*
* Purpose : README file to give a short intro.
*
- * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 - 2004 the SourceForge
+ * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001-2010 the
* Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
*
* Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
* The GNU General Public License should be included with
* this file. If not, you can view it at
* http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- * or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
- * Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+ * or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
+ * USA
*
*********************************************************************/
-This README is included with Privoxy 3.0.4-beta. The current code maturity
-level is "beta". Various changes and improvements are underway, and
-preparations are being made for an update of Privoxy. Please report any
-problems to the developers.
+This README is included with Privoxy 3.0.17. 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 content, 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 GNU GPLv2.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Privoxy is an associated project of Software in the Public Interest (SPI).
-1. IMPORTANT CHANGES
+Helping hands and donations are welcome:
+
+ * http://www.privoxy.org/faq/general.html#PARTICIPATE
-MORE 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.
+ * http://www.privoxy.org/faq/general.html#DONATE
-NEWS! March 2003, Privoxy 3.0.2 is released. This is the first maintenance
-release of Privoxy. There are no significant new features in this release. Some
-bugs are fixed, and some existing features have been enhanced. See ChangeLog
-for details. Upgrading from 3.0.0 is recommended.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1. IMPORTANT CHANGES
-REALLY BIG NEWS! August 2002: The long-awaited, oft-delayed stable version of
-Privoxy 3.0 is finally released! This is way behind schedule, but better late
-than never. The developers all hope the wait was worth it.
+November 2010, Privoxy 3.0.17 stable is released.
-NEWS! As of 03/24/02, the name of this project has been changed from ijbswa/
-Junkbuster to Privoxy. This is reflected in many of the included files.
+This is mainly a bug-fix release for the previously released Privoxy 3.0.16.
-WARNING! If upgrading from earlier versions of this project via RPM packages,
-the new package will delete any previously installed 'Junkbuster' packages.
+It contains fixes for two bugs that could cause connections to hang under
+certain circumstances when keep-alive support was enabled, until they timed
+out or where closed by the server.
-IMPORTANT! READ! Configuration Change as of 17 Mar 2002: The default listening
-port is now 8118 due to conflicts with port 8000 assignment. You will need to
-change your browser if upgrading!!! And maybe firewall, etc.
+As usual, there are also a bunch of minor improvements. For details please
+see the "ChangeLog", the "What's New" section or the "Upgrader's Notes" in
+the User Manual.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. INSTALL
-See the INSTALL file in this directory, for installing from source, and the
-User Manual, for other installation types.
+See the INSTALL file in this directory, for installing from raw source, and the
+User Manual, for all other installation types.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
file named 'config' in the current directory (except Win32 which will look for
'config.txt'). If no config_file is found, Privoxy will fail to start.
-Or for Red Hat based distributions: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
-
-Or for SuSE: /etc/rc.d/privoxy start
-
-Or Debian: /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. CONFIGURATION
-See: 'config', 'default.action', 'user.action', and 'default.filter'.
-'user.action' is for personal and local configuration preferences. These are
-all well commented. Most of the magic is in '*.action' files. 'user.action'
-should be used for any actions customizations. On Unix-like systems, these
-files are installed in /etc/privoxy. On Windows, then wherever the executable
-itself is installed. There are many significant changes and advances since
-Junkbuster v2.0.x. The User Manual has an explanation of all configuration
-options, and examples: http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/.
+See: 'config', 'default.action', 'user.action', 'default.filter', and
+'user.filter'. 'user.action' and 'user.filter' are for personal and local
+configuration preferences. These are all well commented. Most of the magic is
+in '*.action' files. 'user.action' should be used for any actions
+customizations. On Unix-like systems, these files are typically installed in /
+etc/privoxy. On Windows, then wherever the executable itself is installed.
+There are many significant changes and advances from earlier versions. The User
+Manual has an explanation of all configuration options, and examples: http://
+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
+127.0.0.1:8118. 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://
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
+
+"Problems" for our purposes, come in two forms:
+
+ * 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
+
+Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images that were
+blocked, sites that don't work properly, and other configuration related
+problem of default.action file, to http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=
+11118&atid=460288, the Actions File Tracker.
+
+New, improved default.action files may occasionally be made available based on
+your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
+available from our the files section of our project page.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6.2. Report Bugs
+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.
+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 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.
-The appendix of the user manual also has helpful information on action
-debugging. 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, chances are that the bug has been found and
+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 your
-bug, but this is not required for reporting.
+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 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 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). To get a meaningful logfile, please make sure that the logfile
+ directive is being used and the following debug options are enabled:
+
+ debug 1 # Log the destination for each request Privoxy let through. See also debug 1024.
+ debug 2 # show each connection status
+ debug 4 # show I/O status
+ debug 8 # show header parsing
+ debug 128 # debug redirects
+ debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
+ debug 512 # Common Log Format
+ debug 1024 # Log the destination for requests Privoxy didn't let through, and the reason why.
+ debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
+ debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
+
+ If you are having trouble with a filter, please additionally enable
+
+ debug 64 # debug regular expression filters
+
+ If you are using Privoxy 3.0.17 or later and suspect that it interprets the
+ request or the response incorrectly, please enable
+
+ debug 32768 # log all data read from the network
+
+ Note that Privoxy log files may contain sensitive information so please
+ don't submit any logfiles you didn't read first. You can mask sensitive
+ information as long as it's clear that you removed something.
+
+You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem report, but if
+you don't, 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. Note that
+due to spam the trackers may not always allow to post without being logged into
+SourceForge. If that's the case, you are still free to create a login that
+isn't directly linked to your name, though.
+
+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. Please don't
+bother to add an email address when using the tracker. If you prefer to
+communicate through email, just use one of the mailing lists directly.
+
+The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
+understanding actions, and action debugging.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6.5. Other
+6.4. Mailing Lists
-For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists. Technically
-interested users and people who wish to contribute to the project are also
-welcome on the developers list! You can find an overview of all Privoxy-related
+If you prefer to communicate through email, instead of using a web interface,
+feel free to use one of the mailing lists. To discuss issues that haven't been
+completely diagnosed yet, please use the Privoxy users list. Technically
+interested users and people who wish to contribute to the project are always
+welcome on the developers list. You can find an overview of all Privoxy-related
mailing lists, including list archives, at: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?
group_id=11118.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff