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29 <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="STARTUP" id="STARTUP">5. Starting Privoxy</a></h1>
30 <p>Before launching <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> for the first time, you will want to configure your
31 browser(s) to use <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) <a href=
32 "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server" target="_top">proxy</a>. The default is 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for
33 the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <span class=
34 "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">that must be done</i></span>!</p>
35 <p>Please note that <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can only proxy HTTP and HTTPS traffic. It will not
36 work with FTP or other protocols.</p>
38 <a name="AEN773" id="AEN773"></a>
39 <p><b>Figure 2. Proxy Configuration Showing Mozilla Firefox HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</b></p>
40 <div class="MEDIAOBJECT">
41 <p><img src="proxy_setup.jpg"></p>
44 <p>With <span class="APPLICATION">Firefox</span>, this is typically set under:</p>
45 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT"> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> -> <span class=
46 "GUIBUTTON">Preferences</span> -> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Network
47 Settings</span> -> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Settings</span></p>
48 <p>Or optionally on some platforms:</p>
49 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT"> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> -> <span class=
50 "GUIBUTTON">Preferences</span> -> <span class=
51 "GUIBUTTON">General</span> -> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Connection
52 Settings</span> -> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Manual Proxy Configuration</span></p>
53 <p>With <span class="APPLICATION">Netscape</span> (and <span class="APPLICATION">Mozilla</span>), this can be set
55 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT"> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> -> <span class=
56 "GUIBUTTON">Preferences</span> -> <span class=
57 "GUIBUTTON">Advanced</span> -> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Proxies</span> -> <span class=
58 "GUIBUTTON">HTTP Proxy</span></p>
59 <p>For <span class="APPLICATION">Internet Explorer v.5-7</span>:</p>
60 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT"> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Tools</span> -> <span class=
61 "GUIBUTTON">Internet Options</span> -> <span class=
62 "GUIBUTTON">Connections</span> -> <span class="GUIBUTTON">LAN Settings</span></p>
63 <p>Then, check <span class="QUOTE">"Use Proxy"</span> and fill in the appropriate info (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port:
64 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS proxy support too (sometimes labeled <span class=
65 "QUOTE">"Secure"</span>). Make sure any checkboxes like <span class="QUOTE">"Use the same proxy server for all
66 protocols"</span> is <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">UNCHECKED</i></span>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS
69 <a name="AEN815" id="AEN815"></a>
70 <p><b>Figure 3. Proxy Configuration Showing Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</b></p>
71 <div class="MEDIAOBJECT">
72 <p><img src="proxy2.jpg"></p>
75 <p>After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a re-reading of all pages and to get rid
76 of any ads that may be cached. Remove any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie" target=
77 "_top">cookies</a>, if you want <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to manage that. You are now ready to start
78 enjoying the benefits of using <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>!</p>
79 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> itself is typically started by specifying the main configuration file
80 to be used on the command line. If no configuration file is specified on the command line, <span class=
81 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will look for a file named <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> in the current directory.
82 Except on Win32 where it will try <tt class="FILENAME">config.txt</tt>.</p>
84 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="START-DEBIAN" id="START-DEBIAN">5.1. Debian</a></h2>
85 <p>We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> upon booting per
86 default. It will use the file <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/privoxy/config</tt> as its main configuration file.</p>
87 <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
90 <pre class="SCREEN"> # /etc/init.d/privoxy start</pre>
96 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="START-FREEBSD" id="START-FREEBSD">5.2. FreeBSD and ElectroBSD</a></h2>
97 <p>To start <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> upon booting, add "privoxy_enable='YES'" to <tt class=
98 "FILENAME">/etc/rc.conf</tt>. <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will use <tt class=
99 "FILENAME">/usr/local/etc/privoxy/config</tt> as its main configuration file.</p>
100 <p>If you installed <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> into a jail, the paths above are relative to the
102 <p>To start <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> manually, run:</p>
103 <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
106 <pre class="SCREEN"> # service privoxy onestart</pre>
112 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="START-WINDOWS" id="START-WINDOWS">5.3. Windows</a></h2>
113 <p>Click on the <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> Icon to start <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>.
114 If no configuration file is specified on the command line, <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will look for
115 a file named <tt class="FILENAME">config.txt</tt>. Note that Windows will automatically start <span class=
116 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> when the system starts if you chose that option when installing.</p>
117 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can run with full Windows service functionality. On Windows only, the
118 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
119 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> as a service. See the <a href=
120 "installation.html#INSTALLATION-PACK-WIN">Windows Installation instructions</a> for details.</p>
123 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="START-UNICES" id="START-UNICES">5.4. Generic instructions for Unix derivates (Solaris,
124 NetBSD, HP-UX etc.)</a></h2>
125 <p>Example Unix startup command:</p>
126 <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
129 <pre class="SCREEN"> # /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/config</pre>
133 <p>Note that if you installed <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> through a package manager, the package
134 will probably contain a platform-specific script or configuration file to start <span class=
135 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> upon boot.</p>
138 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="START-MACOSX" id="START-MACOSX">5.5. Mac OS X</a></h2>
139 <p>The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation (and thereafter every time your
140 computer starts up) however you will need to configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to
141 use a proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.</p>
142 <p>To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer starts up, remove or rename the
143 file <tt class="LITERAL">/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist</tt> (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the
144 folder named <tt class="LITERAL">/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</tt> (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').</p>
145 <p>To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the scripts startPrivoxy.sh and stopPrivoxy.sh supplied in
146 /Applications/Privoxy. They must be run from an administrator account, using sudo.</p>
149 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="CMDOPTIONS" id="CMDOPTIONS">5.6. Command Line Options</a></h2>
150 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> may be invoked with the following command-line options:</p>
153 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--config-test</i></span></p>
154 <p>Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to the listen address. The exit code signals
155 whether or not the configuration files have been successfully loaded.</p>
156 <p>If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files is invalid, if it is 0, all the
157 configuration files have been successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can currently only be
158 detected at run time).</p>
159 <p>This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with <span class="emphasis"><i class=
160 "EMPHASIS">--no-daemon</i></span> is recommended if a configured log file shouldn't be used.</p>
163 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--version</i></span></p>
164 <p>Print version info and exit. Unix only.</p>
167 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--help</i></span></p>
168 <p>Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.</p>
171 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--no-daemon</i></span></p>
172 <p>Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group leader, and don't detach from controlling
176 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--pidfile FILE</i></span></p>
177 <p>On startup, write the process ID to <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">FILE</i></span>. Delete the
178 <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">FILE</i></span> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
179 <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">FILE</i></span> is non-fatal. If no <span class=
180 "emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">FILE</i></span> option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.</p>
183 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--user USER[.GROUP]</i></span></p>
184 <p>After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of <span class="emphasis"><i class=
185 "EMPHASIS">USER</i></span>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the privileges are not sufficient to do
189 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--chroot</i></span></p>
190 <p>Before changing to the user ID given in the <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--user</i></span>
191 option, chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the <span class=
192 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can
193 limit the impact of possible vulnerabilities in <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to the files
194 contained in that hierarchy. Unix only.</p>
197 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</i></span></p>
198 <p>Specifies a hostname (for example www.privoxy.org) to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems,
199 initializing the resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
200 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces the number of files
201 that must be copied into the chroot tree.</p>
202 <p>For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that your local name
203 server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion (that is, without having to ask any other
204 name servers). The hostname need not exist, but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will
208 <p><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">configfile</i></span></p>
209 <p>If no <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">configfile</i></span> is included on the command line,
210 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will look for a file named <span class="QUOTE">"config"</span> in
211 the current directory (except on Win32 where it will look for <span class="QUOTE">"config.txt"</span>
212 instead). Specify full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found, <span class=
213 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> will fail to start.</p>
216 <p>On <span class="APPLICATION">MS Windows</span> only there are two additional command-line options to allow
217 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to install and run as a <span class="emphasis"><i class=
218 "EMPHASIS">service</i></span>. See the <a href="installation.html#INSTALLATION-PACK-WIN">Window Installation
219 section</a> for details.</p>
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