*
* Purpose : README file to give a short intro.
*
- * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 - 2006 the SourceForge
+ * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001-2009 the SourceForge
* Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
*
* Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
*
*********************************************************************/
-This README is included with the development version of Privoxy 3.0.5. See
-http://www.privoxy.org/ for more information. The current code maturity level
-is "BETA", but seems stable to us :).
+This README is included with Privoxy 3.0.12. See http://www.privoxy.org/ for
+more information. The current code maturity level is "stable".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
-privacy, modifying web page data, managing cookies, controlling access, and
-removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
-very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
-tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
+Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
+enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, controlling
+access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
+flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
+tastes. It has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
networks.
-Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
+Privoxy is Free Software and licensed under the GPL2.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. IMPORTANT CHANGES
-BIG NEWS! September 2006, Privoxy 3.0.5 is released. This is a significant
-upgrade with many new and enhanced features, and many bugs fixed. There are
-fifteen new actions available, and several actions have enhanced capabilities.
-Multiple filter files are now supported as well. See the "What's New" section
-and the "Upgrader's Notes" in the User Manual for details and specifics.
+March 2009, Privoxy 3.0.12 is released.
-There was and will not be an official 3.0.4 release. This release cycle was
-used to gather our thoughts, play with some new ideas and refine some old ones.
-It will remain a development cycle with no actual release. 3.0.5 is the fruit
-of these efforts.
+This is primarily a bug fix release. See the "ChangeLog", and the "What's New"
+section and the "Upgrader's Notes" in the User Manual for details.
-NEWS! January 2004, Privoxy 3.0.3 is released. This is the another maintenance
-release of Privoxy which fixes more bugs, further refines the configuration and
-works around some known third-party problems. See the ChangeLog for complete
-details. Upgrading from 3.0.2 is recommended.
+February 2009, Privoxy 3.0.11 is released.
+
+As usual there are changes that effect the configuration. See the "ChangeLog",
+and the "What's New" section and the "Upgrader's Notes" in the User Manual for
+details and specifics.
+
+This is a stable release, and marks a departure for Privoxy development.
+
+Previously, odd numbered releases were considered beta versions and were only
+released at the end of the development cycle when the code was already believed
+to be stable. Usually it was, so the stable release contained pretty much the
+same code, but got a higher version number. In the future we intend to release
+several snapshots between stable releases. There will probably still be about
+two stable releases per year, but hopefully about six snapshots instead of the
+two betas we have now. The intentions is to make testing without CVS access
+easier.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. RUN
privoxy [--help] [--version] [--no-daemon] [--pidfile PIDFILE] [--user USER
-[.GROUP]] [--chroot] [config_file]
+[.GROUP]] [--chroot] [--pre-chroot-nslookup HOSTNAME ][config_file]
See the man page or User Manual for an explanation of each option, and other
configuration and usage issues.
Or for Red Hat and Fedora based distributions: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
-Or Debian: /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+Or Debian and Ubuntu: /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.privoxy.org/user-manual/.
Be sure to set your browser(s) for HTTP/HTTPS Proxy at <IP>:<Port>, or whatever
-you specify in the config file under 'listen-address'. DEFAULT is localhost:
-8118. Note that Privoxy ONLY proxies HTTP (and HTTPS) traffic. Do not try it
-with FTP or other protocols for the simple reason it does not work.
+you specify in the config file under 'listen-address'. DEFAULT is
+localhost:8118. Note that Privoxy ONLY proxies HTTP (and HTTPS) traffic. Do not
+try it with FTP or other protocols for the simple reason it does not work.
The actions list can be configured via the web interface accessed via http://
p.p/, as well other options.
-All configuration files are subject to unannounced changes during the
-development process.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. DOCUMENTATION
-There should be documentation in the 'doc' subdirectory, but it may not be
-completed at this point. In particular, see the User Manual there, the FAQ, and
-those interested in Privoxy development, should look at developer-manual.
+There should be documentation in the 'doc' subdirectory. In particular, see the
+User Manual there, the FAQ, and those interested in Privoxy development, should
+look at developer-manual.
-The most up to date source of information on the current development version,
-may still be either comments in the source code, or the included configuration
-files. The source and configuration files are all well commented. The main
-configuration files are: 'config', 'default.action', and 'default.filter' in
-the top-level source directory.
+The source and configuration files are all well commented. The main
+configuration files are: 'config', 'default.action', and 'default.filter'.
Included documentation may vary according to platform and packager. All
documentation is posted on http://www.privoxy.org, in case you don't have it,
6.1. Get Support
-For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
+For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the users mailing
list, where the developers also hang around.
+Please don't sent private support requests to individual Privoxy developers,
+either use the mailing lists or the support trackers.
+
+Note that the Privoxy mailing lists are moderated. Posts from unsubscribed
+addresses have to be accepted manually by a moderator. This may cause a delay
+of several days and if you use a subject that doesn't clearly mention Privoxy
+or one of its features, your message may be accidentally discarded as spam.
+
+If you aren't subscribed, you should therefore spend a few seconds to come up
+with a proper subject. Additionally you should make it clear that you want to
+get CC'd. Otherwise some responses will be directed to the mailing list only,
+and you won't see them.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.2. Reporting Problems
* Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
function properly due to one Privoxy "action" or another being turned "on".
-
+
* "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
cause a crash.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
6.2.2. Reporting Bugs
-Please report all bugs only through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/
-tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
+Please report all bugs through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker
+/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has not already been submitted
and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form. If already
submitted, please feel free to add any info to the original report that might
-help solve the issue.
+help to solve the issue.
+
+Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug or
+documented behaviour that just happens to be different than what you expected.
+If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists.
-Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug
-first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists. If
-you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
-see if the problem is configuration related.
+If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
+see if the problem is configuration related. If you're having problems with a
+feature that is disabled by default, please ask around on the mailing list if
+others can reproduce the problem.
-If not using the latest version, the bug may have been found and fixed in the
-meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to upgrade to the
-latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your bug.
+If you aren't using the latest Privoxy version, the bug may have been found and
+fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
+upgrade to the latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify that
+your bug still exists.
Please be sure to provide the following information:
- * The exact Privoxy version of the proxy software (if you got the source from
- CVS, please also give the date).
-
- * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP).
-
+ * The exact Privoxy version you are using (if you got the source from CVS,
+ please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
+ config.privoxy.org/show-version).
+
+ * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
+ SP2), if you are using a Unix flavor, sending the output of "uname -a"
+ should do, in case of GNU/Linux, please also name the distribution.
+
* The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
Internet Explorer v5.5 for Mac).
-
+
* The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
- problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com?somethingelse=123).
-
- * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the developers of
- Privoxy via SourceForge, or somewhere else.
-
- * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as TOR. If
- so, please try disabling the other proxy.
-
+ problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123).
+
+ * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the Privoxy developers
+ via SourceForge, or if you got your copy somewhere else.
+
+ * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
+ so, please temporary disable the other proxy to see if the symptoms change.
+
* Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
without it?
-
+
* Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each action
taken).
-
- * Please provide your SF login, or email address, in case we need to contact
- you.
-
-The appendix of the user manual also has helpful information on understanding
-actions, and action debugging.
+
+You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem report, but
+please use a nickname so we can differentiate between your messages and the
+ones entered by other "anonymous" users that may respond to your request if
+they have the same problem or already found a solution.
+
+Please also check the status of your request a few days after submitting it, as
+we may request additional information. If you use a SF id, you should
+automatically get a mail when someone responds to your request.
+
+The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
+understanding actions, and action debugging.
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