<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN"[
-<!entity % dummy "INCLUDE">
+<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
<!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
<!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
<!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
<!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "2.9.13">
+<!entity p-version "2.9.14">
<!entity p-status "beta">
<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9 Exp $
+ $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9 Exp $
Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 the SourceForge
Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
to live a peaceful existence!
========================================================================
+
-->
<artheader>
<title>Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</title>
-<pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
<authorgroup>
<author>
</abstract>
</artheader>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="intro" label=""><title></title>
-<!-- dummy section to force TOC on page by itself -->
-<!-- DO NOT REMOVE! please ;) -->
-<para> </para>
-</sect1>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 label="1" id="general"><title>General Information</title>
+<sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
<para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 label="2" id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
+<sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
<title>Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 label="3" id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
+<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
<para>
<quote>actions</quote> files are where various actions that
<application>Privoxy</application> might take, are configured.
Typically, you would define a set of default actions that apply
- to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
+ to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
</para>
<para>
site, we would define this in our <quote>actions</quote> file.
</para>
+<!--
+No longer appropriate 04/28/02 hal.
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> comes with several default
of filtering and blocking, as starting points for your own
configuration (see below).
</para>
-
+-->
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
<para>
These are all explained in the
- <ulink url="../user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE">user-manual</ulink>.
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">user-manual</ulink>.
Please refer to that.
</para>
</sect2>
The easiest way to do this, is to access <application>Privoxy</application>
with your web browser at <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>,
and then select
- "<ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org">Edit the actions list</ulink>"
+ "<ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org">View & change the current configuration</ulink>"
from the selection list. You can also do this by editing the appropriate
file with a text editor.
</para>
<para>
Please see the
<ulink
- url="../user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE">user-manual</ulink> for a
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">user-manual</ulink> for a
detailed explanation of these and other configuration files, and their
various options and syntax.
</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>, <filename>standard.action</filename>,
+ and <filename>user.action</filename>. Please see
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the User Manual</ulink>
+ for an explanation of each.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Earlier versions included three different versions
+ <filename>default.action</filename> files. The new scheme allows for
+ greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
+ configuration.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
<!--
FIXME: Commenting these out until we have some data there. HB 03/17/02.
</sect2>
-->
+<!--
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What are the differences between
intermediate.action, basic.action, etc.?</title>
<para>
<entry>advanced.action</entry>
</row>
</thead>
-
+-->
<!-- <tfoot> -->
<!-- <row> -->
<!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
<!-- <entry>f5</entry> -->
<!-- </row> -->
<!-- </tfoot> -->
-
+<!--
<tbody>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>ad-filtering</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>blank image</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>de-animate GIFs</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>referer forging</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only)</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>no-popup windows</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>fast redirects</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>hide-referrer</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>hide-useragent</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>content-modification</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>x</entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>feature-x</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry></entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>feature-y</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry></entry>
</row>
-<!-- new row -->
+
<row>
<entry>feature-z</entry>
<entry>?</entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry></entry>
</row>
-<!-- finish -->
+
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</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>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="filterfile">What is <quote>default.filter</quote>?</title>
<para>
- The <quote>default.filter</quote> file is used to <quote>filter</quote> any
+ The <quote>default.filter</quote> file is where <quote>filters</quote>
+ are defined, which are used to <quote>filter</quote> any
web page content. By <quote>filtering</quote> we mean it can modify, remove,
or change <emphasis>anything</emphasis> on the page, including HTML tags, and
JavaScript. Regular expressions are used to accomplish this, and operate
<para>
Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
but you can disable/enable various sections of the included default
- file with the <quote>Actions List Editor</quote> from your browser.
+ file with the <quote>View & change the current configuration</quote> from
+ your browser.
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
<screen>
listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
- </screen>
+</screen>
</para>
<para>
<title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
<para>
This is a configuration option for images that
- <application>Privoxy</application> is stopping. You have the choice <!-- of
- the --> <!-- <application>Privoxy</application> logo, --> of a checkerboard
- pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a custom
- URL of your choice. Note that to fit this category, the URL must match both
- the <quote>+image</quote> and <quote>+block</quote> actions.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is stopping. You have the choice of a
+ checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF image (aka <quote>blank</quote>),
+ or a custom URL of your choice. Note that to fit this category, the URL must
+ match both the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
+ <emphasis>and</emphasis>
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> actions.
</para>
-
<para>
- If you want to see nothing, then change the <quote>+image-blocker</quote>
+ If you want to see nothing, then change the
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
action to <quote>+image-blocker{blank}</quote>. This can be done from the
- <quote>
Edit Actions List</quote> selection at <ulink
+ <quote>
View & change the current configuration</quote> selection at <ulink
url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>. Or by hand editing the appropriate
actions file. This will only effect what is defined as <quote>images</quote>
though. Also, some URLs that generate the bright red <quote>Blocked</quote>
- banner, can be moved to the <quote>+image-blocker</quote> section for the
+ banner, can be moved to the <quote>+set-image-blocker</quote> section for the
same reason, but there are some limits and risks to this (see below).
</para>
<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 (+block). 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. ad banners). 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.
+ <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
- aribitray image (like we would for a <quote>blank</quote> image), for an HTML
+ 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. So this situation can be a little trickier to deal with, and
- <application>Privoxy</application> will use the <quote>Blocked</quote> page.
+ 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>
<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>+image-blocker</quote> action
+ 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. All I
-see is a bright red square.</title>
+<title>I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.</title>
<para>
- There is not enough space to fit the entire page. Try right clicking on the
- visible, red 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.
+ 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>
proxies like <application>Squid</application>?</title>
<para>
This can be done. See the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/configuration.html#FORWARDING">user manual</ulink>,
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">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> with another proxy that has
+ this ability should work though.
+ See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">user
+ manual</ulink>, which describes this, and also <ulink
+ url="http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/">http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 label="4"id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
+<sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="slowsme">How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
</sect2>
-
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
<para>
-Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable delays in
-page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages with large contents
-seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering all the content at once.
+The entire page content must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
+mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time. 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".
</para>
<para>
-The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
-sent to the browser during this time. 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".
- </para>
-<para>
-To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again, etc.) and
-not just replace ads, <application>Privoxy</application> needs to download the
-entire page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the browser.
+ To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again, etc.) and
+ not just replace ads, <application>Privoxy</application> needs to download
+ the entire page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the
+ browser.
</para>
</sect2>
</para>
<para>
-With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x), you can get some
-information about <application>Privoxy</application> and change some settings by going to
-<ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> or, equivalently, <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
-(Note that p.p is far easier to type but may not work in some
-configurations. With the name change to <application>Privoxy</application>,
-this is changed from the previous http://i.j.b/ or earlier 2.9.x versions).
+ With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x and
+ greater), you can get some information about
+ <application>Privoxy</application> and change some settings by going to
+ <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> or, equivalently, <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> (Note
+ that p.p is far easier to type but may not work in some configurations. With
+ the name change to <application>Privoxy</application>, this is changed from
+ the previous http://i.j.b/ and earlier 2.9.x versions).
</para>
<para>
-These pages are <emphasis>not</emphasis> forwarded to a server on the Internet
-- instead they are handled by a special web server which is built in to
-<application>Privoxy</application>.
+ These pages are <emphasis>not</emphasis> forwarded to a server on the
+ Internet - instead they are handled by a special web server which is built in to
+
<application>Privoxy</application>.
</para>
<para>
-If you are not running <application>Privoxy</application>, then <ulink
-url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> will fail, and <ulink
-url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> will
-return a web page telling you you're not running
-<application>Privoxy</application>.
+
If you are not running <application>Privoxy</application>, then <ulink
+
url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> will fail, and <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> will
+ return a web page telling you you're not running
+
<application>Privoxy</application>.
</para>
<para>
-If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
-http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and you
-should really consider upgrading to &p-version;).
+ If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
+ http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and
+ you should really consider upgrading to &p-version;).
</para>
</sect2>
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxy-chaining"><title>How do I chain <application>Privoxy</application> with other proxies
-(e.g. squid)?</title>
-<para>
- Fillme.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-->
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
<para>
- No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in versions
- 2.9.x and later. <![%p-not-stable;[Once we have released the new stable
- version, v3.0, there will again be blocklists that you can update
- automatically.]]>
+ No, not by this name. The format of the blocklists has changed
+ significantly in versions 2.9.x and later. This functionality
+ is done by the <quote>actions</quote> file now. See next question ...
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
<para>
- As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
- have released the new version, there will again be a form on the website,
- which you can use to contribute new ads.
+Please see the <ulink url="contact.html">Contact section</ulink>.
</para>
+
+<para>
+ This process does not work with earlier versions of <application>Privoxy</application>
+ or <application>Junkbuster</application>.
+</para>
+
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
<para>
You cannot hide your IP address with <application>Privoxy</application> or any other software, since
-the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to you.
+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
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 label="5" id="trouble">
+<sect1 id="trouble">
<title>Troubleshooting</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
by disabling <application>Privoxy</application> filtering and blocking.
Go to <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> and click on
<quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote>, then disable it. Now try that
- page again. It's probably a good idea to flush the browser cache as well.
+ page again. It's probably a good idea to flush the browser cache as well
+ with <literal>Shift+Reload</literal> to flush caches.
</para>
<para>
If still a problem, go to <quote>Show which actions apply to a URL and
why</quote> from <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> and paste
the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions are
- being applied to the URL. Now, armed with this information, go to <quote>Edit
- the actions list</quote>. Here you should see various sections that have
+ being applied to the URL. Now, armed with this information, go to
+ <quote>View & change the current configuration</quote>. Here you should see various sections that have
various <application>Privoxy</application> features disabled for specific
sites. Most disabled <quote>actions</quote> will have a <quote>-</quote> (minus
sign) in front of them. Some aliases are used just to disable other actions,
is causing the problem. Rember to flush your browser's caches when making
such changes! As a last resort, try <quote>fragile</quote> which
disables most actions. Now re-try the page. There might be some trial and
- error involved. This is discussed in
a little more detail in the <ulink
+ error involved. This is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="bugs">
-<title>Where can I get help? Report bugs? Feature Requests? Etc?</title>
-<para>
- Feedback is encouraged, whether good, bad or ugly. Please see the contact
- page in the <ulink url="../user-manual/contact.html">user-manual</ulink> for
- details.
-
-</para>
-
-</sect2>
-
-<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="time">What time is it?</title>
-<para>
- Time for you to go!
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
</sect1>
<!--
</sect1>
Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
$Log: faq.sgml,v $
+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.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff