<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "3.0.4">
-<!entity p-status "beta">
-<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
-<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
+<!entity p-version "3.0.8">
+<!entity p-status "stable">
+<!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
+<!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
<!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
<!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
<!entity % p-supp-userman "INCLUDE"> <!-- Include all from supported.sgml -->
<!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
+<!entity % p-newstuff "INCLUDE"> <!-- exclude stuff from devel versions -->
+<!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
]>
<!--
File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/faq.sgml,v $
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: faq.sgml,v 2.15 2006/09/08 23:05:07 hal9 Exp $
+ $Id: faq.sgml,v 2.38 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9 Exp $
- Copyright (C) 2001-2006 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2008 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
Based partially on the Internet Junkbuster FAQ originally written by and
<subscript>
<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
- <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2006 by
- <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2008 by
+ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.15 2006/09/08 23:05:07 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.38 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
<para>
This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
<ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
- It can't and doesn't replace the
- <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
+ It is not a substitute for the
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
<!--
This works, at least in some situtations:
Test: <ulink url="privoxy-user-manual.pdf"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
</para>
<!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
- &p-intro;
+ <para>What is Privoxy?</para> &p-intro;
<!-- end boilerplate -->
<para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="who-uses"><title>Who should give &my-app; a try?</title>
+ <para>
+ Anyone who is interested in security, privacy, or in
+ finer-grained control over their web and Internet experience.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="bestchoice"><title>Is Privoxy the best choice for
+me?</title>
+ <para>
+ &my-app; is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more
+ control and security. Those with the willingness to read the documentation
+ and the ability to fine-tune their installation will benefit the most.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ One of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ strengths is that it is highly configurable giving you the ability to
+ completely personalize your installation. Being familiar with, or at least
+ having an interest in learning about <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http">HTTP</ulink> and other networking
+ protocols, <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html">HTML</ulink>, and
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink>
+ will be a big plus and will help you get the most out of &my-app;.
+ A new installation just includes a very basic configuration. The user
+ should take this as a starting point only, and enhance it as he or she
+ sees fit. In fact, the user is encouraged, and expected to, fine-tune the
+ configuration.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Much of <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration can be done
+ with a <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser">Web browser</ulink>.
+ But there are areas where configuration is done using a
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editors">text editor</ulink>
+ to edit configuration files. Also note that the web-based action editor
+ doesn't use authentication and should only be enabled in environments
+ where all clients with access to &my-app; listening port can be trusted.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
+Privoxy work? </title>
+ <para>
+ A <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">web proxy</ulink>
+ is a service, based on a software such as
+ <application>Privoxy</application>, that clients (i.e. browsers) can use
+ instead of connecting directly to web servers on the Internet. The
+ clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects they need (web pages,
+ images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy has done so, it
+ hands the results back to the client. It is a <quote>go-between</quote>. See
+ the <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">Wikipedia proxy
+ definition</ulink> for more.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
+ efficiency (caching) and others, and there are any number of proxies
+ to accommodate those needs.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is a proxy that is primarily focused on privacy
+ protection, ad and junk elimination and freeing the user from restrictions placed on his
+ activities. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
+ it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
+ browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
+ this, all of which are under your complete control via the various configuration
+ files and options. Being a proxy also makes it easier to share
+ configurations among multiple browsers and/or users.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherstuff">
+<title>Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?</title>
+ <para>
+ Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways &my-app;
+ can be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
+</para>
+</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of
-<emphasis>Junkbuster</emphasis>?</title>
+<quote><citetitle>Junkbuster</citetitle></quote>?</title>
<!-- Include history.sgml -->
&history;
<title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why change the name from
Junkbuster at all?</title>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
+
Though outdated, <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
continues to offer their original version of the <application>Internet
Junkbuster</application>, so publishing our
<application> Junkbuster</application>-derived software under the same name
led to confusion.
</para>
<para>
- There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
+ There are also potential legal complications from our use of the
<application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
<ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
</para>
</sect2>
-
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does Privoxy differ
from the old Junkbuster?</title>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
<application>Junkbuster</application> left off. All the old features remain.
The new <application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
- still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
- all greatly enhanced, and many, many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
+ still manages <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>, and still
+ helps protect your privacy. But, most of these features have been enhanced,
+ and many new ones have been added, all in the same vein.
</para>
- <para>
- The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
- users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
- <application>Junkbuster</application> 2.0.x. The <quote>blocklist</quote>
- <quote>cookielist</quote>, <quote>imagelist</quote> and much more has been
- combined into the <quote>actions</quote> files, with a completely different
- syntax. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/whatsnew.html">What's New</ulink>
- page for the latest updates.
-</para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
-Privoxy work? </title>
- <para>
- A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as <application>Privoxy</application>,
- that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web
- servers on the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects
- they need (web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy
- has done so, it hands the results back to the client.
- </para>
- <para>
- There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
- efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
- to accommodate those needs.
- </para>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> is a proxy that is primarily focused on privacy
- protection, junk elimination and freeing the user from restrictions placed on his
- activities. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
- it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
- browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
- this, all of which are under your control via the various configuration
- files and options.
- </para>
-</sect2>
-
-
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whatsanad">
<title id="knows">How does Privoxy know what is
an ad, and what is not?</title>
and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
- patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for banners.
+ patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for things that sound
+ like they would be ads or banners.
</para>
<para>
Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
</para>
<para>
Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
- configurable.
+ and readily configurable.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect2>
-
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="configornot">Will I have to configure Privoxy
before I can use it?</title>
<para>
- No, not really. The default installation should give you a good starting
- point, and block <emphasis>most</emphasis> unwanted content.
+ That depends on your expectations.
+ The default installation should give you a good starting
+ point, and block <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads and unwanted content,
+ but many of the more advanced features are off by default, and require
+ you to activate them.
+</para>
+<para>
+ You do have to set up your browser to use
+ <application>Privoxy</application> (see the <link
+ linkend="firststep">Installation section below</link>).
</para>
<para>
- But you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives,
+ And you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives,
or ads not being blocked that you may not want to see. In these cases, you
would certainly benefit by customizing <application>Privoxy's</application>
- configuration to more closely match your individual situation. And we would
+ configuration to more closely match your individual situation. And we
encourage you to do this. This is where the real power of
<application>Privoxy</application> lies!
</para>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="lan">
+<title>Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?</title>
+ <para>
+ Yes, &my-app; runs as a server already, and can easily be configured to
+ <quote>serve</quote> more than one client. See <link linkend="lanconfig">
+ How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN</link> below.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
-Privoxy. Why should I use
-Privoxy at all?</title>
+Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at all?</title>
<para>
Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
functionality as <application>Privoxy</application>. Maybe this is
- adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is much more
- versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
+ adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is very
+ versatile and powerful, and can probably do a number of things
+ your browser just can't.
</para>
<para>
In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
- have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
- is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
- for possibly many browsers.
+ have a LAN with multiple computers since &my-app; can run as a server
+ application. This way all the configuration is in one place, and you don't
+ have to maintain a similar configuration for possibly many browsers or
+ users.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note, however, that it's recommended to leverage both your browser's
+ and <application>Privoxy's</application> privacy enhancing features
+ at the same time. While your browser probably lacks some features
+ &my-app; offers, it should also be able to do some things more
+ reliable, for example restricting and suppressing JavaScript.
</para>
</sect2>
-
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whytrust"><title>Why should I trust Privoxy?</title>
+ <para>
+ The most important reason is because you have access to
+ <emphasis>everything</emphasis>, and you can control everything. You can
+ check every line of every configuration file yourself. You can check every
+ last bit of source code should you desire. And even if you can't read code,
+ there should be some comfort in knowing that <!-- thousands of -->other people can,
+ and do read it. You can build the software from scratch, if you want,
+ so that you know the executable is clean, and that it is
+ <emphasis>yours</emphasis>. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It
+ is one reason we use &my-app; ourselves.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
warranty? Registration?</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> is licensed under the <ulink
- url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</ulink>.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is
free software and licensed under the <ulink
+ url="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2</ulink>.
It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
<para>
There is <emphasis>no warranty</emphasis> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
- <application>Privoxy</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
- in every respect!
</para>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="spyware">
+<title>Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?</title>
+<para>
+ No, at least not reliably enough to trust it. &my-app; is not designed to be
+ a malware removal tool and the default configuration doesn't even try to
+ filter out any malware.
+</para>
+<para>
+ &my-app; could help prevent contact from (known) sites that use such
+ tactics with appropriate configuration rules, and thus could conceivably
+ prevent contamination from such sites. However, keeping such a configuration
+ up to date would require a lot of time and effort that would be better spend
+ on keeping your software itself up to date so it doesn't have known
+ vulnerabilities.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherads">
+<title>Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?</title>
+<para>
+ &my-app; should work fine with other proxies and other software in general.
+</para>
+<para>
+ But it is probably not necessary to use &my-app; in conjunction with other
+ ad-blocking products, and this could conceivably cause undesirable results.
+ It might be better to choose one software or the other and work a little to
+ tweak its configuration to your liking.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Note that this is an advice specific to ad blocking.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what can I do?</title>
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>Would you like to participate?</title>
url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>, at least
the pertinent sections.
</para>
-<para>
- Once we have added you to the team, you'll have access to the <ulink
- url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">CVS repository</ulink>, and
- together we'll find a suitable task for you.
-</para>
+ You can also start helping out without SourceForge.net account,
+ simply by showing up on the mailing list, helping out other users,
+ providing general feedback or reporting problems you noticed.
+ </para>
</sect3>
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-money"><title>Contribute!</title>
buying software to test <application>Privoxy</application> with, and, of course,
for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
like helping us with a donation, just <ulink
- url="mailto: ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net">drop us a note</ulink>.
+ url="mailto: ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net">drop us a note</ulink>
+ and get your name on the list of contributors.
</para>
</sect3>
Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
should be virtually all browsers, including
<application>Firefox</application>, <application>Internet
- Explorer</application>, and <application>Opera</application> among others.
+ Explorer</application>, <application>Opera</application>, and
+ <application>Safari</application> among others.
Direct browser support is not an absolute requirement since
<application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and talks
to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
</para>
</sect2>
+<!-- Nobody is going to still be doing this!
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
Privoxy over Junkbuster?</title>
<para>
files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
to upgraders</ulink> and <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">installation
- chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>
+ chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User Manual</ulink>
for details.
</para>
<para>
</para>
</sect2>
+-->
-<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="firststep">I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="firststep">
+<title>I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
special I have to do now?</title>
<para>
- All browsers
must be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
+ All browsers
should be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
- in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. See below.
- You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any
- cached junk items, and remove any stored cookies.
+ in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. It's possible
+ to combine &my-app; with a packet filter to intercept HTTP requests
+ even if the client isn't explicitly configured to use &my-app;,
+ but where possible, configuring the client is recommended. See
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/startup.html">the User Manual for more
+ details</ulink>. You should also flush your browser's memory and disk
+ cache to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove any stored
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
-
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of Privoxy?</title>
<para>
If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
(sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
- to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have <application>Privoxy</application>
- to run on a different port with the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink> config option).
+ to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you used the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink>
+ config option to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
+ a different port).
</para>
<para>
When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
<application>Privoxy</application> can also be used to proxy for
a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
address of the LAN host where <application>Privoxy</application>
- is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
- same as above. Note that <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't
- listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
+ is running, or the equivalent hostname, e.g. <literal>192.168.1.1</literal>.
+ Port assignment would be same as above. Note that
+ <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't listen on any LAN interfaces by
+ default.
</para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
- any other protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, etc. Be sure that
- proxying any of these other protocols is not activated.
+ any other protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, etc.
</para>
</sect2>
on starting <application>Privoxy</application> and browser configuration,
see the <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/startup.html">chapter
on starting <application>Privoxy</application></ulink> in the
- <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">user manual</ulink>.
+ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">User Manual</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
should see the <application>Privoxy</application> main page. If not, see
the <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/startup.html">chapter
on starting <application>Privoxy</application></ulink> in the
- <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">user manual</ulink>.
+ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">User Manual</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
<guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Cache</guibutton> and
then click both <quote><guibutton>Clear Memory Cache</guibutton></quote>
and <quote><guibutton>Clear Disk Cache</guibutton></quote>.
- And, <application>Firefox</application> users would click
+ In some <application>Firefox</application> versions it's
<guibutton>Tools</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -->
<guibutton>Privacy</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Cache</guibutton> and
then click <quote><guibutton>Clear Cache Now</guibutton></quote>.
-
+ <!-- In my Firefox versions it's the Netscape way. fk 2007-11-19-->
</para>
</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
-
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="getupdates"><title>Where can I get updated Actions Files?</title>
- <para>
- Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updated actions files will be
- made available on the <ulink
- url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">files section</ulink> of
- our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project page</ulink>.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
- <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
- url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
- to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
- </para>
-
-</sect2>
-
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
- <para>
- The syntax and purpose of configuration files has remained the same
- throughout the 3.x series. Although each release contains updated,
- <quote>improved</quote> versions and it is recommended to use the newer
- configuration files.
- </para>
- <para>
- But all configuration files have substantially
- changed from the <application>Junkbuster</application> days, and early
- versions of <application>Privoxy 2.x</application>. The old files, like
- <filename>blocklist</filename> will not work at all.
- </para>
- <para>
- Refer to the <ulink url="../user-manual/whatsnew.html">What's New</ulink>
- page for information on configuration changes that may occur from one release to another.
- </para>
-</sect2>
-
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="actionsfile">What is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
+<title id="actionsfile">What exactly is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
<para>
+ &my-app; utilizes the concept of <quote>
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink></quote>
+ that are used to manipulate and control web page data.
<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
- are where
various <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
+ are where
these <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
that <application>Privoxy</application> could take while processing a certain
request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
- that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
+ that apply globally to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
There is a wide array of actions available that give the user a high degree
of control and flexibility on how to process each and every web page.
</para>
for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
- if you are blocking cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept
- cookies from a given site, you would need to define an exception for this
- site in one of your actions files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>.
+ if you are blocking <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
+ as one of your default actions, but need to accept cookies from a given site,
+ you would need to define an exception for this site in one of your actions
+ files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>.
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
to the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions file
- chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
-
manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
+ chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User
+
Manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">list of all actions</ulink>
and an <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions
file tutorial</ulink> to get you started.
at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
(Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
<quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
- change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu.
+ change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu. Note
+ that this feature must be explicitly enabled in the main config file
+ (see <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>).
</para>
</sect2>
<title>There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
the differences?</title>
<para>
- As of <application>Privoxy</application> v2.9.15, three actions files
- are being included, to be used for
+ Three actions files
+ are being included by the developers, to be used for
different purposes: These are
<filename>default.action</filename>, the <quote>main</quote> actions file
which is actively maintained by the <application>Privoxy</application>
- developers, <filename>user.action</filename>, where users are encouraged
+ developers and typically sets the default policies, <filename>user.action</filename>, where users are encouraged
to make their private customizations, and <filename>standard.action</filename>,
which is for internal <application>Privoxy</application> use only.
Please see <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the actions chapter</ulink>
- in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
+ in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User Manual</ulink> for a more
detailed explanation.
</para>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="getupdates"><title>Where can I get updated Actions Files?</title>
+ <para>
+ Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updates of
+ <filename>default.action</filename> will be
+ made available from time to time on the <ulink
+ url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">files section</ulink> of
+ our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project page</ulink>.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
+ <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
+ url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
+ to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
+ </para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
+ <para>
+ The syntax and purpose of configuration files has remained roughly the
+ same throughout the 3.x series, but backwards compatibility is not guaranteed.
+ Also each release contains updated, <quote>improved</quote> versions and it is
+ therefore strongly recommended to install the newer configuration files
+ and merge back your modifications.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="difficult">
+<title>Why is the configuration so complicated?</title>
+ <para>
+ <quote>Complicated</quote> is in the eye of the beholder. Those that are
+ familiar with some of the underlying concepts, such as regular expression
+ syntax, take to it like a fish takes to water. Also, software that tries
+ hard to be <quote>user friendly</quote>, often lacks sophistication and
+ flexibility. There is always that trade-off there between power vs.
+ easy-of-use. Furthermore, anyone is welcome to contribute ideas and
+ implementations to enhance &my-app;.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?</title>
<para>
The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
- It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser will forget your
+ It may, however, make all <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
+ temporary, so that your browser will forget your
login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
for them in the <filename>user.action</filename> file. An example for yahoo might
{ -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink> }
.login.yahoo.com</screen>
</para>
+ <para>
+ These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> and
+ thus <quote>fragile</quote>. So if <emphasis>still</emphasis> a problem,
+ we have an <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</ulink> just for such
+ sticky situations:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Gmail is a _fragile_ site:
+#
+{ <literal>fragile</literal> }
+ # Gmail is ...
+ mail.google.com</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Be sure to flush your browser's caches whenever making these kinds of
+ changes, just to make sure the changes <quote>take</quote>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Make sure the domain, host and path are appropriate as well. Your browser can
+ tell you where you are specifically and you should use that information for
+ your configuration settings. Note that above it is not referenced as
+ <literal>gmail.com</literal>, which is a valid domain name.
+ </para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
-<quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Adventuresome</quote> defaults?</title>
+<quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Advanced</quote> defaults?</title>
<para>
Configuring <application>Privoxy</application> is not entirely trivial. To
help you get started, we provide you with three different default action
Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more exceptions
- you will have to make later. See the <ulink
+ you will have to make later. New users are best to start off in
+ <quote>Cautious</quote> setting. This is safest and will have the fewest
+ problems. See the <ulink
url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>
for a more detailed discussion.
</para>
<para>
- It should be noted that the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> profile (formerly known
- as the <quote>Advanced</quote> profile) is not only more
- aggressive, but also includes fun and, extreme usage of most of
- <application>Privoxy's</application> features. Use at your own risk!
+ It should be noted that the <quote>Advanced</quote> profile (formerly known
+ as the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> profile) is more
+ aggressive, and will make use of some of
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> advanced features. Use at your own risk!
</para>
</sect2>
When you use the browser-based editor, <application>Privoxy</application>
itself is writing to the config files. Because
<application>Privoxy</application> is running as the user <quote>privoxy</quote>,
- it can update the config files.
+ it can update its own config files.
</para>
<para>
If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
- a LAN), you will probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle
- features off by setting <quote><literal><ulink
+ a LAN) or aren't entirely in control of your own browser, you will probably want
+ to make sure that the the web-based editor and remote toggle features are
+ <quote>off</quote> by setting <quote><literal><ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE">enable-remote-toggle</ulink>
0</literal></quote> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
- Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
- <quote>localhost</quote>) can connect to <application>Privoxy</application>,
- so this is not (normally) a security problem.
+ As of &my-app; 3.0.7 these options are disabled by default.
</para>
</sect2>
<title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file? What is a <quote>filter</quote>?</title>
<para>
The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
- file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> as supplied by the developers are defined.
+ file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> as supplied by the developers are defined.
Filters are a special subset of actions that can be used to modify or
- remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to <emphasis>anything</emphasis>
- in the page source (and optionally both client and server headers), including
- HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used to accomplish this.
+ remove web page content or headers on the fly. Content filters can
+ be applied to <emphasis>anything</emphasis> in the page source,
+ header filters can be applied to either server or client headers.
+ Regular expressions are used to accomplish this.
+</para>
+<para>
There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common annoyances. The
filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
<ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"><literal>filter</literal>
- action</ulink> in one of the actions files. Filtering is automatically
- disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
+ action</ulink> in one of the actions files. Content filtering is automatically
+ disabled for inappropriate MIME types, but if you now better than Privoxy
+ what should or should not be filtered you can filter any content you like.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Filters should
+ <emphasis>not</emphasis> be confused with <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><literal>blocks</literal></ulink>, which
+ is a completely different action, and is more typically used to block ads and
+ unwanted sites.
</para>
<para>
If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
- requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP. You should
+ requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
+ <![%p-newstuff;[ You should
place any modifications to the default filters, or any new ones you create
in a separate file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>, so they won't
- be overwritten during upgrades. The ability to define multiple filter files
- in <filename>config</filename> is a new feature as of v. 3.0.4.
+ be overwritten during upgrades.
+ The ability to define multiple filter files
+ in <filename>config</filename> is a new feature as of v. 3.0.5.]]>
</para>
<para>
but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
<filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
+ Note that the custom actions editor must be explicitly enabled in
+ the main config file (see <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you intend to develop your own filters, you might want to have a look at
+ <ulink
+ url="http://www.fabiankeil.de/sourcecode/pft/">Privoxy-Filter-Test</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="lanconfig">How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="lanconfig">
+<title>How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
LAN?</title>
<para>
By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
- <filename>
default.action</filename> file, or trough the <ulink
+ <filename>
user.action</filename> file, or through the <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
</para>
<title id="whyseeum">Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</title>
<para>
Remember that <link linkend="whatsanad">telling which image is an ad and which
- isn't</link>, is mostly guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration
- is rather smart, it can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually
- decent, but it shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very
+ isn't</link>, is an educated guess. While we hope that the standard configuration
+ is rather smart, it will make occasional mistakes. The checkerboard image is visually
+ decent, and it shows you where images have been blocked, which can be very
helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
- erroneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
- they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see..
+ erroneously blocked. It is recommended for new users so they can
+ <quote>see</quote> what is happening. Some people might also enjoy seeing how
+ many banners they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced by a text
+<title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced with text
instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
<para>
This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
<title>Can Privoxy run as a service
on Win2K/NT/XP?</title>
<para>
- Yes. Version 3.0.4 introduces full <application>Windows</application> service
+<![%p-newstuff;[
+ Yes. Version 3.0.5 introduces full <application>Windows</application> service
functionality. See <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html#installation-pack-win">
- the User Manual</ulink> for details on how to install and configure
+ the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink> for details on how to install and configure
<application>Privoxy</application> as a service.
-</para>
+</para>
<para>
- Earlier versions could run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
+ Earlier ]]>3.x versions could run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
See the discussion at <ulink
url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118</ulink>,
for details, and a sample configuration.
<application>Privoxy</application> with those of a another proxy.
See the <ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
- in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> which
- describes how to do this.
+ in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User Manual</ulink> which
+ describes how to do this, and the <link linkend="TOR">
+ How do I use Privoxy together with
+ Tor</link> section below.
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds
- of proxies known as <quote>transparent</quote> proxies (see below).
+ of proxies known as <quote>intercepting</quote> proxies (see below).
</para>
</sect2>
<title>Can Privoxy run as a <quote>transparent
</quote> proxy?</title>
<para>
- No, <application>Privoxy</application> currently does not have this ability,
- though it may be added in a future release. Transparent proxies require
- special handling of the request headers beyond what
- <application>Privoxy</application> is now capable of.
+ The whole idea of Privoxy is to modify client requests
+ and server responses in all sorts of ways and therefore
+ it's not a transparent proxy as described in
+ <ulink url="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616">RFC 2616</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ However, some people say <quote>transparent proxy</quote> when they
+ mean <quote>intercepting proxy</quote>. If you are one of them,
+ please read the <ulink url="#intercepting">next entry</ulink>.
</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="intercepting">
+<title>Can Privoxy run as a <quote>intercepting</quote> proxy?</title>
<para>
- Chaining <application>Privoxy</application> behind another proxy that has
- this ability should work though.
- See the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
- in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>. As
- a transparent proxy to be used for chaining we recommend Transproxy
- (<ulink url="http://transproxy.sourceforge.net/">http://transproxy.sourceforge.net/</ulink>).
+ <application>Privoxy</application> can't intercept traffic itself,
+ but it can handle requests that where intercepted and redirected
+ with a packet filter (like <application>PF</application> or
+ <application>iptables</application>), as long as the <literal>Host</literal>
+ header is present.
+ </para>
+<para>
+ As the <literal>Host</literal> header is required by HTTP/1.1 and as most
+ web sites rely on it anyway, this limitation shouldn't be a problem.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Please refer to your packet filter's documentation to learn how to
+ intercept and redirect traffic into <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ Afterward you just have to configure <application>Privoxy</application> to
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCEPT-INTERCEPTED-REQUESTS">accept
+ intercepted requests</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
</para>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="sneaky-cookies">
+<title>I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?</title>
+<para>
+ <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Cookies</ulink> can be
+ set in several ways. The classic method is via the
+ <literal>Set-Cookie</literal> HTTP header. This is straightforward, and an
+ easy one to manipulate, such as the &my-app; concept of
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink>.
+ There is also the possibility of using
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> to
+ set cookies (&my-app; calls these <literal>content-cookies</literal>). This
+ is trickier because the syntax can vary widely, and thus requires a certain
+ amount of guesswork. It is not realistic to catch all of these short of
+ disabling Javascript, which would break many sites. And lastly, if the
+ cookies are embedded in a HTTPS/SSL secure session via Javascript, they are beyond
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> reach.
+</para>
+<para>
+ All in all, &my-app; can help manage cookies in general, can help minimize
+ the loss of privacy posed by cookies, but can't realistically stop all
+ cookies.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="evil-cookies">
+<title>Are all cookies bad? Why?</title>
+<para>
+ No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of
+ <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>. Cookies are just a
+ method that browsers can use to store data between pages, or between browser
+ sessions. Sometimes there is a good reason for this, and the user's life is a
+ bit easier as a result. But there is a long history of some websites taking
+ advantage of this layer of trust, and using the data they glean from you and
+ your browsing habits for their own purposes, and maybe to your potential
+ detriment. Such sites are using you and storing their data on your system.
+ That is why the privacy conscious watch from whom those cookies come, and why
+ they really <emphasis>need</emphasis> to be there.
+</para>
+<para>
+ See the
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Wikipedia cookie
+ definition</ulink> for more.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="allow-cookies">
<title>How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?</title>
There are several actions that relate to cookies. The default behavior is to
allow only <quote>session cookies</quote>, which means the cookies only last
for the current browser session. This eliminates most kinds of abuse related
- to cookies. But there may be cases where we want cookies to last.
+ to cookies. But there may be cases where you want cookies to last.
</para>
<para>
To disable all cookie actions, so that cookies are allowed unrestricted,
.example.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Place the above in <filename>user.action</filename>. Note some of these may
+ Place the above in <filename>user.action</filename>. Note that some of these may
be off by default anyway, so this might be redundant, but there is no harm
being explicit in what you want to happen. <filename>user.action</filename>
includes an alias for this situation, called
Each instance of <application>Privoxy</application> has its own
configuration, including such attributes as the TCP port that it listens on.
What you can do is run multiple instances of <application>Privoxy</application>, each with
- a unique <literal>listen-address</literal> and configuration path, and then
+ a unique
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink>
+ configuration setting, and configuration path, and then
each of these can have their own configurations. Think of it as per-port
configuration.
</para>
<title>Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of
<quote>good</quote> sites?</title>
<para>
- Sure. There are a couple of things you can do for simple whitelisting.
+ Sure. There are a couple of things you can do for simple white-listing.
Here's one real easy one:
</para>
<screen>
toys.example.com
games.example.com</screen>
<para>
- This allows access to only those three sites.
+ This allows access to only those three sites by first blocking all URLs, and
+ then subsequently allowing three specific exceptions.
</para>
<para>
- A
more interesting approach is <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ A
nother approach is <application>Privoxy's</application>
<literal>trustfile</literal> concept, which incorporates the notion of
<quote>trusted referrers</quote>. See the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/config.html#TRUSTFILE">User Manual Trust</ulink>
- documentation.
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#TRUSTFILE">Trust documentation</ulink>
+ for details.
</para>
<para>
These are fairly simple approaches and are not completely foolproof. There
</para>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="no-adblock">
+<title>How can I turn off ad-blocking?</title>
+<para>
+ Ad blocking is achieved through a complex application of various &my-app;
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions</ulink>. These
+ actions are deployed against simple images, banners, flash animations,
+ text pages, JavaScript, pop-ups and pop-unders, etc., so its not as simple as
+ just turning one or two actions off. The various actions that make up
+ &my-app; ad blocking are hard-coded into the default configuration files. It
+ has been assumed that everyone using &my-app; is interested in this
+ particular feature.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If you want to do without this, there are several approaches you can take:
+ You can manually undo the many block rules in
+ <filename>default.action</filename>. Or even easier, just create your own
+ <filename>default.action</filename> file from scratch without the many ad
+ blocking rules, and corresponding exceptions. Or lastly, if you are not
+ concerned about the additional blocks that are done for privacy reasons, you
+ can very easily over-ride <emphasis>all</emphasis> blocking with the
+ following very simple rule in your <filename>user.action</filename>:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ # Unblock everybody, everywhere
+ { <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
+ / # UN-Block *all* URLs</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Or even a more comprehensive reversing of various ad related actions:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # Unblock everybody, everywhere, and turn off appropriate filtering, etc
+ { <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> \
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">-filter{banners-by-size}</ulink> \
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">-filter{banners-by-link}</ulink> \
+ <literal>allow-popups</literal> \
+ }
+ / # UN-Block *all* URLs and allow ads</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ This last <quote>action</quote> in this compound statement,
+ <literal>allow-popups</literal>, is an <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</ulink> that disables
+ various pop-up blocking features.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="templates">
+<title>How can I have custom template pages, like the
+<emphasis>BLOCKED</emphasis> page?</title>
+<para>
+ &my-app; <quote>templates</quote> are specialized text files utilized by
+ &my-app; for various purposes and can easily be modified using any text
+ editor. All the template pages are installed in a sub-directory appropriately
+ named: <filename>templates</filename>. Knowing something about HTML syntax
+ will of course be helpful.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Be forewarned that the default templates are subject to being overwritten
+ during upgrades. You can, however, create completely new templates,
+ place them in another directory and specify the alternate path in the main
+ <filename>config</filename>. For details, have a look at the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#templdir">templdir</ulink> option.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blockall">
+<title>How can I remove the <quote>Go There Anyway</quote> link from
+the <emphasis>BLOCKED</emphasis> page?</title>
+<para>
+ There is more than one way to do it (although Perl is not involved).
+</para>
+<para>
+ Editing the BLOCKED template page (see above) may dissuade some users, but
+ this method is easily circumvented. Where you need this level of control, you
+ might want to build &my-app; from source, and disable various features that are
+ available as compile-time options. You should
+ <command>configure</command> the sources as follows:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ ./configure --disable-toggle --disable-editor --disable-force</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ This will create an executable with hard-coded security features so that
+ &my-app; does not allow easy bypassing of blocked sites, or changing the
+ current configuration via any connected user's web browser.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Finally, all of these features can also be toggled on/off via options in
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> main <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">config</ulink> file which
+ means you don't have to recompile anything.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<para>
How much of an impact depends on many things, including the CPU of the host
system, how aggressive the configuration is, which specific actions are being triggered,
- the size of the page, etc.
+ the size of the page, the bandwidth of the connection, etc.
</para>
<para>
Overall, it should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
- speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not typically being displayed.
- The actual processing time required by <application>Privoxy</application>
- itself for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things,
- and happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
- not downloading and rendering ad images (if ad blocking is being used).
+ speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not typically being
+ retrieved and displayed. The actual processing time required by
+ <application>Privoxy</application> itself for each page, is relatively small
+ in the overall scheme of things, and happens very quickly. This is typically
+ more than offset by time saved not downloading and rendering ad images and
+ other junk content (if ad blocking is being used).
</para>
<para>
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> or
<literal><ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
- actions will certainly cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document
- needs to be buffered before displaying. And on very large documents, there may be
- some impact. How much depends on the page size, the actual definition of the
- filter(s), etc. See below. Most other actions have little to no impact on
- speed.
+ actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document
+ needs to be buffered before displaying. And on very large documents,
+ filtering may have some measurable impact. How much depends on the page size,
+ the actual definition of the filter(s), etc. See below. Most other actions
+ have little to no impact on speed.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Also, when filtering is enabled but zlib support isn't available, compression
+ is often disabled (see <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</ulink>).
+ This can have an impact on speed as well, although it's probably smaller than
+ you might think. Again, the page size, etc. will determine how much of an impact.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I notice considerable
-delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
+delays in page requests. What's wrong?</title>
<para>
If you use any <literal><ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
more noticeable on slower dialup connections. Extremely large documents
may have some impact on the time to load the page where there is filtering
being done. But overall, the difference should be very minimal. If there is a
- big impact, then probably some other problem is contributing.
+ big impact, then probably some other situation is contributing (like
+ anti-virus software).
</para>
<para>
Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types. But note
to differentiate filterable content because of the MIME type as reported by
the server, or because of some configuration setting that enables/disables
filtering.
-
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="slowcrawl">
-<title>I just installed Privoxy, and all my
-browsing has slowed to a crawl. What gives? </title>
-<para>
- This should not happen, and for the overwhelming number of users world-wide,
- it does not happen. I would suspect some inadvertent interaction of software
- components such as anti-virus software, spyware protectors, personal
- firewalls or similar components. Try disabling (or uninstalling) these one
- at a time and see if that helps.
</para>
</sect2>
hence it could not be intercepted, and you have accessed the <emphasis>real</emphasis>
web site at config.privoxy.org.
</para>
-<para>
- With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x and
- later), the user interface features information on the run time status, the
- configuration, and even a built-in editor for the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>.
-</para>
-<para>
- Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of <application>Junkbuster</application>
- / <application>Privoxy</application>, http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/,
- are no longer supported. If you still use such an old version, you should really consider
- upgrading to &p-version;.
-</para>
</sect2>
<!--
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads2"><title>If I do submit missed ads, will
+they be included in future updates?</title>
+<para>
+ Whether such submissions are eventually included in the
+ <filename>default.action</filename> configuration file depends on how
+ significant the issue is. We of course want to address any potential
+ problem with major, high-profile sites such as <citetitle>Google</citetitle>,
+ <citetitle>Yahoo</citetitle>, etc. Any site with global or regional reach,
+ has a good chance of being a candidate. But at the other end of the spectrum
+ are any number of smaller, low-profile sites such as for local clubs or
+ schools. Since their reach and impact are much less, they are best handled by
+ inclusion in the user's <filename>user.action</filename>, and thus would be
+ unlikely to be included.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="noonecares"><title>Why doesn't anyone answer my support
request?</title>
<para>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
<para>
- If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
+ If you run both the browser and &my-app; locally, you cannot hide your IP
address with <application>Privoxy</application> or ultimately any other
- software. The server needs to know your IP address so that it knows where to
- send the responses back.
+ software alone. The server needs to know your IP address so that it knows
+ where to send the responses back.
</para>
<para>
There are many publicly usable "anonymous" proxies out there, which
</para>
<para>
However, these proxies are called "anonymous" because you don't need
- a password, not because they would offer any real anonymity.
+ to authenticate, not because they would offer any real anonymity.
Most of them will log your IP address and make it available to the
authorities in case you violate the law of the country they run in. In fact
you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
</para>
<para>
- Your best bet is to chain <application>Privoxy</application>
- with <ulink url="http://tor.eff.org/">Tor</ulink>,
- an <ulink url="http://www.eff.org/">EFF</ulink> supported onion routing system.
+ If you want to hide your IP address from most adversaries,
+ you should consider chaining <application>Privoxy</application>
+ with <ulink url="http://tor.eff.org/">Tor</ulink>.
The configuration details can be found in
- <ulink url="#TOR">How do I use <application>Privoxy</application> together with <application>Tor</application>?</ulink>.
+ <ulink url="#TOR">How do I use <application>Privoxy</application> together
+ with <application>Tor</application> section</ulink>
+ just below.
</para>
-<!--
-<para>
- There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
- server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a large
- LAN, and we are looking into that.
-</para>
- I assume this is about sending fake forward IP addresses?
- David and I looked into it and considered it a waste of time to implement.
- Fabian 2006-09-04
--->
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="anonforsure">Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
<para>
- No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
+ No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are improved, but unless you
<ulink url="#TOR">chain <application>Privoxy</application> with <application>Tor</application></ulink>
- or a similar system and know what you're doing when it comes to configuring
- the rest of your system, it would be safest to assume that everything you do
+ or a similar proxy and know what you're doing when it comes to configuring
+ the rest of your system, you should assume that everything you do
on the Web can be traced back to you.
</para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it neither
- hides your ip address, nor can it guarantee that the rest of the system
+ hides your IP address, nor can it guarantee that the rest of the system
behaves correctly. There are several possibilities how a web sites can find
out who you are, even if you are using a strict <application>Privoxy</application>
configuration and chained it with <application>Tor</application>.
</para>
<para>
- Most of <application>Privoxy's</application> protection can be easily subverted
+ Most of <application>Privoxy's</application> privacy-enhancing features can be easily subverted
by an insecure browser configuration, therefore you should use a browser that can
be configured to only execute code from trusted sites, and be careful which sites you trust.
For example there is no point in having <application>Privoxy</application>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="proxytest">A test site says I am not using a Proxy.</title>
+<para>
+ Good! Actually, they are probably testing for some other kinds of proxies.
+ Hiding yourself completely would require additional steps.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="tor"><title>How do I use Privoxy
together with Tor?</title>
<para>
- Before you configure <application>Privoxy</application> to use <application>Tor</application>
- (<ulink url="http://tor.eff.org/">http://tor.eff.org/</ulink>),
- please follow the User Manual chapters
+ Before you configure <application>Privoxy</application> to use
+ <ulink url="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</ulink>,
+ please follow the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> chapters
<ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">2. Installation</ulink> and
<ulink url="../user-manual/startup.html">5. Startup</ulink> to make sure
<application>Privoxy</application> itself is setup correctly.
</para>
<para>
- If it is, refer to <ulink url="http://tor.eff.org/documentation.html.en">Tor's
+ If it is, refer to <ulink url="https://www.torproject.org/documentation.html">Tor's
extensive documentation</ulink> to learn how to install <application>Tor</application>,
and make sure <application>Tor</application>'s logfile says that
<quote>Tor has successfully opened a circuit</quote> and it
- <quote>[l]ooks like client functionality is working</quote>.
+ <quote>looks like client functionality is working</quote>.
</para>
<para>
If either <application>Tor</application> or <application>Privoxy</application>
are working, it is time to connect them. As far as <application>Privoxy</application>
is concerned, <application>Tor</application> is just another proxy that can be reached
by socks4 or socks4a. Most likely you are interested in <application>Tor</application>
- to increase your anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a,
- to make sure <application>Privoxy's</application> DNS requests are
+ to increase your anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a, to make sure DNS requests are
done through <application>Tor</application> and thus invisible to your local network.
</para>
+
+<![%p-newstuff;[
<para>
- Since <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.4, its configuration (section 5.2)
+ Since <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.5, its
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>
is already prepared for <application>Tor</application>, if you are using a
default <application>Tor</application> configuration and run it on the same
- system as Privoxy, you just have to uncomment the line:
+ system as &my-app;, you just have to edit the
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding section</ulink>
+ and uncomment the line:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
</screen>
</para>
<para>
- This is enough to reach the Internet, but additionally you should
+ This is enough to reach the Internet, but additionally you might want to
uncomment the following forward rules, to make sure your local network is still
reachable through Privoxy:
</para>
<para>
Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will
be as (un)secure as the local network is, but the alternative is
- that you can't reach the network at all.
- If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local
- network by using their names, you will need additional
- exceptions that look like this:
+ that your browser can't reach the network at all. Then again,
+ that may actually be desired and if you don't know for sure
+ that your browser has to be able to reach the local network,
+ there's no reason to allow it.
+</para>
+<para>
+ If you want your browser to be able to reach servers in your local
+ network by using their names, you will need additional exceptions
+ that look like this:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
Save the modified configuration file and open
<ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status/</ulink>
in your browser, confirm that <application>Privoxy</application> has reloaded its configuration
- and that there are no other forward lines, unless you know that you need them. I everything looks good,
+ and that there are no other forward lines, unless you know that you need them. If everything looks good,
refer to
- <ulink url="http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#head-0e1cc2ac330ede8c6ad1ac0d0db0ac163b0e6143">Tor
+ <ulink url="https://wiki.torproject.org/wiki/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#head-0e1cc2ac330ede8c6ad1ac0d0db0ac163b0e6143">Tor
Faq 4.2</ulink> to learn how to verify that you are really using <application>Tor</application>.
</para>
<para>
Afterward, please take the time to at least skim through the rest
of <application>Tor's</application> documentation. Make sure you understand
what <application>Tor</application> does, why it is no replacement for
- application level security, and why you shouldn't use it for unencrypted logins.
-</para>
+ application level security, and why you probably don't want to
+ use it for unencrypted logins.
+</para> ]]>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
content is being altered?</title>
<para>
- Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
- display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled,
+ Definitely. It is common for sites to use browser type, browser version,
+ HTTP header content, and various other techniques in order to dynamically
+ decide what to display and how to display it. What you see, and what I see,
+ might be very different. There are many, many ways that this can be handled,
so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
</para>
<para>
- <quote>User-Agent</quote> in particular is often used in this way to identify
- the browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not
- further than removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many
- sites do look for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
+ The <quote>User-Agent</quote> is sometimes used in this way to identify
+ the browser, and adjust content accordingly.
</para>
<para>
- For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
+ Also, different browsers use different encodings of non-English
characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
<quote>Referer</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
can forge both headers without giving information away). There are
- many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
+ many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server. The
+ results of which could inadvertently cause pages to load incorrectly,
+ partially, or even not at all. And there may be no obvious clues as to just
+ what went wrong, or why. Nowhere will there be a message that says
+ <quote><emphasis>Turn off <literal>fast-redirects</literal> or else!</emphasis>
+ </quote>
</para>
<para>
speed up web browsing?</title>
<para>
No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
- <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> for this. And, yes,
- before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
+ <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> or
+ <ulink url="http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/">Polipo</ulink> for this.
+ And, yes, before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?</title>
<para>
- Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can.
- <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but not
- protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
- and recommended to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
+ Not in the way you mean, or in the way some firewall vendors claim they can.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but can't
+ protect your system from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
+ to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
</para>
</sect2>
<title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
ads used to be. Why?</title>
<para>
- It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
- their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
- i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead
- of letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the
- banners themselves.
+ It is technically possible to eliminate banners and ads in a way that frees
+ their allocated page space. This could easily be done by blocking with
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> filters,
+ and eliminating the <emphasis>entire</emphasis> image references from the
+ HTML page source.
+</para>
+<para>
+ But, this would consume considerably more CPU resources (IOW, slow things
+ down), would likely destroy the layout of some web pages which rely on the
+ banners utilizing a certain amount of page space, and might fail in other
+ cases, where the screen space is reserved (e.g. by HTML tables for instance).
+ Also, making ads and banners disappear without any trace complicates
+ troubleshooting, and would sooner or later be problematic.
</para>
<para>
- But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy
- the layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain
- amount of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space
- is reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without
- a visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
+ The better alternative is to instead let them stay, and block the resulting
+ requests for the banners themselves as is now the case. This leaves either
+ empty space, or the familiar checkerboard pattern.
</para>
<para>
- So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
- define appropriate filters yourself.
+ So the developers won't support this in the default configuration, but you
+ can of course define appropriate filters yourself to achieve this.
</para>
</sect2>
<title id="secure">Privoxy runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
<para>
- There are no known exploits that might affect
- <application>Privoxy</application>. On Unix-like systems,
- <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
- user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
- <application>Privoxy</application> only listens to requests
- from <quote>localhost</quote> only. The server aspect of
- <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly exposed to the
- Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
+ On Unix-like systems, <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
+ user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
+ <application>Privoxy</application> listens to requests from <quote>localhost</quote>
+ only.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The server aspect of <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly
+ exposed to the Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
<application>Privoxy</application> serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to
be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend
you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
-<title>How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?</title>
+<title>Can I temporarily disable Privoxy?</title>
<para>
- The easiest way is to access <application>Privoxy</application> with your
- browser by using the remote toggle URL: <ulink
+ &my-app; doesn't have a transparent proxy mode,
+ but you can toggle off blocking and content filtering.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The easiest way to do that is to point your browser
+ to the remote toggle URL: <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
- feature.
+ feature. Note that this is a feature that may need to be enabled in the main
+ <filename>config</filename> file.
</para>
</sect2>
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
<title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is Privoxy totally
out of the picture?</title>
<para>
- No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled.
- <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just not
- doing
any of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
+ No, this just means all optional filtering and actions are disabled.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just
+ doing
less of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
- the interaction between your browser and web sites.
+ the interaction between your browser and web sites. See below to bypass
+ the proxy.
</para>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff2">
+<title>How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?</title>
+<para>
+ Bypassing a proxy, or proxying based on arbitrary criteria, is purely a browser
+ configuration issue, not a &my-app; issue. Modern browsers typically do have
+ settings for not proxying certain sites. Check your browser's help files.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="crunch">
<title>My logs show Privoxy <quote>crunches</quote>
ads, but also its own internal CGI pages. What is a <quote>crunch</quote>?</title>
configuration is returned to the browser, and the log consequently will show
a <quote>crunch</quote>.
</para>
+<para>
+ Since version 3.0.7, Privoxy will also log the crunch reason.
+ If you are using an older version you might want to upgrade.
+</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="downloads">
Filtering is potentially more of a concern since the results are not always
so obvious, and the effects of filtering are there whether the file is simply
viewed, or downloaded. And potentially whether the content is some obnoxious
- advertizement, or Mr. Jimmy's latest/greatest source code jewel. Of course,
+ advertisement, or Mr. Jimmy's latest/greatest source code jewel. Of course,
one of these presumably is <quote>bad</quote> content that we don't want, and
the other is <quote>good</quote> content that we do want.
<application>Privoxy</application> is blind to the differences, and can only
</para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> knows the differences in files according
- to the <quote>Document Type</quote> as reported by the webserver. If this is
+ to the <quote>Content Type</quote> as reported by the webserver. If this is
reported accurately (e.g. <quote>application/zip</quote> for a zip archive),
then <application>Privoxy</application> knows to ignore these where
appropriate. <application>Privoxy</application> potentially can filter HTML
did filter this document type.
</para>
<para>
- In short, filtering is <quote>ON</quote> if a) the Document Type as reported
+ In short, filtering is <quote>ON</quote> if a) the content type as reported
by the webserver is appropriate <emphasis>and</emphasis> b) the configuration
allows it (or at least does not disallow it). That's it. There is no magic
cookie anywhere to say this is <quote>good</quote> and this is
- <quote>bad</quote>. It's the configuration that let's it all happen or not.
+ <quote>bad</quote>. It's the configuration that lets it all happen or not.
</para>
<para>
If you download text files, you probably do not want these to be filtered,
</para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> does not do FTP at all, only HTTP
- protocols, so please don't try.
+ and HTTPS (SSL) protocols, so please don't try.
</para>
</sect2>
<application>Privoxy</application>. <application>Privoxy</application>
does essentially the same thing, much more elegantly and with much more
flexibility. A large <filename>HOSTS</filename> file, in fact, not only
- duplicates effort, but may get in the way. It is recommended to remove
- such entries from your <filename>HOSTS</filename> file. If you think
+ duplicates effort, but may get in the way and seriously slow down your system.
+ It is recommended to remove such entries from your <filename>HOSTS</filename> file. If you think
your hosts list is neglected by <application>Privoxy's </application>
configuration, consider adding your list to your <filename>user.action</filename> file:
</para>
is clearly labeled <quote>Text replacements for subversive browsing
fun!</quote> or you are using an older Privoxy version and have implicitly
activated it by choosing the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> profile in the
- web-based editor.
+ web-based editor. Please upgrade.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="valid">
+<title>Does Privoxy produce <quote>valid</quote> HTML (or XHTML)?</title>
+
+<para>
+ Privoxy generates HTML in both its own <quote>templates</quote>, and possibly
+ whenever there are text substitutions via a &my-app; filter. While this
+ should always conform to the HTML 4.01 specifications, it has not been
+ validated against this or any other standard.
</para>
</sect2>
+
</sect1>
<title>Troubleshooting</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="refused">I am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
-with every web page?</title>
+<title id="refused">I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting
+<quote>connection refused</quote> message with every web page. Why?</title>
<para>
- Either <application>Privoxy</application> is not running, or your
- browser is configured for a different port than what
- <application>Privoxy</application> is using.
+ There are several possibilities:
</para>
-
<para>
- Early <application>Privoxy</application> 2.x versions (and also
- <application>Junkbuster</application>) used port 8000 by
- default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict
- with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't,
- you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately
- change the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS"><literal>listen-address</literal>
- option</ulink> in <application>Privoxy's</application> <ulink
- url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
+<itemizedlist>
+<listitem><para>
+<application>Privoxy</application> is not running. Solution: verify
+ that &my-app; is installed correctly, has not crashed, and is indeed running.
+ Turn on <application>Privoxy's</application> logging, and look at the logs to see what they say.
+</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Or your browser is configured for a different port than what
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is using. Solution: verify that &my-app;
+ and your browser are set to the same port (<literal>listen-address</literal>).
+</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>Or if using a forwarding rule, you have a configuration problem or a
+ problem with a host in the forwarding chain. Solution: temporarily alter your
+ configuration and take the forwarders out of the equation.
+</para></listitem>
+ <listitem><para>
+ Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution:
+ try disabling or removing the firewall as a simple test.
+ </para></listitem>
+</itemizedlist>
</para>
</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="error503">
+<title>Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?</title>
+ <para>
+ More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has
+ been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running! The solution is
+ to either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find
+ something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products
+ may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
still getting through. How?</title>
If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
the need for any request to the server, and <application>Privoxy</application>
- will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the browser's
- caches. And then try again.
+ will not be involved. Flush the browser's caches, and then try again.
</para>
<para>
applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
and see if it really matches your new rule. Blocking ads is like blocking
- spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game.
+ spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game. And
+ remember you need to block the URL of the ad in question, which may be
+ entirely different from the site URL itself. Most ads are hosted on different
+ servers than the main site itself. If you right-click on the ad, you should
+ be able to get all the relevant information you need. Alternately, you can
+ find the correct URL by looking at <application>Privoxy's</application> logs
+ (you may need to enable logging in the main config file if its disabled).
+</para>
+<para>
+ Below is a slightly modified real-life log snippet that originates with one
+ requested URL: <literal>www.example.com</literal> (name of site was changed
+ for this example, the number of requests is real). You can see in this the
+ complexity of what goes into making up this one <quote>page</quote>. There
+ are eight different domains involved here, with thirty two separate URLs
+ requested in all, making up all manner of images, Shockwave Flash,
+ JavaScript, CSS stylesheets, scripts, and other related content. Some of this
+ content is obviously <quote>good</quote> or <quote>bad</quote>, but not all.
+ Many of the more questionable looking requests, are going to outside domains
+ that seem to be identifying themselves with suspicious looking names, making
+ our job a little easier. &my-app; has <quote>crunched</quote> (meaning caught
+ and BLOCKED) quite a few items in this example, but perhaps missed a few as well.
+</para>
+<para>
+<screen>
+<![CDATA[
+Request: www.example.com/
+Request: www.example.com/favicon.ico
+Request: img.example.com/main.css
+Request: img.example.com/sr.js
+Request: example.betamarker.com/example.html
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/bestsellers/skyscraper.php?likref=BSellers
+Request: img.example.com/pb.png
+Request: www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.advertising-department.com/ats/switch.ps.php?26856 crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: img.example.com/p.gif
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example&mode=behind crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=5c3cf&tmpl=PBa.tmpl crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/best_sellers.css
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adx.js crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: img.example.com/hbg.gif
+Request: img.example.com/example.jpg
+Request: img.example.com/mt.png
+Request: img.example.com/mm.png
+Request: img.example.com/mb.png
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=a71b91fa5&tmpl=Ua.tmp crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.example.com/tracker.js
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/lsi_head.gif
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=020548130&what=zone:61 crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=463594413&what=zone:58&source=Ua crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/bottomani.swf
+Request: mmm.elitemediagroup.net/install.php?allowpop=no&popupmincook=0&allowsp2=1 crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: www.example.com/tracker.js?screen=1400x1050&win=962x693
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=61 crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=5c3cf599a9efd0320d26&si
+Request: 66.70.21.80/img/pixel.gif
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=58&source=Ua&block=86400 crunch! (Blocked)
+Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=a71b9f6504b0c5681fa5&si=Ua
+]]>
+</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Despite 12 out of 32 requests being blocked, the page looked, and seemed to
+ behave perfectly <quote>normal</quote> (minus some ads, of course).
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>,
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
+ (the toggle feature may need to be enabled in the main
+ <filename>config</filename>),
and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key
while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory
caches).
</para>
<para>
- If still a problem, go to <ulink
+ If the problem went away, we know we have a configuration related problem.
+ Now go to <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
- and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions
- are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are
- responsible for that. Now, armed with this information, go to <ulink
+ and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which
+ actions are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions
+ files are responsible for that. It might be helpful also to look at your logs
+ for this site too, to see what else might be happening (note: logging may need
+ to be enabled in the main config file). Many sites are
+ complex and require a number of related pages to help present their content.
+ Look at what else might be used by the page in question, and what of that
+ might be <emphasis>required</emphasis>.
+ Now, armed with this information, go to
+ <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
- and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
-</para>
+ and select the appropriate actions files for editing. </para>
<para>
You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that
you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there,
</para>
<para>
Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
+ url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">User Manual appendix,
+ Troubleshooting: the Anatomy of an Action</ulink>.
There is also an <ulink
- url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>.
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>
+ with general configuration information and examples.
+</para>
+<para>
+ As a last resort, you can always see if your browser has a setting that will
+ bypass the proxy setting for selective sites. Modern browsers can do this.
</para>
</sect2>
</para>
<para>
To complicate matters, some systems may have a generic <quote>proxy</quote>
- setting, which will silently various protocols, including
+ setting, which will enable various protocols, including
<emphasis>both</emphasis> HTTP and FTP proxying! So it is possible to
accidentally enable FTP proxying in these cases. And of course, if this
happens, <application>Privoxy</application> will indeed cause problems since
- it does not know FTP. Newer version will give a sane error message if a FTP
- connection is attempted.
+ it does not know FTP. <![%p-newstuff;[Newer version will give a sane error
+ message if a FTP connection is attempted.]]> Just disable the FTP setting
+ and all will be well again.
</para>
<para>
Will <application>Privoxy</application> ever proxy FTP traffic? Unlikely.
</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="osxie" renderas="sect3">
-<title>In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
+<sect2 id="macosxie" renderas="sect3">
+<title>In Mac OS X, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.</title>
<para>
Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide
</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="osxuninstall">
-<title>In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="macosxuninstall">
+<title>In Mac OS X, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
empty the trash.</title>
<para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="osximages">
-<title>In Mac OSX Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="macosximages">
+<title>In Mac OS X Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
experience random delays in page loading. I'm using
<literal>localhost</literal> as my browser's proxy setting.</title>
<para>
- We believe this is due to an IPv6-related bug in OSX, but don't fully
+ We believe this is due to an IPv6-related bug in Mac OS X, but don't fully
understand the issue yet. In any case, changing the proxy setting to
<literal>127.0.0.1</literal> instead of <literal>localhost</literal>
works around the problem.
</para>
</sect2>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="error503">
-<title>Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?</title>
- <para>
- More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has
- been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running. The solution is
- to either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find
- something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products
- may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.
- </para>
-</sect2>
-
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="nohostname">
<title>My logs show many <quote>Unable to get my own hostname</quote> lines.
Why?</title>
result in a much slower response from <application>Privoxy</application> on
some platforms due to DNS timeouts.
</para>
+<para>
+ This can be caused by a problem with the local <filename>HOSTS</filename>
+ file. If this file has been changed from the original, try reverting it to
+ see if that helps. Make sure whatever name(s) are used for the local system,
+ that they resolve both ways.
+</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="inuse">
Port 8118 is <application>Privoxy's</application> default TCP
<quote>listening</quote> port. Typically this message would mean that there
is already one instance of <application>Privoxy</application> running, and
- you are actually trying to start a second <application>Privoxy</application>
- on the same port, which will not work. (You can have multiple instances but
- they must be assigned different ports.) How and why this might happen varies
- from platform to platform, but you need to check your installation and
- start-up procedures.
+ your system is actually trying to start a second
+ <application>Privoxy</application> on the same port, which will not work.
+ (You can have multiple instances but they must be assigned different ports.)
+ How and why this might happen varies from platform to platform, but you need
+ to check your installation and start-up procedures.
</para>
</sect2>
</title>
<para>
This may also be caused by the <quote>demoronizer</quote> filter,
- in conjunction with a web server that is misreporting a file type. Binary
+ in conjunction with a web server that is misreporting the content type. Binary
files are exempted from <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering
(unless the web server by mistake says the file is something else). Either
upgrade <application>Privoxy</application>, or go to the most recent
</para>
<para>
On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
- notice wierd characters on pages, you might want to try it.
+ notice weird characters on pages, you might want to try it.
</para>
</sect2>
</title>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> is attempting to disable malicious
- Javascript in this case, with the <literal>unsolicited-popups</literal>
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink>
+ in this case, with the <literal>unsolicited-popups</literal>
filter. <application>Privoxy</application> cannot tell very well
<quote>good</quote> code snippets from <quote>bad</quote> code snippets.
</para>
whatever the outcome was. And tries to give a coherent message if there seems
to be a problem. In some cases, this might otherwise be mitigated by the
browser itself which might try some work-arounds and alternate approaches (e.g
- adding <quote>www.</quote> to the URL). In other cases, if
- <application>Privoxy</application> is being chained with another proxy, this
- could complicate the issue, and cause undue
+ adding <quote>www.</quote> to the URL).
+</para>
+<para>
+ In other cases, if <application>Privoxy</application> is being chained
+ with another proxy, this could complicate the issue, and cause undue
delays and timeouts. In the case of a <quote>socks4a</quote> proxy, the socks
server handles all the DNS. <application>Privoxy</application> would just be
the <quote>messenger</quote> which is reporting whatever problem occurred
downstream, and not the root cause of the error.
</para>
+<![%p-newstuff;[
<para>
- In any case, v. 3.0.4 includes various improvements to help
+ In any case, versions newer than 3.0.3 include various improvements to help
<application>Privoxy</application> better handle these cases.
-</para>
+</para>]]>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="allcpu">
</para>
</sect2>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="slowcrawl">
+<title>I just installed Privoxy, and all my
+browsing has slowed to a crawl. What gives? </title>
+<para>
+ This should not happen, and for the overwhelming number of users world-wide,
+ it does not happen. I would suspect some inadvertent interaction of software
+ components such as anti-virus software, spyware protectors, personal
+ firewalls or similar components. Try disabling (or uninstalling) these one
+ at a time and see if that helps.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="preventcomp">
+<title>Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others? </title>
+<para>
+ It's probably due to compression. It is a common practice for web servers to
+ send their content <quote>compressed</quote> in order to speed things up, and
+ then let the browser <quote>uncompress</quote> them. When compiled with zlib support
+ &my-app; can decompress content before filtering, otherwise you may want to enable
+<ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</ulink>.
+</para>
+</sect2>
</sect1>
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
$Log: faq.sgml,v $
+Revision 2.38 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
+Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
+
+Revision 2.37 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
+Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
+
+Revision 2.36 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
+Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
+enough.
+
+Revision 2.35 2007/11/19 17:57:59 fabiankeil
+A bunch of rewordings, minor updates and fixes.
+
+Revision 2.34 2007/11/19 02:38:11 hal9
+Minor revisions and rebuild
+
+Revision 2.33 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
+Results of spell check.
+
+Revision 2.32 2007/11/13 03:03:42 hal9
+Various changes to reflect new features and revised configuration for the
+upcoming release.
+
+Revision 2.31 2007/11/05 02:34:53 hal9
+Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
+
+Revision 2.30 2007/11/04 15:16:40 hal9
+Fix one silly typo.
+
+Revision 2.29 2007/11/04 15:12:47 hal9
+Various minor adjustments.
+
+Revision 2.28 2007/10/27 15:14:16 fabiankeil
+Change Tor links to use the new domain torproject.org.
+
+Revision 2.27 2007/10/22 19:47:05 fabiankeil
+- Bump version and copyright.
+- Adjust Tor section to make it clear that forward exceptions
+ aren't required and may not even be desired.
+- A bunch of other minor rewordings.
+- Fix markup problems Roland noticed (hopefully without adding new ones).
+
+Revision 2.26 2007/08/05 15:37:55 fabiankeil
+- Don't claim that thousands of people read our code.
+- Specify the GPL version and link to GPLv2 instead of v3.
+- Note that configuration syntax may change between releases.
+- Mention zlib support.
+- Answer the "transparent proxy" question properly.
+- Add "intercepting proxy" entry.
+- Mention Polipo.
+- Rephrase some other sentences for various reasons.
+
+Revision 2.25 2007/07/18 11:00:34 hal9
+Add misc note about valid mark-up in Privoxy.
+
+Revision 2.24 2006/11/14 01:57:46 hal9
+Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
+manual.
+
+Revision 2.23 2006/10/21 22:19:52 hal9
+Two new FAQs, a rewrite or two, and some touch ups.
+
+Revision 2.22 2006/10/14 20:33:10 hal9
+Three new FAQ's re: templates and blocking, and various minor touch-ups/improvements.
+
+Revision 2.21 2006/10/03 14:40:51 fabiankeil
+Added links from the Tor faq to the
+configuration chapter in the User Manual.
+
+Revision 2.20 2006/09/26 10:12:37 fabiankeil
+Spelling fix.
+
+Revision 2.19 2006/09/22 10:54:32 hal9
+Change references to 3.0.4 to 3.0.5 and minor adjustments.
+
+Revision 2.18 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
+Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
+something changes this should be ready for pending release.
+
+Revision 2.17 2006/09/17 14:56:32 hal9
+This includes yet several more new FAQs, some improved wording, enhanced
+mark-up, various hyper links to wikipedia to explain key terminology to the
+uninitiated, etc. This is ready for release IMO pending final tagging of cvs
+and Privoxy version stamping.
+
+Revision 2.16 2006/09/10 15:30:46 hal9
+Spell check.
+
Revision 2.15 2006/09/08 23:05:07 hal9
Fix broken links. Add faq on hosts files. Move most of new windows service
feature to user manual and reference in faq. Various other small changes.
Fixed allow-all-cookies alias name; closes SR #929746
Revision 1.61.2.40 2004/01/30 17:00:33 oes
-Added OSX Panther problem
+Added Mac OS X Panther problem
Revision 1.61.2.39 2004/01/29 22:53:08 hal9
Minor changes for exempting docs of text/plain. Change copyright date.
Add disclaimer about probably being out-of-date
Revision 1.61.2.14 2002/08/07 02:53:43 hal9
-Fix some minor markup errors, and move one OSX Q/A to troubleshooting section.
+Fix some minor markup errors, and move one Mac OS X Q/A to troubleshooting section.
Revision 1.61.2.13 2002/08/06 11:55:32 oes
Added missing close tag
Revision 1.61.2.12 2002/08/06 11:43:46 david__schmidt
-Updated OSX uninstall FAQ... we have an uninstall script now.
+Updated Mac OS X uninstall FAQ... we have an uninstall script now.
Revision 1.61.2.11 2002/08/06 08:54:03 oes
Style police: Fixed formatting details
Revision 1.61.2.10 2002/08/02 14:00:25 david__schmidt
-Made the OSX removal commands far less dangerous
+Made the Mac OS X removal commands far less dangerous
Revision 1.61.2.9 2002/08/02 13:14:45 oes
-Added warning about sudo rm -r for Mac OSX deinstallation; moved this item to install section
+Added warning about sudo rm -r for Mac OS X deinstallation; moved this item to install section
Revision 1.61.2.8 2002/08/02 02:01:42 david__schmidt
-Add FAQ item for MSIE on OSX HTTP proxy confusion
+Add FAQ item for MSIE on Mac OS X HTTP proxy confusion
Revision 1.61.2.7 2002/08/02 01:46:01 david__schmidt
-Added FAQ item for Mac OSX uninstall woes
+Added FAQ item for Mac OS X uninstall woes
Revision 1.61.2.6 2002/07/30 20:04:56 hal9
Fix typo: 'schould'.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff