-<!DOCTYPE Article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN">
+<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN"[
+<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
+<!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
+<!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
+<!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
+<!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
+<!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
+<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
+<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
+<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
+<!entity p-version SYSTEM "doc_version.tmp">
+<!entity p-status SYSTEM "doc_status.tmp">
+<!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
+<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
+<!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 -->
+]>
<!--
-<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
- File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/webserver/faq.html,v $
+ File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/faq.sgml,v $
Purpose : FAQ
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: faq.html,v 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa Exp $
+ $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.64 2002/06/09 16:37:31 hal9 Exp $
- Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 the SourceForge
- IJBSWA team. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net
+ Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+ See LICENSE.
+
+ Based partially on the Internet Junkbuster FAQ originally written by and
+ Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters Corporation.
+ http://www.junkbusters.com/
+
+ <Qandaset defaultlabel='qanda'>
+ <QandAEntry>
+ <question>
+ <para>
+ How are you?
+ </para>
+ </question>
+ <answer>
+ <para>
+ Fine.
+ </para>
+ </answer>
+ </QandAEntry>
+ </QandASet>
+
+ ========================================================================
+ NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
+ anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
+ ========================================================================
+
+
+-->
+
+
+<article id="index" class="faq">
+<artheader>
+<title>Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</title>
+
+<pubdate>
+ <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, 2002 by
+ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
+ </subscript>
+</pubdate>
+
+<pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.64 2002/06/09 16:37:31 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
+
+<!--
+
+Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
+But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave commented
+unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
+statement will be in copyright.smgl.
+
+Hal.
+
+<legalnotice id="legalnotice">
+ <para>
+ text goes here ........
+ </para>
+</legalnotice>
+
+-->
+
+<!--
+<authorgroup>
+ <author>
+ <affiliation>
+ <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
+ </affiliation>
+ </author>
+</authorgroup>
+-->
+<abstract>
+<![%dummy;[
+<para>
+ <comment>
+ This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
+ If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
+ PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
+ </comment>
+</para>
+]]>
+ <para>
+ This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
+ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>
+ <![%p-stable;[ v.&p-version]]>. It can't and doesn't replace the
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
+ </para>
+
+<!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
+ &p-intro;
+<!-- end boilerplate -->
+
+ <para>
+ You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
+ url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
+ Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
+ contact the developers.
+ </para>
+
+<!-- <para> -->
+<!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
+<!-- </para> -->
+</abstract>
+</artheader>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
+
+<!-- Include history.sgml -->
+ &history;
+<!-- end -->
+
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why a name change at all?</title>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is the
+ <quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
+ modification and junk suppression allow you to browse your
+ <quote><emphasis>private</emphasis> edition</quote> of the web.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <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
+ <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
+ <application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
+ share our ideals and goals.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
+ code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
+ a name in their own right<![%p-not-stable;[, especially now with the pending
+ release of version 3.0]]>.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does <application>Privoxy</application> differ
+from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></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 enhanced, and many new features 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/upgradersnote.html">note to
+ upgraders</ulink> for details.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
+</para>
+
+<!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
+ &newfeatures;
+<!-- end include -->
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
+<application>Privoxy</application> 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 solely focused on privacy
+ protection and junk elimination. 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 <application>Privoxy</application> know what is
+an ad, and what is not?</title>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:
+</para>
+<para>
+ First, there are certain patterns in the <emphasis>locations</emphasis> (URLs)
+ of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
+ web sites serve their banners from a directory called <quote>banners</quote>!)
+ 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.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
+ can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
+ do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <application>Privoxy</application>
+ also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
+ references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
+ your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
+ configurable.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="mistakes">Can <application>Privoxy</application> make mistakes?
+This does not sound very scientific.</title>
+<para>
+ Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
+ rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. There is a good chance
+ you may run into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
+ cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ But this should not be a big concern since the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is very flexible, and
+ includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
+ addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
+ (<link linkend="badsite">See the Troubleshooting section below</link>.)
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
+<application>Privoxy</application>. Why should I use
+<application>Privoxy</application> 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.
+ </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.
+ </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>.
+ 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
+ that should be included.
+ </para>
+ <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="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
+
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-money"><title>Money Money Money</title>
+<para>
+ We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
+ 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:developers@privoxy.org">drop us a note</ulink>.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-software"><title>Software</title>
+<para>
+ If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
+ or proxy, and would like us to ensure that <application>Privoxy</application>
+ runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
+ copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
+ compatibility issues as a result.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>You want to work with us?</title>
+<para>
+ Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
+ packaging gurus or documentation writers. Simply <ulink
+ url="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php">get an account on SourceForge.net</ulink>
+ and mail your id to the <ulink url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">developers
+ mailing list</ulink>. Then read the <ulink
+ url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write 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>
+</sect3>
+
+</sect2>
+
+</sect1>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
+<title>Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
+<para>
+ Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
+ should be virtually all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary
+ since <application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and
+ talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
+ does.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichos">
+<title>Which operating systems are supported?</title>
+<!--
+Include supported.sgml here:
+-->
+&supported;
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
+ <application>Privoxy</application> over <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
+ <para>
+ We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
+ first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
+ save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
+ 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>
+ for details.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note: Some installers may automatically un-install
+ <application>Junkbuster</application>, if present!
+ </para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="firststep">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>. Is there anything
+special I have to do now?</title>
+
+<para>
+ All browsers must 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.
+
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
+ <para>
+ If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
+ the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
+ 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).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
+ the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
+ in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
+ then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
+ This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
+ instead of directly to the Internet.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
+ protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
+ protocols.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="nothing">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>, and nothing is happening.
+All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
+
+<para>
+ Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
+ as a proxy? It does not sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing
+ the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
+ that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
+ is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>.
+ This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
+ access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
+ If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
+ <quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
+ your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
+ If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
+ be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is not running at all. Check the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">log file</ulink>.
+
+
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+</sect1>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
+ <para>
+ The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
+ changed from <application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions
+ of <application>Privoxy</application>. The old files, like <filename>blocklist</filename>
+ will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will
+ need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
+ pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
+ will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow
+ in the 2.9.x series.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="actionsfile">What is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
+
+<para>
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
+ are where various <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
+ that <application>Privoxy</application> might 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.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Actions can be defined on a <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
+ 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>
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
+<title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
+some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
+<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
+ 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.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
+way to do this?</title>
+
+<para>
+ Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
+ with a text editor. The probably easiest way is to access
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface with your web browser
+ 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.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<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
+ 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
+ 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
+ detailed explanation.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Earlier versions included three different versions of the
+ <filename>default.action</filename> file. The new scheme allows for
+ greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
+ selection of pre-defined <quote>aggressiveness</quote> levels.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX 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
+ 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
+ look like:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
+#
+{ -<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>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
+<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 <quote>packages</quote> in
+ the web based actions file editor at <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
+ The following table shows you, which of the most important features are enabled in each
+ configuration:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+<table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
+<tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
+<colspec colname=c1>
+<colspec colname=c2>
+<colspec colname=c3>
+<colspec colname=c4>
+<thead>
+<row>
+ <entry>Feature</entry>
+ <entry>Cautious</entry>
+ <entry>Intermadiate</entry>
+ <entry>Advanced</entry>
+</row>
+</thead>
+<!-- <tfoot> -->
+<!-- <row> -->
+<!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
+<!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
+<!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
+<!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
+<!-- </row> -->
+<!-- </tfoot> -->
+<tbody>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Referer forging</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
+ <entry>none</entry>
+ <entry>session-only</entry>
+ <entry>kill</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>HTML taming</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+<row>
+ <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+</row>
+
+</tbody>
+</tgroup>
+</table>
+</para>
+<para>
+ 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
+ url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
+ deatiled discussion.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
+with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
+ <para>
+ It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
+ browsers, although the whole <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> hierarchy
+ belongs to the user <quote>privoxy</quote>, with only 644 permissions.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </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
+ 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.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file?</title>
+<para>
+ The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
+ file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> are defined, which can be used to modify or
+ remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to <emphasis>anything</emphasis>
+ in the page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
+ to accomplish this. 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.
+</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.
+</para>
+
+
+<para>
+ Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
+ 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>.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="lanconfig">How can I set up <application>Privoxy</application> to act as a proxy for my
+ LAN?</title>
+<para>
+ By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
+ from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
+ a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
+ the <literal><ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink></literal>
+ option, which may be commented out with a <quote>#</quote> symbol. Make sure
+ it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
+ and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
+ wish to run <application>Privoxy</application> on port 8118, this line
+ schould look like:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
+ all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you run <application>Privoxy</application> on a LAN with untrusted users,
+ we recommend that you double-check the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security</ulink>
+ options!
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
+<para>
+ The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
+ action</ulink>. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
+ image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
+ Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
+ whose URLs match both a <literal><ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink></literal>
+ <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> action.
+</para>
+<para>
+ 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
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<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
+ helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
+ erraneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
+ they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see..
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- This has changed with the adaptive "blocked" page
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="blockedisugly">I see large red banners on some pages that say
+<quote>Blocked</quote>. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
+<para>
+ These are URLs that match something in one of
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> block actions
+ (<ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>).
+ It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
+ an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
+ been defined explicitly as <quote>images</quote> (e.g. ads that are GIF image
+ files). Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for
+ <application>Privoxy</application> to really know whether there is indeed an
+ ad image there or not. And there are limitations as to what
+ <application>Privoxy</application> can do to <quote>fool</quote> the
+ browser.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate
+ HTML page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an
+ aribitrary image (like we would for a <quote>blank</quote> image), for an HTML
+ page. The browser is expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have
+ for frames. Such situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and
+ <application>Privoxy</application> may show the <quote>Blocked</quote> page,
+ despite your best efforts.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you want these to be treated as if they were images, so that they can be
+ made invisible, you can try moving the offending URL from the
+ <quote>+block</quote> section to the <quote>+imageblock</quote> section of
+ your actions file. Just be forewarned, if any URL is made
+ <quote>invisible</quote>, you may not have any inkling that something has
+ been removed from that page, or why. If this approach does not work, then you are
+ probably dealing with a frame (or <quote>ilayer</quote>), and the only thing
+ that can go there is an HTML page of some sort.
+</para>
+<para>
+ To deal with this situation, you could modify the
+ <quote><filename>block</filename></quote> HTML template that is used by
+ <application>Privoxy</application> to display this, and make it something
+ more to your liking. Currently, there is no configuration option for this.
+ You will have to modify, or create your own page, and use this to replace
+ <filename>templates/blocked</filename>, which is what
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses to display the <quote>Blocked</quote>
+ page.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Another way to deal with this is find why and where
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is blocking the frame, and
+ diable this. Then let the <quote>+set-image-blocker</quote> action
+ handle the ad that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="alliseeisred">
+<title>I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.</title>
+<para>
+ There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
+ clicking on the visible portion, and select <quote>Show Frame</quote>,
+ or equivalent. This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy
+ <quote>Blocked</quote> page, and from there you can see just what is being
+ blocked, and why.
+</para>
+<para>
+ As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries
+ to adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there
+ just isn't enough room to display much of anything useful though.
+
+</para>
+</sect2>
- Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
- by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
- Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
-->
-<article id="index">
-<artheader>
-<title>Junkbuster Frequently Asked Questions</title>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced by a 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
+ page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
+ or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
+ they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
+ which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
+ only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
+ miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
+ large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
+</para>
+<para>
+ If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
+ the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
+ the <quote>See why</quote> link offered in the substitute page will show
+ you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
+ the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
+ and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
+<title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a service
+on Win2K/NT?</title>
+<para>
+ Yes, it can run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
+ The only catch is that this will effectively disable the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> icon (and its menu!) in the taskbar. You can have
+ one or the other, but not both at this time :(
+</para>
+<para>
+ There is a pending feature request for this functionality. 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.
+
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
+<title>How can I make <application>Privoxy</application> work with other
+proxies like <application>Squid</application>?</title>
+<para>
+ This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
+ <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a caching 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.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="transparent">
+<title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a <quote>transparent
+</quote> proxy?</title>
+<para>
+ No, <application>Privoxy</application> currently does not have this ability,
+ though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
+ special handling of the request headers beyond what
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is now capable of.
+</para>
+
+<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://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/">http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</ulink>).
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+</sect1>
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="slowsme">How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
+has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
+<para>
+ 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 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.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <quote>Filtering</quote> content via the <literal><ulink
+ 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 may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
+ before displaying. See below.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
+delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
+<para>
+ If you use any <literal><ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
+ such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
+ action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
+ mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
+ different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
+ content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is especially
+ noticeable on slow dialup connections.
+ </para>
+<para>
+ Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configurl"><title>What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
+"http://p.p/"?</title>
+<para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
+ address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
+ <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
+ it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
+ <quote>web server</quote>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
+ URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
+ takes you to a page saying <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote>, everything is OK.
+ If you get a page saying <quote>Privoxy is not working</quote> instead, then
+ your browser didn't use <application>Privoxy</application> for the request,
+ 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>
+
+<!--
+FIXME: commented out until we have data. HB 03/18/02.
-<pubdate>$Id: faq.html,v 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa Exp $</pubdate>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
+<para>
+ Fill me.
+</para>
+</sect2>
-<authorgroup>
- <author>
- <affiliation>
- <orgname>By: Junkbuster Developers</orgname>
- </affiliation>
- </author>
-</authorgroup>
+-->
-<abstract>
- <para>
- The FAQ document gives users and developers alike answers to frequently
-asked questions about the Internet Junkbuster. The Internet Junkbuster is an application
-that provides privacy and security to the user of the world wide web.
- </para>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
<para>
-You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink url="http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/doc/faq/">http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/</ulink>.
- </para>
+ No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
+ actively maintained instead. See next question ...
+</para>
+</sect2>
- <para>
- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>.
- </para>
-</abstract>
-</artheader>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
+<para>
+Yes, absolutely! Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> for
+how to do that. Please note that you (technically) need the latest
+<application>Privoxy</application> version for this to work.
+</para>
+</sect2>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
-<para>To be filled.
+<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
+ address with <application>Privoxy</application> or any other software. The
+ server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
+ solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
+ the web server, shared by many people, and thus letting your requests "drown"
+ in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
+ authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. 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>
+ You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
+ url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
+ more through Google. A particularly interesting project is the JAP service
+ offered by the Technical University of Dresden (<ulink
+ url="http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html">http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html</ulink>.
+</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 whole big
+ LAN, and we are looking into that.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="anonforsure">Can <application>Privoxy</application> guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
+<para>
+ No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
+ are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to 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's still possible
+ that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
+</para>
+<para>
+ A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
+ as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Privoxy</application>
+ does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
+ mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
+ consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
+ out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
+ agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
+ that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
+ source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
+ Luke!
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information or
+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,
+ 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.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
+ 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
+ to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
+ something closer. And then some page access counters work by looking at the
+ <quote>Referer</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
+ 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.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree,
+ HTML elements.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
+ accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
+ be required, but by no means the only one.
</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="caching">Can <application>Privoxy</application> act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
+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
+ 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
+ manual</ulink> for details.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can <application>Privoxy</application> 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>.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- No longer needed
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="logo">The <application>Privoxy</application> logo that replaces ads is very blocky
+and ugly looking. Can't a better font be used?</title>
+
+<para>
+ This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
+ <application>Privoxy</application> on the fly. So as to not waste
+ memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness comes when the
+ image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be done
+ about this, other than to use one of the other
+ <quote>imageblock</quote> directives: <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>,
+ <emphasis>blank</emphasis>, or a URL of your choosing.
+</para>
+<para>
+Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option entirely
+[as of v2.9.13].
+</para>
+</sect2>
+-->
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<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.
+</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.
+</para>
+<para>
+ So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
+ define appropriate filters yourself.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="ssl">How can <application>Privoxy</application> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</title>
+<para>
+ Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
+ and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <emphasis>secure</emphasis>,
+ there is little that <application>Privoxy</application> can do but hand the raw
+ gibberish data though from one end to the other unprocessed.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs
+ to tell <application>Privoxy</application> the name of the remote server,
+ so that <application>Privoxy</application> can establish the connection.
+ If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be blocked.
+</para>
+<para>
+ As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
+ seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
+ the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
+ for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="secure"><application>Privoxy</application> 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
+ <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
+ <application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
+ options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
+ in the browser proxy configuration, but <application>Privoxy</application>
+ will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can be defined in addition,
+ and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
+<title>How can I temporarily disable <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
+<para>
+ The easiest way is to access <application>Privoxy</application> with your
+ browser by using the remote toggle URL: <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
+ 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.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
+<title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is <application>Privoxy</application> 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
+ normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
+ the interaction between your browser and web sites.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="seealso">
+<title>Where can I find more information about <application>Privoxy</application>
+and related issues?</title>
+<!-- Include seealso.sgml boilerplate: -->
+ &seealso;
+<!-- end boilerplate -->
+
+<!--
+<para>
+ Please see the
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
+ others references.
+</para>
+-->
+</sect2>
+
</sect1>
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="questions"><title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
+<sect1 id="trouble">
+<title>Troubleshooting</title>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="refused">I just upgraded and am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
+with every web page?</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.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The old <application>Privoxy</application> (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>.
+</para>
-<sect2 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
- <para>
- To be done later.
- </para>
</sect2>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
+still getting through. How?</title>
+<para>
+ 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.
+</para>
-<sect2 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
+<para>
+ If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
+ 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.
+</para>
-<sect3 id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo account work?</title>
- <para>
- <comment>Blank para tag to quiet jade processing errors</comment>
- </para>
-</sect3>
+</sect2>
-<sect3 id="hotmail"> <title>How can I make my Hotmail account work?</title>
- <para>
- </para>
-</sect3>
+<sect2 renderas="sect3">
+<title id="badsite">One of my favorite sites does not work with <application>Privoxy</application>.
+What can I do?</title>
-<sect3 id="gmx"> <title>How can I make my GMX account work?</title>
- <para>
- </para>
-</sect3>
+<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>,
+ 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
+ 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
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ 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,
+ or make up a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended
+ way is to disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only
+ if the problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have
+ identified the culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions
+ on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
+</para>
+<para>
+ Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
+ the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
+ way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
+ site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
+ which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
+ actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
+ your privacy and protection more than necessary,
+</para>
+<para>
+ Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
+ There is also an <ulink
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>.
+</para>
</sect2>
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="dun">
+<title>After installing <application>Privoxy</application>, I have to log in
+every time I start IE. What gives?</title>
+
+<para>
+ This is a quirk that effects the installation of
+ <application>Privoxy</application>, in conjunction with Internet Explorer and
+ Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The symptoms may
+ appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or passwords.
+</para>
-<sect2 id="misc"><title>Misc</title>
+<para>
+ When setting up an NT based Windows system with
+ <application>Privoxy</application> you may find that things do not seem to be
+ doing what you expect. When you set your system up you will probably have set
+ up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up Networking (DUN) when
+ logged in with administrator privileges. You will probably have made this DUN
+ connection available to other accounts that you may have set-up on your
+ system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes accounts suitably
+ configured for the kids.
+</para>
-<sect3 id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
<para>
- You cannot hide your IP address with Junkbuster.
+ When setting up <application>Privoxy</application> in this environment you
+ will have to alter the proxy set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the
+ specific DUN connection on which you wish to use
+ <application>Privoxy</application>. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up
+ becomes user specific. In this instance you will see no difference if you
+ change the DUN connection under the account used to set-up the connection.
+ However when you do this from another user you will notice that the DUN
+ connection changes to make available to "Me only". You will also find that
+ you have to store the password under each different user!
</para>
-</sect3>
-<sect3 id="image"><title>What is the imagefile (simage.ini, etc.) for?</title>
<para>
- Anytime the Junkbuster determines (with the help of the blocklist) that a URL
- contains an advertisement, it has to decide whether this advertisement is an
- image or not. The Junkbuster uses the imagefile for that purpose..
+ The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
+ set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
+ each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
+ rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
+ re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
+ the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
</para>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+[Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
+</para>
</sect2>
-</sect1>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="contact"><title>Contact the developers</title>
-<para>Please see the user manual for information on how to contact the developers.
-</para>
+<sect2 id="ftp">
+<title>I cannot connect to any FTP sites. <application>Privoxy</application>
+ seems to be blocking me.</title>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
+ so do not configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
+ as an FTP proxy. The same is true for any protocol other than HTTP or HTTPS.
+ </para>
+</sect2>
+
+</sect1>
+<!--
</sect1>
+-->
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Copyright and History</title>
-<para>To be filled.
+<!--
+FIXME: Commented out until we have something to put here. HB 03/18/02.
+<sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
+<para>
+ Fill me.
</para>
</sect1>
+-->
+
+ <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+ <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</title>
+<!-- Include contacting.sgml -->
+ &contacting;
+<!-- end contacting -->
+ </sect1>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
+
+ <!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
+ ©right;
+ <!-- end -->
+
+ <para>
+ Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
+ <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
+ appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ </para>
+
+ <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+ <sect2><title>License</title>
+ <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
+ &license;
+ <!-- end copyright -->
+ </sect2>
+ <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+ <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+ <sect2><title>History</title>
+ <!-- Include history.sgml -->
+ &history;
+ <!-- end -->
+ </sect2>
+
+ </sect1>
+ <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<!--
<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
-<para>To be filled.
-</para>
+-->
+<!-- Include seealso.sgml -->
+<!--
+ &see;
+-->
+<!-- end -->
+<!--
</sect1>
+-->
<!-- hhmts end -->
<!--
or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
-$Log: faq.html,v $
+$Log: faq.sgml,v $
+Revision 1.64 2002/06/09 16:37:31 hal9
+Sync with filtering clarifications in 3.0 branch.
+
+Revision 1.63 2002/06/05 00:31:55 hal9
+Mass commit for new entities, most significantly so docs can read version
+and code status info from tmp files, so perl is no longer used. Also, docs can
+differentiate on alpha -> beta -> stable now.
+
+Revision 1.62 2002/06/03 00:28:16 hal9
+Sync with various changes from 3.0 branch. Add two new files for config stuff.
+
+Revision 1.61 2002/05/25 12:37:25 hal9
+Various minor changes and edits.
+
+Revision 1.60 2002/05/22 17:17:48 oes
+Proofread & added more links into u-m
+
+Revision 1.59 2002/05/15 04:03:30 hal9
+Fix ulink -> link markup.
+
+Revision 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
+This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
+are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
+changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
+
+Revision 1.57 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
+Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
+
+Revision 1.56 2002/05/04 08:44:44 swa
+bumped version
+
+Revision 1.55 2002/05/04 00:41:56 hal9
+-Remove TOC/first page kludge in favor of proper handling via dsl file.
+
+Revision 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9
+Add brief Q/A on transparent proxies.
+
+Revision 1.53 2002/05/03 01:34:52 hal9
+Fix section numbering for new sections (due to TOC kludge).
+
+Revision 1.52 2002/04/29 03:08:43 hal9
+-Added new Q/A on new actions file set up (pointer to u-m)
+-Fixed a few broken links and converted old actions as a result of
+ recent changes.
+
+Revision 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa
+bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
+
+Revision 1.50 2002/04/26 05:25:23 hal9
+Mass commit to catch a few scattered fixes.
+
+Revision 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa
+version update
+
+Revision 1.48 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
+generated
+
+Revision 1.47 2002/04/10 04:05:32 hal9
+More on BML, etc.
+
+Revision 1.45 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
+Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
+
+Revision 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 hal9
+Touch up on name change.
+
+Revision 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9
+Added NT/W2K service/icon situation.
+
+Revision 1.42 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
+consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
+
+Revision 1.41 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
+Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
+based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
+definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
+eventually be set by Makefile.
+More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
+
+Revision 1.40 2002/04/03 04:22:03 hal9
+Fixed several typos.
+
+Revision 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9
+Revert some changes, and then make some news, to layout, and appearance.
+
+Revision 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9
+Major changes to doc structure and layout. Sections are not automatically
+numbered now. TOC is on page by itself.
+
+Revision 1.37 2002/04/01 16:24:07 hal9
+-Rework of supported Q/A.
+-Set up entities to include boilerplate text.
+
+Revision 1.36 2002/03/31 23:18:47 hal9
+More on dealing with BLOCKED.
+
+Revision 1.35 2002/03/30 04:14:19 hal9
+Fix privoxy.org/config links.
+
+Revision 1.34 2002/03/29 04:35:56 hal9
+Touch ups.
+
+Revision 1.33 2002/03/29 01:31:48 hal9
+Several new Q/A's and other touch ups.
+
+Revision 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9
+Touch ups for name change.
+
+Revision 1.31 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
+we have a new homepage!
+
+Revision 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9
+A few new sections. Made all links relative to user-manual.
+
+Revision 1.29 2002/03/25 05:23:57 hal9
+Moved section, and touch ups.
+
+Revision 1.28 2002/03/25 04:27:33 hal9
+New section related to name change.
+
+Revision 1.25 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
+we are too lazy to make a block-built
+privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
+
+Revision 1.24 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
+name change related issue.
+
+Revision 1.23 2002/03/24 12:33:01 swa
+more additions.
+
+Revision 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
+name change. changed filenames.
+
+Revision 1.21 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
+name change
+
+Revision 1.20 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
+renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
+fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
+"the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
+comments and remarks to history untouched.
+
+Revision 1.19 2002/03/21 17:01:54 hal9
+Some touch ups.
+
+Revision 1.18 2002/03/18 16:40:31 hal9
+More additions.
+
+Revision 1.17 2002/03/18 03:53:53 hal9
+Some new additions.
+
+Revision 1.16 2002/03/17 21:32:56 hal9
+A few more additions.
+
+Revision 1.15 2002/03/17 07:25:59 hal9
+Correcting some of my typos, and some additions.
+
+Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
+A little more added ...
+
+Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
+Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
+
+Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
+typo
+
+Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
+new section
+
+Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
+correct feedback channels
+
+Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
+more info on not hiding ip address
+
+Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
+added default config section
+
+Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
+looks better
+
+Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
+Committing changes by Stefan
+
+Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
+2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
+
+Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
+Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
+will work - no other changes are needed.
+
+Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
+upload process established. run make webserver and
+the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
+are now linked correctly.
+
+Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
+merged standards into developer manual
+
+Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
+source files for junkbuster documentation
+
Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
first proposal of a structure.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff