5"</SPAN
4361 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4368 >"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000"</SPAN
4369 > to use the socks4a proxy
4370 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4373 >"forward-socks4a"</SPAN
4376 >"forward-socks4"</SPAN
4377 > to use a socks4 connection
4378 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <SPAN
4380 >"forward-socks5"</SPAN
4382 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4391 > This action takes parameters similar to the
4393 HREF="config.html#FORWARDING"
4395 > directives in the configuration
4396 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4397 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4418 > Please read the description for the <A
4419 HREF="config.html#FORWARDING"
4422 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4423 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4426 > If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4427 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4432 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
4434 >show-url-info CGI page</A
4436 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4455 ># Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4458 >"User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0"</SPAN
4460 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4461 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4462 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4463 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4464 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4465 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4466 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4467 -hide-if-modified-since \
4468 -overwrite-last-modified \
4470 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4486 NAME="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"
4487 >8.5.18. handle-as-empty-document</A
4492 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4498 >Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <SPAN
4502 >if they get blocked</I
4510 > This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4514 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
4524 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <SPAN
4528 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4535 > document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4555 > Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4556 are blocked with <SPAN
4560 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4561 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the <SPAN
4565 BLOCKED message in frames.
4568 > The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4572 HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
4573 >content-type-overwrite{}</A
4576 but usually this isn't necessary.
4591 ># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4592 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4593 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
4610 NAME="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
4611 >8.5.19. handle-as-image</A
4616 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4622 >Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <SPAN
4626 >if they do get blocked</I
4628 >, rather than HTML pages)</P
4634 > This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4638 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
4648 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <SPAN
4652 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <TT
4655 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
4656 >set-image-blocker</A
4658 > action) will be sent to the
4659 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4679 > The below generic example section is actually part of <TT
4683 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4687 > Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4691 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
4694 >, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4695 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4698 > Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4699 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4702 >handle-as-image</TT
4703 > in this situation will not replace the
4704 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4708 >Example usage (sections):</DT
4719 ># Generic image extensions:
4722 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4724 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4725 # blocked as images:
4727 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
4728 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash</PRE
4743 NAME="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE"
4744 >8.5.20. hide-accept-language</A
4749 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4755 >Pretend to use different language settings.</P
4761 > Deletes or replaces the <SPAN
4763 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4764 > HTTP header in client requests.
4780 >, or any user defined value.
4787 > Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4788 foreign User-Agent set with
4792 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"
4799 > However some sites with content in different languages check the
4802 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4803 > to decide which one to take by default.
4804 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4807 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4811 > Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4814 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4815 > header to languages you understand,
4816 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4819 > Before setting the <SPAN
4821 >"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
4823 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4824 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4825 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4826 you should stick to a common language.
4830 >Example usage (section):</DT
4841 ># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4842 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4843 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4860 NAME="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION"
4861 >8.5.21. hide-content-disposition</A
4866 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4872 >Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</P
4878 > Deletes or replaces the <SPAN
4880 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4881 > HTTP header set by some servers.
4897 >, or any user defined value.
4904 > Some servers set the <SPAN
4906 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4908 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4911 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4912 > header contains the file name
4913 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4916 > In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4923 > the document, without downloading it first,
4924 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4927 > Removing the <SPAN
4929 >"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
4931 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4934 >"Content-Type:"</SPAN
4935 > header, before they decide if they can
4936 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4937 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4941 > It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4942 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4946 > This action will probably be removed in the future,
4947 use server-header filters instead.
4962 ># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4964 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4965 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4966 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</PRE
4981 NAME="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
4982 >8.5.22. hide-if-modified-since</A
4987 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
4993 >Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
5001 >"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
5002 > HTTP client header or modifies its value.
5018 >, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
5025 > Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
5026 reload instead of getting status code <SPAN
5029 >, which would cause the
5030 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
5033 > Instead of removing the header, <TT
5035 >hide-if-modified-since</TT
5037 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
5038 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
5042 > does the rest. A negative value means
5043 subtracting, a positive value adding.
5046 > Randomizing the value of the <SPAN
5048 >"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
5050 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
5051 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
5054 > It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
5058 HREF="actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
5059 >overwrite-last-modified</A
5062 handle the greater changes.
5065 > It is also recommended to use this action together with
5069 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
5070 >crunch-if-none-match</A
5073 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
5077 >Example usage (section):</DT
5088 ># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
5089 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5090 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5091 +crunch-if-none-match}
5107 NAME="HIDE-FROM-HEADER"
5108 >8.5.23. hide-from-header</A
5113 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5119 >Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</P
5125 > Deletes any existing <SPAN
5128 > HTTP header, or replaces it with the
5145 >, or any user defined value.
5155 > will completely remove the header
5156 (not to be confused with the <TT
5159 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
5166 > Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
5167 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
5168 is actually used by a real person.
5171 > This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
5190 >+hide-from-header{block}</PRE
5203 >+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</PRE
5218 NAME="HIDE-REFERRER"
5219 >8.5.24. hide-referrer</A
5227 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5233 >Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</P
5242 > (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
5243 or replaces it with a forged one.
5262 >"conditional-block"</SPAN
5263 > to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</P
5269 >"conditional-forge"</SPAN
5270 > to forge the header if the host has changed.</P
5277 > to delete the header unconditionally.</P
5284 > to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</P
5288 >Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</P
5298 >conditional-block</TT
5299 > is the only parameter,
5300 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
5301 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
5302 typed in the address directly.
5305 > Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
5306 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <SPAN
5310 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
5311 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
5312 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
5316 > Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
5317 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
5318 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
5319 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
5324 >conditional-block</TT
5329 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
5330 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
5337 > is an alternate spelling of
5341 > and the two can be can be freely
5342 substituted with each other. (<SPAN
5346 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
5347 requires it to be spelled as <SPAN
5365 >+hide-referrer{forge}</PRE
5378 >+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</PRE
5393 NAME="HIDE-USER-AGENT"
5394 >8.5.25. hide-user-agent</A
5399 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5405 >Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</P
5411 > Replaces the value of the <SPAN
5413 >"User-Agent:"</SPAN
5415 in client requests with the specified value.
5428 > Any user-defined string.
5453 > This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
5454 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
5461 > the right thing to do: good web sites
5462 work browser-independently).
5469 > Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
5470 browsers will access the same <SPAN
5480 >. In single-user, single-browser
5481 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
5482 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
5483 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
5484 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
5485 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
5489 > enter, yet forging to a
5493 > user-agent works just fine.
5494 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
5497 > More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
5499 HREF="http://www.user-agents.org/"
5501 >http://www.user-agents.org/</A
5505 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent"
5507 >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</A
5523 >+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</PRE
5538 NAME="LIMIT-CONNECT"
5539 >8.5.26. limit-connect</A
5544 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5550 >Prevent abuse of <SPAN
5553 > as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</P
5559 > Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5572 > A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5573 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5580 > By default, i.e. if no <TT
5587 > allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
5591 > if fine-grained control
5592 is desired for some or all destinations.
5595 > The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5599 > URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5600 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5601 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5602 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5608 > relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5609 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent <SPAN
5613 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5617 >Example usages:</DT
5628 >+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
5629 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5630 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5631 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5632 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</PRE
5647 NAME="PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
5648 >8.5.27. prevent-compression</A
5653 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5659 > Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5663 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
5673 > Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5693 > More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5694 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <TT
5697 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
5704 HREF="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
5708 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
5711 > When compiled with zlib support (available since <SPAN
5714 > 3.0.7), content that should be
5715 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5716 If you are using an older <SPAN
5719 > version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5720 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5723 > Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5724 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5728 > Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5729 enable this action if you really need it. As of <SPAN
5732 > 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5733 predefined action settings.
5736 > Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5737 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5738 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5741 >prevent-compression</TT
5742 > per default, you might want to add
5743 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5747 >Example usage (sections):</DT
5758 ># Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5760 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5761 # Match only these sites
5766 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5768 { +prevent-compression }
5771 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5773 { -prevent-compression }
5789 NAME="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
5790 >8.5.28. overwrite-last-modified</A
5795 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5801 >Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
5809 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5810 > HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5823 > One of the keywords: <SPAN
5828 >"reset-to-request-time"</SPAN
5840 > Removing the <SPAN
5842 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5843 > header is useful for filter
5844 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5848 >, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5849 version of the page.
5855 > option overwrites the value of the
5858 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5859 > header with a randomly chosen time
5860 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5861 could send each document with a different <SPAN
5863 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5865 header to track visits without using cookies. <SPAN
5869 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5874 >"reset-to-request-time"</SPAN
5875 > overwrites the value of the
5878 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5879 > header with the current time. You could use
5880 this option together with
5884 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
5885 >hided-if-modified-since</A
5888 to further customize your random range.
5891 > The preferred parameter here is <SPAN
5895 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5896 If the server sets the <SPAN
5898 >"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
5899 > header to the time
5900 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5901 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5905 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
5906 >hided-if-modified-since</A
5912 > It is also recommended to use this action together with
5916 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
5917 >crunch-if-none-match</A
5934 ># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5935 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5936 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5937 +crunch-if-none-match}
5954 >8.5.29. redirect</A
5959 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
5965 > Redirect requests to other sites.
5972 > Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5973 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5986 > An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5993 > Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5994 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5995 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5996 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5999 > This action will be ignored if you use it together with
6003 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6007 It can be combined with
6011 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
6012 >fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</A
6015 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
6018 > Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
6019 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
6020 possible to fingerprint your requests.
6023 > In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
6024 them working, enable <A
6025 HREF="config.html#DEBUG"
6031 >Example usages:</DT
6042 ># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
6043 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
6044 example.com/stylesheet\.css
6046 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
6047 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to <SPAN
6051 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
6054 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
6055 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
6056 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
6057 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
6058 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
6060 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
6061 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
6064 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
6065 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
6066 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
6068 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
6069 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
6070 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
6071 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</PRE
6086 NAME="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
6087 >8.5.30. server-header-filter</A
6092 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6098 > Rewrite or remove single server headers.
6105 > All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
6106 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
6119 > The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
6121 HREF="filter-file.html"
6130 > Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
6131 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
6132 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
6133 You can do that by using tags though.
6136 > Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
6137 and use their output as input.
6140 > Please refer to the <A
6141 HREF="filter-file.html"
6142 >filter file chapter</A
6144 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
6149 >Example usage (section):</DT
6160 >{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
6161 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
6163 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
6164 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
6180 NAME="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER"
6181 >8.5.31. server-header-tagger</A
6186 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6192 > Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
6199 > Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
6200 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
6214 > The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
6216 HREF="filter-file.html"
6225 > Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
6226 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <SPAN
6233 > Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
6234 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
6235 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
6236 and the crunch actions (<A
6237 HREF="actions-file.html#REDIRECT"
6241 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6246 > Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
6247 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
6251 >Example usage (section):</DT
6262 ># Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
6263 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
6280 NAME="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
6281 >8.5.32. session-cookies-only</A
6286 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6292 > Allow only temporary <SPAN
6295 > cookies (for the current
6296 browser session <SPAN
6314 >"Set-Cookie:"</SPAN
6316 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
6317 forget them in between sessions.
6337 > This is less strict than <TT
6340 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6341 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6347 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6348 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6350 > and allows you to browse
6351 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
6354 > Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
6357 >session-cookies-only</TT
6358 > and will forget about them between sessions.
6359 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
6360 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
6361 sites, and is the recommended setting.
6372 >session-cookies-only</TT
6377 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6378 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6384 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6385 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6387 >. If you do, cookies
6388 will be plainly killed.
6391 > Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <SPAN
6395 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
6398 > This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
6399 previously by the browser before starting <SPAN
6403 These would have to be removed manually.
6411 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
6412 >content-cookies filter</A
6414 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
6417 >session-cookies-only</TT
6433 >+session-cookies-only</PRE
6448 NAME="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
6449 >8.5.33. set-image-blocker</A
6454 CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
6460 >Choose the replacement for blocked images</P
6466 > This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <SPAN
6476 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6488 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
6498 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
6505 > the parameter of this action decides what will be
6506 sent as a replacement.
6526 > to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
6527 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
6535 > to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
6536 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <SPAN
6540 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <SPAN
6544 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
6558 send a redirect to <TT
6564 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <SPAN
6568 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
6571 > A good application of redirects is to use special <SPAN
6575 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <TT
6581 This has the same visual effect as specifying <SPAN
6588 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
6589 it over and over again.
6598 > The URLs for the built-in images are <SPAN
6600 >"http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<TT
6621 > There is a third (advanced) type, called <SPAN
6633 >set-image-blocker</TT
6634 >, but meant for use from <A
6635 HREF="filter-file.html"
6638 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
6656 >+set-image-blocker{pattern}</PRE
6663 > Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6674 >+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</PRE
6681 > Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6692 >+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</PRE
6711 > Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6712 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6713 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6714 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6715 and fast rules for all sites. See the <A
6716 HREF="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT"
6718 > for a brief example on troubleshooting
6741 >, can be defined by combining other actions.
6742 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6743 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6761 > that you only use <SPAN
6781 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6788 > sign, since they are merely textually
6791 > Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <SPAN
6796 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</I
6799 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6800 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6801 within that file.</P
6803 > There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6804 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6805 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6809 >, you can later change your policy on shops in
6816 > place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6817 in the actions file where the <SPAN
6820 > alias is used. Calling aliases
6821 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.</P
6823 > Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6827 >'s built-in web-based action file
6828 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6829 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6830 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6833 > Now let's define some aliases...</P
6843 > # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6845 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6846 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6850 # These aliases just save typing later:
6851 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6853 +crunch-all-cookies = +<A
6854 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6855 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6857 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6858 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6860 -crunch-all-cookies = -<A
6861 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
6862 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
6864 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
6865 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
6867 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6868 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
6869 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
6870 >session-cookies-only</A
6872 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
6873 >filter{content-cookies}</A
6876 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6877 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6880 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
6883 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
6885 > -crunch-all-cookies -<A
6886 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
6889 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER"
6892 HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
6893 >prevent-compression</A
6896 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
6897 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
6898 >filter{all-popups}</A
6901 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6903 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6904 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</PRE
6910 > ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6911 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6925 > # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6926 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6929 .office.microsoft.com
6930 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6931 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6935 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6939 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6942 # These shops require pop-ups:
6944 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6946 .overclockers.co.uk</PRE
6952 > Aliases like <SPAN
6958 > are typically used for
6962 > sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6963 in order to function properly.</P
6971 >8.7. Actions Files Tutorial</A
6974 > The above chapters have shown <A
6975 HREF="actions-file.html"
6976 >which actions files
6977 there are and how they are organized</A
6978 >, how actions are <A
6979 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
6982 HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS-APPLY"
6986 HREF="actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
6990 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
6992 >. Now, let's look at an
7000 file and see how all these pieces come together:</P
7007 >8.7.1. default.action</A
7010 >Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:</P
7020 ># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></PRE
7026 >Then, since this is the <TT
7030 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
7031 change or worry about:</P
7041 >##########################################################################
7042 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
7043 ##########################################################################
7046 for-privoxy-version=3.0</PRE
7052 >After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
7053 section from the above <A
7054 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
7055 >chapter on aliases</A
7057 that also explains why and how aliases are used:</P
7067 >##########################################################################
7069 ##########################################################################
7072 # These aliases just save typing later:
7073 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
7075 +crunch-all-cookies = +<A
7076 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
7077 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
7079 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
7080 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
7082 -crunch-all-cookies = -<A
7083 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
7084 >crunch-incoming-cookies</A
7086 HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
7087 >crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
7089 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
7090 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
7091 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
7092 >session-cookies-only</A
7094 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
7095 >filter{content-cookies}</A
7098 # These aliases define combinations of actions
7099 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
7102 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7105 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7107 > -crunch-all-cookies -<A
7108 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
7111 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER"
7114 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
7115 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
7116 >filter{all-popups}</A
7123 > Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
7124 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <SPAN
7129 are disabled when matching starts</I
7131 >, so we have to explicitly
7132 enable the ones we want.</P
7134 > The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
7143 HREF="actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
7144 >matches all URLs</A
7146 set of actions used in this <SPAN
7154 be applied to all requests as a start</I
7156 >. It can be partly or
7157 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
7158 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
7161 > Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
7162 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <SPAN
7166 preceding the action name enables the action, a <SPAN
7170 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
7171 multiple lines with line continuation.</P
7181 >##########################################################################
7182 # "Defaults" section:
7183 ##########################################################################
7186 HREF="actions-file.html#CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR"
7187 >change-x-forwarded-for{block}</A
7190 HREF="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
7194 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"
7195 >filter{html-annoyances}</A
7198 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"
7199 >filter{refresh-tags}</A
7202 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-WEBBUGS"
7206 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS"
7207 >filter{ie-exploits}</A
7210 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER"
7211 >hide-from-header{block}</A
7214 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER"
7215 >hide-referrer{forge}</A
7218 HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
7219 >prevent-compression</A
7222 HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
7223 >session-cookies-only</A
7226 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
7227 >set-image-blocker{pattern}</A
7230 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</PRE
7236 > The default behavior is now set.
7239 > The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <SPAN
7243 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
7244 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
7245 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
7249 > alias instead of stating the list
7250 of actions explicitly:</P
7260 >##########################################################################
7261 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
7262 ##########################################################################
7264 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
7267 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
7268 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
7269 mail.google.com</PRE
7275 > Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
7276 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
7277 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:</P
7291 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
7302 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
7306 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
7307 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:</P
7318 HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
7324 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
7325 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
7332 > It is important that <SPAN
7336 URLs belong to images, so that <SPAN
7343 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
7344 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
7345 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
7346 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <SPAN
7353 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <TT
7356 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
7360 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
7371 >##########################################################################
7373 ##########################################################################
7375 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
7376 # blocked further down this file:
7379 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
7382 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</PRE
7388 > And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
7389 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
7390 request is for an image. Hence we block them <SPAN
7397 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
7400 >+block-as-image</TT
7401 > alias defined above. (We could of
7402 course just as well use <TT
7405 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7409 HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
7413 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
7417 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
7418 >set-image-blocker</A
7421 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
7425 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
7426 >set-image-blocker</A
7429 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:</P
7439 ># Known ad generators:
7444 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
7445 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
7446 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
7454 > One of the most important jobs of <SPAN
7458 is to block banners. Many of these can be <SPAN
7465 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7467 >{banners-by-size}</TT
7469 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
7470 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
7471 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
7472 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
7473 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
7477 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7480 > action to them.</P
7482 > First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
7483 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
7484 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
7485 to keep the example short:</P
7495 >##########################################################################
7496 # Block these fine banners:
7497 ##########################################################################
7499 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7500 >+block{Banner ads.}</A
7509 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
7510 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
7512 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
7520 > It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
7526 >.com, or call the directory
7527 in which the banners are stored simply <SPAN
7531 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.</P
7533 > But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
7534 to block. The pattern <TT
7546 >.nasty-corp.com"</SPAN
7556 >.sourcefroge.net"</SPAN
7566 >l.some-provider.net."</SPAN
7568 well-known exceptions to the <TT
7571 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7577 > Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
7580 >"downloads.sourcefroge.net"</SPAN
7581 >: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
7582 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
7583 URL, but just deactivates the <TT
7586 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7590 action once again. Then it matches <TT
7593 >, an exception to the
7594 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
7598 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7601 > applies. And now, it'll match
7608 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7612 applies, so (unless it matches <SPAN
7618 > further down) it ends up
7622 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7625 > action applying.</P
7635 >##########################################################################
7636 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
7637 ##########################################################################
7642 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7645 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
7646 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
7647 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
7648 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
7649 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
7650 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
7658 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
7659 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</PRE
7665 > Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
7666 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
7667 and all paths with <SPAN
7670 > in them. Note that
7674 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7684 > filters in one fell swoop!</P
7694 ># Don't filter code!
7697 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7704 .sourceforge.net</PRE
7713 > is of course much more
7714 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.</P
7722 >8.7.2. user.action</A
7725 > So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
7726 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
7727 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
7728 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
7729 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
7733 >, which is parsed after all other
7734 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
7735 defined actions. <TT
7745 > place for your personal settings, since
7749 > is actively maintained by the
7753 > developers and you'll probably want
7754 to install updated versions from time to time.</P
7756 > So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
7770 ># My user.action file. <fred@example.com></PRE
7777 HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
7779 > are local to the actions
7780 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
7784 >, unless you repeat them here:</P
7794 ># Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
7795 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
7799 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
7800 # be self explanatory.
7802 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
7803 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7804 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
7805 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
7806 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
7807 -block-as-image = -block
7809 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
7810 # certain types of sites:
7812 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
7813 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
7815 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
7817 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
7819 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
7820 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
7821 handle-as-text = -<A
7822 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7825 HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
7826 >content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</A
7828 HREF="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
7831 HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION"
7832 >hide-content-disposition</A
7839 > Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
7840 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
7841 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
7844 >allow-all-cookies</TT
7845 > alias defined above does exactly
7846 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
7847 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.</P
7857 >{ allow-all-cookies }
7867 > Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:</P
7878 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
7881 .your-home-banking-site.com</PRE
7887 > Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:</P
7897 ># Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
7898 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
7903 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
7904 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
7906 stupid-server.example.com/</PRE
7912 > Example of a simple <A
7913 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7915 > action. Say you've
7916 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
7917 You have right-clicked the image, selected <SPAN
7919 >"copy image location"</SPAN
7921 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
7925 > section. Note that <TT
7929 > need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
7933 > will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
7934 in default.action anyway:</P
7945 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
7948 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
7949 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</PRE
7955 > The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
7956 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
7957 makes it impossible for <SPAN
7961 the file type just by looking at the URL.
7964 >+block-as-image</TT
7965 > alias defined above for
7967 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
7968 image are typically rendered as a <SPAN
7970 >"broken image"</SPAN
7972 browser. Use cautiously.</P
7982 >{ +block-as-image }
7992 > Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
7993 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
7994 were again too lazy to give <A
7998 you just used the <TT
8001 > alias on the site, and
8008 > -- it worked. The <TT
8012 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
8013 good for testing purposes to see if it is <SPAN
8017 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
8018 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:</P
8037 > You like the <SPAN
8040 > text replacements in <TT
8044 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
8045 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
8046 update-safe config, once and for all:</P
8057 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN"
8060 / # For ALL sites!</PRE
8066 > Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
8067 to the filters in <TT
8071 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
8075 > has the last word, these exceptions
8076 won't be valid for the <SPAN
8079 > filtering specified here.</P
8081 > You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
8082 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
8083 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
8084 sites that you feel provide value to you:</P
8106 > has been aliased to
8110 HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
8117 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
8118 >filter{banners-by-size}</A
8124 HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"
8125 >filter{banners-by-link}</A
8129 > Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <TT
8131 > application/x-sh</TT
8132 > which typically would open a download type
8133 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
8134 it should I choose to.</P
8154 > is generally the best place to define
8155 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
8159 >. Some actions are safe to have their
8160 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
8164 > image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
8174 > of course matches all URL
8175 paths and patterns:</P
8186 HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
8187 >set-image-blocker{blank}</A
8202 SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
8231 HREF="filter-file.html"
8241 >The Main Configuration File</TD
projects / privoxy.git / blob