<!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "2.9.14">
-<!entity p-status "beta">
-<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
+<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
+<!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
+<!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
+<!entity p-version SYSTEM "doc_version.tmp">
+<!entity p-status SYSTEM "doc_status.tmp">
+<!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
+<!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-readme "IGNORE">
-<!entity % p-config "IGNORE">
+<!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
+<!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
+<!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
+<!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
]>
<!--
File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
Purpose : user manual
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
-
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa Exp $
- Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 the SourceForge
- Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
-
- Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
- by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
- Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.8 2002/10/21 02:46:09 hal9 Exp $
+ Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+ See LICENSE.
========================================================================
NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
<article id="index">
<artheader>
-<title>Privoxy User Manual</title>
-<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa Exp $</pubdate>
+<title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
+
+<pubdate>
+ <subscript>
+<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
+<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
+ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
+ </subscript>
+</pubdate>
+
+<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.8 2002/10/21 02:46:09 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
+
+<!--
+
+Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
+all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
+commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
+copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
+
+Hal.
+
+<copyright>
+ <year>2001</year>
+ <year>2002</year>
+ <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
+</copyright>
+
+<legalnotice id="legalnotice">
+ <para>
+ text goes here ........
+ </para>
+</legalnotice>
+
+-->
-<authorgroup>
- <author>
- <affiliation>
- <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
- </affiliation>
- </author>
-</authorgroup>
<abstract>
+
<![%dummy;[
<para>
<comment>
]]>
<para>
- The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
- <ulink
+ The <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
+
install, configure and use <ulink
url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
- </para>
+ </para>
<!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
&p-intro;
<!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
<para>
- You can find the latest version of the
user manual at <ulink
+ You can find the latest version of the
<citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
- Please see the <ulink url="contact.html">Contact section</ulink> on how to
+ Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
contact the developers.
- </para>
+ </para>
<!-- <para> -->
<!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
</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="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
<para>
This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
<application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
- and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
- time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
- configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
- completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over
- earlier versions. The target release date for
- stable v3.0 is <quote>soon</quote> ;-)]]>.
+ and is mostly complete at this point.
+ Development of version 3.2 is just beginning,
+ and will include many significant changes and enhancements over
+ earlier versions]]>.
</para>
<!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
- not many!
+ not many! Please find them!
</para>
]]>
packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
<ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
- Page</ulink>. For installing and compiling the source code, please look
- into our Developer Manual.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
- possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
- version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
- CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
- url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
- tarball.</ulink> Again, we refer you to the Developer Manual.
+ Page</ulink>.
</para>
-<!-- Include supported.sgml boilerplate -->
- &supported;
-<!-- end boilerplate -->
-
<para>
Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
<application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
- will need to remove it. Some platforms do this for you as part
- of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform).
+ will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
+ of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
+ <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
+ you.</emphasis> See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to
+ upgraders</link> section below.
</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
<para>
- In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration
- if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the
- <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section
- below.
+How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and SuSE RPMs</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
<para>
RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
<para>
If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
- <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm;</literal>. This
+ <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
</para>
Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
automatically, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
</para>
-</sect2>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
<para>
- FIXME.
+ DEBs can be installed with <literal>dpkg -i
+ privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb</literal>, and will use
+ <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of configuration
+ files.
</para>
-</sect2>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
<para>
Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
use the registry of Windows.
</para>
-</sect2>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
<para>
Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
- things go. FIXME.
+ things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
</para>
-</sect2>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
<para>
First, make sure that no previous installations of
<application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
<application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
- system. You can do this by
+ system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
+ or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
+ your startup folder.
+
</para>
<para>
The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
into will contain all of the configuration files.
</para>
-</sect2>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
-<para>
- Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
- in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
- double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
- process.
- <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
- <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
- <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
- automatically on system bring-up via
- <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
+<sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
+<para>
+ Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
+ from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
+ Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
+ <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
+ and follow the installation process.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
+ <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
+ It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
+ starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
+ <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
</para>
-</sect2>
+<para>
+ To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
+ <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
+ <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
+ Or, type this command in the Terminal:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+ </screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ You will be prompted for the administrator password.
+</para>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
<para>
Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
remove this directory.
</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
<para>
- Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
- <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
- <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
- startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
- <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
- TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
- <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
+ Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
+ contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
+ but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
+ <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
+</para>
+<para>
+ Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
+ first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
+ Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
+ version.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
+ documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
+ and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
+
+<para>
+ The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
+ is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
+ page</ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
+ possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
+ version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
+ CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
+ url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
+ tarball.</ulink>
+</para>
+
+<!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
+&buildsource;
+<!-- end boilerplate -->
+
+</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
+<para>
+ As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
+ of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
+ url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
+ package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
+ download.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
+ <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
+ url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
+ to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ In order not to loose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
+ to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
+ recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> for your
+ customization of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
+ linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
</para>
+
</sect2>
+
+
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<sect1 id="upgradersnote">
<title>Note to Upgraders</title>
<para>
- There are very significant changes from older versions of
- <application>Junkbuster</application> to the current
- <application>Privoxy</application>. Configuration is substantially
- changed. <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> and earlier
- configuration files will not migrate. The functionality of the old
- <filename>blockfile</filename>, <filename>cookiefile</filename> and
- <filename>imagelist</filename>, are now combined into the
- <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions files</quote></ulink>.
+ There are very significant changes from earlier
+ <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
+ <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
+ purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
+ <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
+ files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
+ and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
+ ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
+ <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
+ are now combined into the <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
+ files</quote></link>.
<filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
</para>
<para>
- A <ulink url="filter-file.html"><quote>filter file</quote></ulink> (typically
+ A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (typically
<filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner
+ The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
- configuration is in the <ulink url="actions-file.html">actions
- files</ulink>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
+ configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
+ files</link>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the section <link linkend="installation">Installing</link>.
- </para>
+ If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
+ files. See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
+ </para>
+</listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
+ linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
+ information.
+ </para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Start <application>Privoxy</application>. See the section <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
+ Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
+ service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
+ linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
+ linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
+ off by default.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Change your browser's configuration to use the proxy <literal>localhost</literal> on port
- <literal>8118</literal>. See the section <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
+ Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
+ not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
+ <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. Please see the section
- <link linkend="contact">Contacting the Developers</link> on how to report
- bugs or problems with websites or to get help. You may want to change the
- file <filename>user.action</filename> to further tweak your new browsing
- experience.
+ Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
+ HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
+ <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
+ (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
+ <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
+ linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link> below
+ for more details on this.
</para>
</listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
+ If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage cookies, you should
+ remove any currently stored cookies too.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
+ most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
+ configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
+ to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
+ configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
+ <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
+ linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
+ introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
+ banners.]]>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
+ blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
+ linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
+ find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
+ helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
+ Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
+ Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
+ <quote>misbehave</quote>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
+ Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
+ help.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
+<title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
+<!--
+ NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
+ want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
+-->
+<para>
+ Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
+ user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
+</para>
+<para>
+ This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
+ you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
+ information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
+</para>
+<para>
+ First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
+ more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
+ things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
+ extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
+ <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
+ configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
+ not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
+ the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
+ default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
+ habits and preferences.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
+ <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
+ the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
+ some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
+ <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
+ action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
+ <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
+ linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
+ configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
+ followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
+ can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
+ wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
+ actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
+</para>
+<para>
+ When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
+ of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
+ or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
+ respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
+ pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
+ use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
+ original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
+ embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
+ or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
+ such embedded URLs.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
+ linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
+ <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
+ any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
+ action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
+ that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
+ communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
+ own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
+ tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
+ for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
+ is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
+ important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
+ some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
+ a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
+ though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
+ an entire HTML page in most situations.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
+ <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
+ has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
+ configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
+ </para>
+ <simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
+ replacement is obvious. This is the default.
+ </member>
+ </simplelist>
+ <simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
+ This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
+ </member>
+ </simplelist>
+ <simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
+ of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
+ </member>
+ </simplelist>
+ </listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
+ the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
+ is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
+ appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
+ <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
+ local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
+ meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
+ other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
+ blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ A quick and simple step by step example:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
+ <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
+ pop-up menu.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Set your browser to
+ <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
+ on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
+ </para>
+
+ <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ You should have a section with only
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
+ <quote>Actions:</quote>.
+ If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
+ button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
+ This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
+ in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
+ just below the list.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
+ click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
+ browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
+ Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
+ <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
+ <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
+ (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+<para>
+ This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
+ wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
+ site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
+ the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
+ section</link>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
+ to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
+ The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
</sect1>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="startup">
<title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
will want to configure your browser(s) to use
<application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
- localhost for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions used port
- 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
+ 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
+ used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
+</para>
+<para>
+ Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
+ HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
</para>
+
+ <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="../images/proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
<para>
With <application>Netscape</application> (and
- <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under <literal>Edit
- -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy</literal>.
- For <application>Internet Explorer</application>: <literal>Tools ->
- Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting</literal>. Then,
- check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info (Address:
- localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too.
+ <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
+</para>
+
+<literallayout>
+<!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
+<!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>
+ |_
+ <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton>
+ |_
+ <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton>
+ |_
+ <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton>
+ |_
+ <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
+</literallayout>
+
+<para>
+ For <application>Internet Explorer</application>:
+</para>
+
+<literallayout>
+<!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
+<!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
+ <guibutton>Tools</guibutton>
+ |_
+ <guibutton>Internet Properties</guibutton>
+ |_
+ <guibutton>Connections</guibutton>
+ |_
+ <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
+</literallayout>
+
+<para>
+ Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
+ (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
+ proxy support too.
</para>
<para>
directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
</para>
-<sect2 id="start-redhatdebian">
-<title>RedHat and Debian</title>
+<sect2 id="start-redhat">
+<title>Red Hat and Conectiva</title>
<para>
-We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
-default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its
-main configuration file. FIXME: Debian??
+ We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
+ default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as
+ its main configuration file.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 id="start-suse">
-<title>SuSE</title>
+<sect2 id="start-debian">
+<title>Debian</title>
<para>
-We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
-as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
+ We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
+ default. It will use the file
+ <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
+ file.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+</screen>
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-suse">
+<title>SuSE</title>
+<para>
+We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
+as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
your PC.
</para>
<para>
<sect2 id="start-os2">
<title>OS/2</title>
<para>
-FIXME.
+ During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
+ start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
+ double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="start-macosx">
-<title>MAX OSX</title>
+<title>Mac OSX</title>
+<para>
+ During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
+ start automatically when the system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand,
+ double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
+ <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
+ in the Terminal:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+ </screen>
+</para>
<para>
-FIXME.
+ You will be prompted for the administrator password.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="start-amigaos">
<title>AmigaOS</title>
<para>
-FIXME.
+ Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
+ <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
+ <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
+ startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
+ TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-gentoo">
+<title>Gentoo</title>
+<para>
+ A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
+ </filename> as its main configuration file.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+ </screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
+ boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
+ command.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ rc-update add privoxy default
+ </screen>
</para>
</sect2>
</para>
<para>
- If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
- or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
- on actions</ulink>.
+ If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
+ linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
+ or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
+ on actions</link>.
</para>
<para>
If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
- section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
- Developers</quote></ulink> below.
+ section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
+ Developers</quote></link> below.
</para>
-->
<!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
<screen>
<msgtext>
- <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
+ <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
<simplelist>
<member>
<member>
▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
</member>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
+ </member>
</simplelist>
</msgtext>
</screen>
<para>
This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
- <quote>actions list</quote>, which is where the ad, banner, cookie,
- and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
+ <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
+ cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
<application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
- to run as a proxy in this case, but all filtering is disabled. There
+ to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
your browser.
<listitem>
<para>
- The main configuration file is named <link linkend="config">config</link>
+ The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
on Windows. This is a required file.
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
- <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>) is used to define
- the default settings for various <quote>actions</quote> relating to images, banners,
- pop-ups, access restrictions, banners and cookies.
+ <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
+ is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
+ content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
+ exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
+ <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
+ as many websites as possible.
</para>
<para>
Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
- preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
- <filename>default.action</filename> are probably best applied in
- <filename>user.action</filename>, which should be preserved across
- upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is also included. This is mostly
- for <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
+ preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
+ <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
+ to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
+ <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
+ upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
</para>
<para>
There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
<ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status/">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status/</ulink>
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
(Shortcut: <ulink
- url="http://p.p/show-status/">http://p.p/show-status/</ulink>) for the
+ url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
various actions files.
</para>
</listitem>
file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
- whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
+ whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. Only one filter
+ file may be defined.
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
- comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) angd understand line continuation
+ comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="config">
-<title>The Main Configuration File</title>
+<!-- **************************************************** -->
+<!-- Include config.sgml here -->
+<!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
+ &config;
+<!-- end include -->
+
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
<para>
- Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
- Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
- Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
- values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
- example:
+ The actions files are used to define what actions
+ <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
+ how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
+ transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
+ are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application>, with
+ differing purposes:
</para>
+
+ <para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
+ that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
+ provide a base level of functionality for
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
+ a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
+ This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
+ linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
+ preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
+ has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
+ thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
+ to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
+ in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
+ aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
+ you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
+ to edit this file.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
+ file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
+ can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
- Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
- <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
- directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
+ An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
+ <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
+ <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
+ Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
+ sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
+ universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
+ <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
+ from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
+ exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
+ <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
+ with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
+ personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
</para>
-<para>
- All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
- <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
- for what happens if you leave them unset.
+<para>
+ Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
+ just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
+ or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
+ written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
+ fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
+ of actions</link>.
</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2>
+<title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
<para>
- The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
- operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
- where you may be surfing).
+ Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
+ or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
+ techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
+ certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
+ <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
+ actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
+ will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
+ default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
+ regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
+ your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
</para>
+<para>
+ We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
+ distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
+ things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
+ Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
+</para>
+</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
-<title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
+<sect2>
+<title>How to Edit</title>
+<para>
+ The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
+ using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
+ The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
+ per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
+ <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Radical</quote>.
+ Warning: the <quote>Radical</quote> setting is not only more aggressive,
+ but includes settings that are fun and subversive, and which some may find of
+ dubious merit!
+</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
- other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
- This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
- where to find those other files.
+ If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
+ the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
+ commented.
</para>
+</sect2>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
+<sect2 id="actions-apply">
+<title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
+<para>
+ Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
+ like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
+ be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
+ heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
+ of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
+ Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
+</para>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Path name</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
- </para>
- <para>
- When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
- per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
- For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
- <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
- output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
+ compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
+ applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
+ of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
+ the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
+ the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
+ a heading line of <literal>{
+ +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
+ then later another one with just <literal>{
+ +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
+ in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
+</para>
+<para>
+ You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
+ Anatomy of an Action</link>.
+</para>
+</sect2>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="af-patterns">
+<title>Patterns</title>
+<para>
+ As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
+ to determine what actions might apply to which sites and pages your browser
+ attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild card type
+ <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
+ flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
+ against many similar patterns.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Generally, a <application>Privoxy</application> pattern has the form
+ <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
+ <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
+ optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
+ URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
+ <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
+ the pattern. This is assumed already!
+</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
- <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
+ is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
+ regardless of which document on that server is requested.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>Path name</para>
+ <para>
+ means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
+ be omitted.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
+ <para>
+ matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
+ on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
+ <para>
+ matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
+ i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
+ matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
+ there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
-actionsfile
-</title>
-<anchor id="default.action">
-<anchor id="standard.action">
-<anchor id="user.action">
-<!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
+
+<para>
+ The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
+ domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
+ For example:
+</para>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The <link linkend="actions">actions</link> file(s) to use
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
+ <literal>.example.com</literal> (e.g. <literal>www.example.com</literal>)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, recommended not editing</literallayout></msgtext>
- </member>
- <member>
- <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
- </member>
- <member>
- <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
+ <literal>www.</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
- </para>
- <para>
- The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
- purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
- <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
- <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
- </para>
- <para>
- Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
- ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
- There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
- least one actions file.
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
+ (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
-<anchor id="default.filter">
+<para>
+ Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
+ themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
+ stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
+ any single character, you can define character classes in square
+ brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
+</para>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The <link linkend="filter">filter</link> file to use
+ matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
+ <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
+ <para>
+ matches all of the above, and then some.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
- <literal>+filter{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
- actions in the actions files are turned off
+ matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
+ <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The <quote>default.filter</quote> file contains content modification rules
- that use <quote>regular expressions</quote>. These rules permit powerful
- changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
- JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
- fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
- it appears on a Web page.
+ matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
+ <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
+ <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
+ <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
+
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The log file to use
- </para>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
+
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
+ (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
+ matching the path.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
+ expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
+ at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
+ You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
+ useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
+ url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
+ i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
+ for the beginning of a line).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
+ by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
+ <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
+ only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
+ <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect2 id="actions">
+<title>Actions</title>
+<para>
+ All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
+ somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
+ <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
+ <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
+ <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
+ following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
+ block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
+ previously applied.</quote>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
+ separated by whitespace, like in
+ <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
+ followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
+ Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
+ of the actions file.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ There are three classes of actions:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
+ <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
+ -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Example: <literal>+block</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
+ Syntax:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
+ # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
+ -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
+ the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
+ but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
+ same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
+ from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
+ that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
+ headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
+ -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
+ # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
+ <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
+ <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
+ taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
+ normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
+ privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
+ files will give a good starting point).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
+ to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
+ in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
+ multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
+ Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
+ <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
+ files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
+ one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
+</para>
+
+<!-- start actions listing -->
+<para>
+ The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
+</para>
+
+
+<!-- ********************************************************** -->
+<!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
+<!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
+<!-- -->
+<!-- ********************************************************** -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
+<title>add-header</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
+ <para>
+ Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>stderr</literal>).
+ Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
+ It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
+ for custom headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The windows version will additionally log to the console.
- </para>
- <para>
- The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
- of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
- option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
- <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
- think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
+ This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
+ headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
+ <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
+ one.
</para>
- <para>
- Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
- periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
- (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
- script has been included.
- </para>
- <para>
- On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
- +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
- the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
- log, when it exceeds 1M size.
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
+<title>block</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The file to store intercepted cookies in
+ Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
+ forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
+ as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
+ and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
+ <para>N/A</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
+ for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
+ was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
+ force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
+ screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
+ if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
+ right now, you can take a look at the
+ <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page</ulink>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
+ <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
+ <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
+ (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
+ if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is important to understand this process, in order
+ to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
+ ads and other unwanted content.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
+ action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
+ banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
+ document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
+ Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
- </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
+.nasty-stuff.example.com
+
+{+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
+.ad.doubleclick.net
+.ads.r.us</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
+<title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The trust file to use
+ Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
- be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
+ This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
+ <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
+ Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
</para>
<para>
- If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
- access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
- You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
- the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
- trusted referrer was used.
- The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
- Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
+ It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
+ with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
+ <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
+ <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
+<title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
+ Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink></para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The default will be used.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The User Manual is used for help hints from some of the internal CGI pages.
- It is normally packaged with the binary distributions, and would make more
- sense to have this pointed at a locally installed copy.
+ This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
+ <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
+ Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
</para>
<para>
- A more useful example (Unix):
+ It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
+ with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
</para>
- <para>
- <emphasis>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</emphasis>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-</sect2>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="local-set-up">
-<title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
-
- <para>
- If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
- that just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
- you, what you block and why you do that, your policies etc.
- </para>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
+<title>deanimate-gifs</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
- </para>
+ <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>URL</para>
+ <para>
+ De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
+ <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
- activated. (See <literal>trustfile</literal> above.)
+ This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
+ the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
+ is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
+ frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
+ most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
+ last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
</para>
<para>
- If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
- documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
- Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
- </para>
- <para>
- The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
- locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
+ You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
+ objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
+ a GIF.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
+<title>downgrade-http-version</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
+ Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Email address</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
+ This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
+ didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
+ unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
+ out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
+ is a chance you might need this action.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
- are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
- not be shown.
- </para>
+ <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
+problem-host.example.com</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
+<title>fast-redirects</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
- configuration or policies.
- </para>
+ <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>URL</para>
+ <para>
+ Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
+ will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
+ parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
+ resulting from this scheme typically look like:
+ <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
+ </para>
<para>
- If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
- are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
- not be shown.
- </para>
+ Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
+ URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
+ since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
+ to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
+ browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
+ the advertisers.
+ </para>
<para>
- This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
- </para>
+ This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
+ It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
+ many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
+ <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
+ it.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="debugging">
-<title>Debugging</title>
-
- <para>
- These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
- Note that you might also want to invoke
- <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
- command line option when debugging.
- </para>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
+<title>filter</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Key values that determine what information gets logged.
- </para>
+ <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Integer values</para>
+ <para>
+ Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action
+ applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
+ based substitutions.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Nothing gets logged.
+ The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
+ (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
+ <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
+ option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>). Filtering
+ can be completely disabled without the use of parameters.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The available debug levels are:
+ For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
+ in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
+ a list.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <quote>rolling your own</quote>
+ filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
+ slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
+ passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
+ since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
+ noticeable on slower connections.
</para>
<para>
- <programlisting>
- debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
- debug 2 # show each connection status
- debug 4 # show I/O status
- debug 8 # show header parsing
- debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
- debug 32 # debug force feature
- debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
- debug 128 # debug fast redirects
- debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
- debug 512 # Common Log Format
- debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
- debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
- debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
-</programlisting>
+ The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
+ <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
+ option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
+ default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
+ data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
</para>
<para>
- To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
- multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
+ Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
+ Encrypted SSL data (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either since
+ this would violate the integrity of the secure transaction.
</para>
<para>
- A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
- as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
- so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
- only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
- a hell of an output (especially 16).
- <!-- LOL -->
+ At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
+ documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
+ would normally be sent compressed, use the
+ <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
+ action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
</para>
<para>
- The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
- <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
+ Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
+ action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
+ works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
+ based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
+ standardized.
</para>
<para>
- If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
- 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
+ <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
+ improved filters is particularly welcome!
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
-
-<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Whether to run only one server thread
+ <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
+ <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
- serve multiple requests simultaneously.
+ <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
+ <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners based on their size for this page (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners based on the link they are contained in (experimental)</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
+ <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
+ <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-popups">
+ <screen>+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
+ <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-fun">
+ <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
+ <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
+ <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
- need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
+ <anchor id="filter-nimda">
+ <screen>+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
+ <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
+ <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-js-events">
+ <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (<emphasis>Radically destructive!</emphasis> Only for extra nasty sites) </screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
+ <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix non-standard MS font extensions for non-MS browsers</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="access-control">
-<title>Access Control and Security</title>
-
- <para>
- This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
- of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
- </para>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
+<title>handle-as-image</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
- listen for client requests.
- </para>
+ <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
+ <para>
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
+ If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
+ page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
+ client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>localhost:8118</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Bind to localhost (127.0.0.1), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
- home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
- their browser.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
+ The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
+ It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
+ be left intact.
</para>
<para>
- If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
- serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
- will need to override the default.
+ Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
+ reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
</para>
<para>
- If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
- bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
- from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's)
- (see <quote>ACLs</quote> below), or a firewall.
+ Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
+ frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
+ Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
+ ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
- a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
- (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
- You want it to serve requests from inside only:
- </para>
- <para>
- <programlisting>
- listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
-</programlisting>
+ <screen># Generic image extensions:
+#
+{+handle-as-image}
+/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
+
+# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+# blocked as images:
+#
+{+block +handle-as-image}
+some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
+
+# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
+ad.doubleclick.net
+</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
+<title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Initial state of "toggle" status
- </para>
+ <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>1 or 0</para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
+ and prevents adding a new one.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>1</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Act as if toggled on
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
- <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
- proxy. See <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal>
- below. This is not really useful anymore, since toggling is much easier
- via <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web
- interface</ulink> than via editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
+ It is fairly safe to leave this on.
</para>
<para>
- The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
- if this option is present.
+ This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
+ <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
+ to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
+ users sharing the same proxy.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
+<title>hide-from-header</title>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
- feature</ulink> may be used
- </para>
+ <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>0 or 1</para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
+ specified string.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>1</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
- content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
- any URL.
+ The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
+ (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
+ action).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
+ server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
+ is actually used by a real person.
</para>
<para>
- For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
- controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
- so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
- <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
- toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
- for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
+ This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
+ <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
- support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
+<title>hide-referrer</title>
+<anchor id="hide-referer">
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
- file editor</ulink> may be used
+ Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
+ or replaces it with a forged one.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>0 or 1</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>1</para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
+ <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
+ not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
+ content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
+ by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
</para>
+ <para>
+ <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
+ <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
+ substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
+ correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
+ requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
- controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
- so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
- <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
- modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
- recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
- support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
-ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
-<anchor id="permit-acces">
-<anchor id="deny-acces">
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
+<title>hide-user-agent</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Who can access what.
- </para>
+ <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
- [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
- </para>
- <para>
- Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
- <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
- DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
- <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
- values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
- destination part are optional.
+ Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
+ in client requests with the specified value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
+ Any user-defined string.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
+ to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
+ way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
+ url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
+ that</ulink>!).
+ </para>
+ </warning>
<para>
- Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
- administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
- For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
- <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost or internal (home)
- network address by means of the <literal>listen-address</literal> option.
- </para>
- <para>
- Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
- for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
- weaknesses.
+ Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
+ browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
+ <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
+ setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
+ the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
+ OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
+ sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
+ reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
+ let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
+ <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
+ (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
</para>
<para>
- Multiple ACL lines are OK.
- If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
- talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
- and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
- last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
+ This action is scheduled for improvement.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
- for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
- that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
- of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
- <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
- ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
+ <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
+<title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
- time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
- like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
- IP addresses, only the first one is used.
+ While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
+ pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
- if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Examples:</term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
- <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
- is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
- <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
+ This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
+ action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
+ the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
+ downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>popups</replaceable>}</literal>
+ does.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
- permit-access localhost
-</screen>
+ Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
+ can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
+ sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
+ since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
+ the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
+ the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
</para>
<para>
- Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
- nothing but www.example.com:
+ Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
+ pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
+ would require artificial intelligence in <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
+ <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
+ one), you might want to use
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
+ instead.
</para>
+
+ <!--
<para>
- <screen>
- permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
-</screen>
+ An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
+ interchangeable.
+ </para>
+ -->
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
+<title>limit-connect</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
+ defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
- with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
+ By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
+ requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
+ <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
+ for some or all destinations.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
- permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
- deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
-</screen>
+ The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
+ (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
+ the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
+ short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
+ This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
+ abused as TCP relays very easily.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
+ change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
+ <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
+ <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
+ <para>
+ <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
+<title>prevent-compression</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
+ Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
+ passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
+ <para>
+ Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>4096</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
- <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
- <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
- This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
- data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
- Hence this option.
+ More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
+ is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
+ linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
+ and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
+ Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
+ re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
+ those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
+ actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
+ with them.
</para>
<para>
- When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
- flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
- filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
- running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
- <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
- above.
+ Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
+ documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
+ per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Set default:
+#
+{+prevent-compression}
+/ # Match all sites
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+# Make exceptions for ill sites:
+#
+{-prevent-compression}
+www.debianhelp.org
+www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect2 id="forwarding">
-<title>Forwarding</title>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
- multiple proxies.
- It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
- accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
- through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
- url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
- Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
- proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
- runs on has no direct Internet access.
-</para>
-<para>
- Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
- supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
+<title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
+ Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
+ Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
+ on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
- chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is the address of the parent HTTP proxy
- as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or <quote>.</quote> to denote
- <quote>no forwarding</quote>, and the optional
- <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer
- values from 1 to 64535
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>
+ The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
+ <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
+<title>send-wafer</title>
+
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
- forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
+ Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
+ Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Examples:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
+ A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
+ class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
- forward :443 .
-</screen>
+ Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
+ resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
</para>
<para>
- Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
- to that ISP's sites:
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
- forward .example-isp.net .
-</screen>
+ <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
+my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
-forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
-<anchor id="forward-socks4">
-<anchor id="forward-socks4a">
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
+<title>session-cookies-only</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
+ Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- </para>
- <para>
- Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
- chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
- are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
- may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
- <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
+ Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> server headers.
+ Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't use SOCKS proxies.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
+ This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
+ websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
</para>
<para>
- The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
- is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
- server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
+ Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
+ <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
+ This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
+ that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
+ sites, and is the recommended setting.
</para>
<para>
- If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
- forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
- a SOCKS proxy.
+ It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
+ together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
+ will be plainly killed.
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Examples:</term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
- <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
- their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
- the Internet.
+ Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
+ field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
- forward .example.com .
-</screen>
+ This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
+ previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ These would have to be removed manually.
</para>
<para>
- A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
+ <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
+ the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
+ to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
+ <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
-</screen>
+ <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
-
-<para>
- If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
- only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
- which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
- <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
- isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
- configuration can look like this:
-</para>
-<para>
- host-a:
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
+<title>set-image-blocker</title>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
+ apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
+ <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
+ sent as a replacement.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
+ decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
+ completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
+ images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
+ has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
+ send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
+ to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
+ URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
+ This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
+ the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
+ it over and over again.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
+ class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
+ either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
+ used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
+ Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Built-in pattern:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Redirect to the BSD devil:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3>
+<title>Summary</title>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward .*. .
- forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
-</screen>
+ Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
+ misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
+ a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
+ content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
+ and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
+ linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
+ actions.
</para>
+</sect3>
+</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="aliases">
+<title>Aliases</title>
<para>
- host-b:
+ Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
+ as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
+ These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
+ Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
+ <quote>=</quote>,
+ <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
+ recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
+ <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
+ Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
+ <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
+ expanded.
</para>
-
<para>
- <screen>
- forward .*. .
- forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
-</screen>
+ Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
+ defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
+ And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
+ have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
+ within that file.
</para>
-
<para>
- Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
- host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
- of both isp-a and isp-b.
+ There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
+ used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
+ decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
+ <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
+ <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
+ in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
+ by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
</para>
-
<para>
- If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
- <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
- <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
+ Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
+ editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
+ them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
+ but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
+ with it.
+ This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
</para>
<para>
- Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
- run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this:
+ Now let's define some aliases...
</para>
<para>
<screen>
- # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
- cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
+ # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
+ #
+ # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
+ # must be at the top of the actions file!
+ #
+ {{alias}}
- # Define ACL for protocol FTP
- acl ftp proto FTP
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
- # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
- always_direct allow ftp
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
- # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
- never_direct allow all</screen>
+ # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
+ #
+ c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
+ c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
</para>
<para>
- You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
- Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
+ ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
+ actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
+ up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
</para>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
+ # user data and require minimal interference to work:
+ #
+ {fragile}
+ .office.microsoft.com
+ .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+ .nytimes.com
-</sect2>
+ # Shopping sites:
+ # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
+ #
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .scan.co.uk
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+ # These shops require pop-ups:
+ #
+ {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
+ <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
+ in order to function properly.
+</para>
+</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="windows-gui">
-<title>Windows GUI Options</title>
+<sect2 id="act-examples">
+<title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
- Windows GUI interface:
+ The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
+ there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
+ linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
+ to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
+ define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
+ example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
+ file and see how all these pieces come together:
</para>
-<anchor id="activity-animation">
+<sect3><title>default.action</title>
+
<para>
- If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
- <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
- <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
+Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
</para>
-<anchor id="log-messages">
<para>
- If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
- window:
+Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
+first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
+change or worry about:
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+##########################################################################
-<anchor id="log-buffer-size">
-<para>
- If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
- i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
- console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
- eat up all your memory!
+After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
+section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
+that also explains why and how aliases are used:
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases
+##########################################################################
+{{alias}}
+
+# These aliases just save typing later:
+# (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+#
++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+
+# These aliases define combinations of actions
+# that are useful for certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
+shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
</para>
-<anchor id="log-max-lines">
<para>
- <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
- in the log buffer. See above.
+ Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
+ by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
+ are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
+ enable the ones we want.
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
+ one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
+ <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
+ set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
+ be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
+ wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
+ but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
+ experience.
</para>
-<anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
<para>
- If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
- messages with a bold-faced font:
-</para>
+ Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
+ no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
+ to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
+ preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
+ Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
+ multiple lines with line continuation.
+</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# "Defaults" section:
+##########################################################################
+ { \
+ -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
+ -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
+ -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
+ -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
+ +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
+ -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FILTER-NIMDA">filter{nimda}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
+ +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
+ +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
+ -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
+ -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
+ +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
+ -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
+ -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
+ +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
+ +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
+ }
+ / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
</para>
-<anchor id="log-font-name">
<para>
- The font used in the console window:
+ The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
+ the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
+ universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
+ like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
+ default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
+ want to block in later sections.
+ We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
+ and use our defined aliases for that.
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
+ sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
+ very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
+ make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
+ our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
+ of actions explicitly:
</para>
-<anchor id="log-font-size">
<para>
- Font size used in the console window:
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
+##########################################################################
+
+# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
+#
+{ fragile }
+.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
+ require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
+ carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
</para>
-
-<anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
-<para>
- <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
- <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
- when minimized:
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Shopping sites:
+#
+{ shop }
+.quietpc.com
+.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+.jungle.com
+.scan.co.uk</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
+ Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
+ now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
+ can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
+ safely choose
+ -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
+ -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
+ and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
+ action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
+ chosen in the defaults section:
</para>
-<anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
<para>
- If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
- button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
- the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
+ <screen>
+# These sites require pop-ups too :(
+#
+{ -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
+.dabs.com
+.overclockers.co.uk
+.deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
+ action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
+ it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
</para>
-<anchor id="hide-console">
<para>
- The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
- version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
- command console.
+ <screen>
+{ -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
+login.yahoo.com
+edit.*.yahoo.com
+.google.com
+.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
+.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
+.nytimes.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
+ URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
+ be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
+ Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
+ would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
+ would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
+ information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
+ and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
+ good start:
</para>
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+<para>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Images:
+##########################################################################
-<sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
+# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
+# blocked further down this file:
+#
+{ +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
+/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
+</para>
<para>
- The actions files are used to define what actions
- <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
- how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
- transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
- are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
- version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
- to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
- in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
- aggressiveness. It is not recommend to edit this file.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
- that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
- provide a base level of functionality for
- <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
- a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
- This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
- available to users.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
- preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
- has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
- thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
+ And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
+ generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
+ request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
+ mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
+ <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
+ course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
+ +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
+ Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
+ <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
+ action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
+ <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
+ action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
+</para>
<para>
- The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
- file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
- can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
+ <screen>
+# Known ad generators:
+#
+{ block-as-image }
+ar.atwola.com
+.ad.doubleclick.net
+.ad.*.doubleclick.net
+.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+bs*.gsanet.com
+bs*.einets.com
+.qkimg.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- An actions file typically has sections. Near the top, <quote>aliases</quote> are
- optionally defined (discussed <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#ALIASES">below</ulink>), then the default set of rules
- which will apply universally to all sites and pages. And then below that,
- exceptions to the defined universal policies.
+ One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
+ is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
+ by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
+ action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
+ images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
+ them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
+ doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
+ need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
</para>
-
-<para>
- Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
- just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
- or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
- written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
- fooled, and much more. See below for a complete list of actions.
+<para>
+ First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
+ matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
+ a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
+ to keep the example short:
</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
<para>
- Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
- or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
- techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
- certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
- <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
- actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
- will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
- default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
- regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
- your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Block these fine banners:
+##########################################################################
+{ <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
+
+# Generic patterns:
+#
+ad*.
+.*ads.
+banner?.
+count*.
+/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
+/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
+
+# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
+#
+.hitbox.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
- distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
- things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
- Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
+ You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
+ servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
+ in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
+ generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>How to Edit</title>
<para>
- The easiest way to edit the <quote>actions</quote> files is with a browser by
- using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
+ But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
+ to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
+ <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
+ but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
+ <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
+ well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
+ section above.
</para>
-
<para>
- If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
- the actions files.
+ Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
+ <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
+ so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
+ URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
+ action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
+ general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
+ <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
+ <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
+ applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
+ with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
</para>
-</sect2>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
+##########################################################################
+
+# By domain:
+#
+{ -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
+adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
+adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
+.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
+.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
+
+# By path:
+#
+/.*loads/
+
+# Site-specific:
+#
+www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
+www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
+</para>
-<sect2>
-<title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
<para>
- Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
- like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will be discussed later. For now
- let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split
- up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions,
- separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there
- is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
+ Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
+ so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
+ and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
+ <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
+ disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
</para>
<para>
- To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
- compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the list of
- applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
- of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
- the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
- the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
- and <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> actions).
-
+ <screen>
+# Don't filter code!
+#
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+/.*cvs
+.sourceforge.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- You can trace this process by visiting <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
+ The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
+ comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<sect3><title>user.action</title>
<para>
- More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
- Anatomy of an Action</link>.
+ So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
+ which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
+ you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
+ are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
+ be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
+ be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
+ actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
+ defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
+ <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
+ <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
+ to install updated versions from time to time.
</para>
-</sect2>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>Patterns</title>
<para>
- Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
- where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
- are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
+ So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
+ <filename>user.action</filename>:
</para>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
- regardless of which document on that server is requested.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
- be omitted.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
- on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
- i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
- there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
+<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
<para>
- The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
- domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
- For example:
+ <screen>
+# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
</para>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
- <literal>.example.com</literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
- <literal>www.</literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
- (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-
<para>
- Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
- themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
- stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
- any single character, you can define character classes in square
- brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
+ As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
+ file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
+ <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
</para>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
- <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches all of the above, and then some.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
- <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
- <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
- <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
- <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
-
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
- (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
- matching the path.
-</para>
+ <screen>
+# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
+# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+#
+{{alias}}
+#
+# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
+# be self explanatory.
+#
++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ allow-popups = -filter{popups} -kill-popups
++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
+
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
-<para>
- There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
- expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
- at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
- You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
- useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
- url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
-</para>
+# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
+#
+allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}</screen>
-<para>
- Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
- i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
- for the beginning of a line).
+
</para>
<para>
- Please also note that matching in the path is case
- <emphasis>INSENSITIVE</emphasis> by default, but you can switch to case
- sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
- <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch:
- <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match only
- documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
- <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
+ Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
+ you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
+ to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
+ <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
+ that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
+ processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
</para>
-</sect3>
-
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="actions">
-<title>Actions</title>
<para>
- All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
- somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
- <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
- <quote>+action</quote> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
- <quote>+block</quote> means please <quote>block the following URL
- patterns</quote>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Actions are invoked by enclosing the action name in curly braces (e.g.
- {+some_action}), followed by a list of URLs (or patterns that match URLs) to
- which the action applies. There are three classes of actions:
+ <screen>
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+sunsolve.sun.com
+slashdot.org
+.yahoo.com
+.msdn.microsoft.com
+.redhat.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>on</quote> or
- <quote>off</quote>. Examples:
- </para>
- <para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+name}</emphasis> # enable this action
- <emphasis>{-name}</emphasis> # disable this action
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Parameterized, e.g. <quote>+/-hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</quote>,
- where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
- Examples:
- </para>
- <para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+name{param}}</emphasis> # enable action and set parameter to <quote>param</quote>
- <emphasis>{-name}</emphasis> # disable action (<quote>parameter</quote>) can be omitted
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <!-- oes, or someone, check this. Re-worded 04/20/02 HB. -->
- Multi-value, e.g. <quote>{+/-add-header{Name: value}}</quote> or
- <quote>{+/-send-wafer{name=value}}</quote>), where some value needs to be defined
- in addition to simply enabling the action. Examples:
- </para>
- <para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+name{param=value}}</emphasis> # enable action and set <quote>param</quote> to <quote>value</quote>
- <emphasis>{-name{param=value}}</emphasis> # remove the parameter <quote>param</quote> completely
- <emphasis>{-name}</emphasis> # disable this action totally and remove <application>param</application> too
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
+ Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
+ know which, so you disable them all:
</para>
<para>
- If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
- taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
- normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
- privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
- files will give a good starting point).
+ <screen>
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> }
+.your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
- to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
- in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
- multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
- Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
- <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
- files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
- one action!
+ Some hosts and some file types you may not want to filter.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> makes no distinctions between regular web
+ pages and downloads done via your web browser if it is an html or text type
+ document.
</para>
-<!-- start actions listing -->
<para>
- The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> <quote>actions</quote> are:
-</para>
-
-
-<!-- ********************************************************** -->
-<!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
-<!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
-<!-- -->
-<!-- ********************************************************** -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
-<title><emphasis>+add-header</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Multi-value.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Send a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
- headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
- <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
- one.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
-<title><emphasis>+block</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Used to block a URL from reaching your browser. The URL may be
- anything, but is typically used to block ads or other obnoxious
- content.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>N/A</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+block}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.banners.example.com</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.ads.r.us</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If a URL matches one of the blocked patterns, <application>Privoxy</application>
- will intercept the URL and display its special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
- instead. If there is sufficient space, a large red banner will appear with
- a friendly message about why the page was blocked, and a way to go there
- anyway. If there is insufficient space a smaller <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
- page will appear without the red banner.
- <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Click here</ulink>
- to view the default blocked HTML page (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running
- for this to work as intended!).
- </para>
-
- <para>
- A very important exception is if the URL <emphasis>matches both</emphasis>
- <quote>+block</quote> and <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
- then it will be handled by
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
- (see below). It is important to understand this process, in order
- to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> is able to deal with
- ads and other objectionable content.
- </para>
- <para>
- The <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
- action can also perform some of the
- same functionality as <quote>+block</quote>, but by virtue of very
- different programming techniques, and is most often used for different
- reasons.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
-<title><emphasis>+deanimate-gifs</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- To stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+deanimate-gifs{last}}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- De-animate all animated GIF images, i.e. reduce them to their last frame.
- This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
- the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
- is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
- frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
- most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
- last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
-<title><emphasis>+downgrade-http-version</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to
- HTTP/1.0 and downgrade the responses as well.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+downgrade-http-version}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Use this action for servers that use HTTP/1.1 protocol features that
- <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 is
- only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. This is
- an infrequently needed action, and is used to help with rare problem sites only.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
-<title><emphasis>+fast-redirects</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The <quote>+fast-redirects</quote> action enables interception of
- <quote>redirect</quote> requests from one server to another, which
- are used to track users.<application>Privoxy</application> can cut off
- all but the last valid URL in a redirect request and send a local redirect
- back to your browser without contacting the intermediate site(s).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+fast-redirects}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
- will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a
- parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
- resulting from this scheme typically look like:
- <emphasis>http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else</emphasis>.
- </para>
- <para>
- Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
- URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
- since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
- to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
- browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
- the advertisers.
- </para>
- <para>
- This is a normally <quote>on</quote> feature, and often requires exceptions
- for sites that are sensitive to defeating this mechanism.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
-<title><emphasis>+filter</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Apply page filtering as defined by named sections of the
- <filename>default.filter</filename> file to the specified site(s).
- <quote>Filtering</quote> can be any modification of the raw
- page content, including re-writing or deletion of content.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>+filter</quote> must include the name of one of the section identifiers
- from <filename>default.filter</filename> (or whatever
- <emphasis>filterfile</emphasis> is specified in <filename>config</filename>).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (from the current <filename>default.filter</filename>):</term>
- <listitem>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
- <emphasis>+filter{html-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
- <emphasis>+filter{js-annoyances}</emphasis>: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
- <emphasis>+filter{content-cookies}</emphasis>: Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-popups">
- <emphasis>+filter{popups}</emphasis>: Kill all popups in JS and HTML
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
- <emphasis>+filter{frameset-borders}</emphasis>: Give frames a border and make them resizable
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
- <emphasis>+filter{webbugs}</emphasis>: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
- <emphasis>+filter{refresh-tags}</emphasis>: Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-fun">
- <emphasis>+filter{fun}</emphasis>: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-nimda">
- <emphasis>+filter{nimda}</emphasis>: Remove Nimda (virus) code.
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
- <emphasis>+filter{banners-by-size}</emphasis>: Kill banners by size (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
- <emphasis>+filter{shockwave-flash}</emphasis>: Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
- <emphasis>+filter{crude-parental}</emphasis>: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This is potentially a very powerful feature! And requires a knowledge
- of regular expressions if you want to <quote>roll your own</quote>.
- Filtering operates on a line by line basis throughout the entire page.
- </para>
- <para>
- Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
- slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
- passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
- since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
- noticeable on slower connections.
- </para>
- <para>
- Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
- <ulink url="actions-file#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
- action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. In the overall
- scheme of things, filtering is one of the first things <quote>Privoxy</quote>
- does with a web page. So other most other actions are applied to the
- already <quote>filtered</quote> page.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
-<title><emphasis>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block any existing X-Forwarded-for HTTP header, and do not add a new one.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+hide-forwarded-for-headers}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- It is fairly safe to leave this on. It does not seem to break many sites.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
-<title><emphasis>+hide-from-header</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- To block the browser from sending your email address in a <quote>From:</quote>
- header.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+hide-from-header{block}}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
- (not to be confused with the <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> action).
- Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to send to the web
- server.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referer">
-<title><emphasis>+hide-referer</emphasis></title>
-<anchor id="hide-referrer">
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Don't send the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header to the web site.
- Or, alternately send a forged header instead.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent the header from being sent with the keyword, <quote>block</quote>.
- Or, <quote>forge</quote> a URL to one from the same server as the request.
- Or, set to user defined value of your choice.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+hide-referer{forge}}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
- not send images back otherwise.
- </para>
- <para>
- <quote>+hide-referrer</quote> is an alternate spelling of
- <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. It has the exact same parameters, and can be freely
- mixed with, <quote>+hide-referer</quote>. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
- correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
- requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
-<title><emphasis>+hide-user-agent</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- To change the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> header so web servers can't tell
- your browser type. Who's business is it anyway?
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any user defined string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.msn.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Warning! This breaks many web sites that depend on this in order
- to determine how the target browser will respond to various
- requests. Use with caution.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
-<title><emphasis>+handle-as-image</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- To define what <application>Privoxy</application> should treat
- automatically as an image, and is an important ingredient of how
- ads are handled.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+handle-as-image}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This only has meaning if the URL (or pattern) also is
- <quote>+block</quote>ed, in which case a user definable image can
- be sent rather than a HTML page. This is integral to the whole concept of
- ad blocking: the URL must match <emphasis>both</emphasis> a <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> rule,
- <emphasis>and</emphasis> <quote>+handle-as-image</quote>.
- (See <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
- below for control over what will actually be displayed by the browser.)
- </para>
- <para>
- There is little reason to change the default definition for this action.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
-<title><emphasis>+set-image-blocker</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Decide what to do with URLs that end up tagged with <emphasis>both</emphasis>
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
- and <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>,
- e.g an advertisement.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- There are four available options: <quote>-set-image-blocker</quote> will send a HTML
- <quote>blocked</quote> page, usually resulting in a <quote>broken
- image</quote> icon.
- <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>blank</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
- 1x1 transparent GIF image.
- <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>pattern</emphasis>}</quote> will send a
- checkerboard type pattern (the default). And finally,
- <quote>+set-image-blocker{<emphasis>http://xyz.com</emphasis>}</quote> will
- send a HTTP temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the
- advantage of the icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed
- up the display.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+set-image-blocker{blank}}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If you want <emphasis>invisible</emphasis> ads, they need to meet
- criteria as matching both <emphasis>images</emphasis> and <emphasis>blocked</emphasis>
- actions. And then, <quote>image-blocker</quote> should be set to
- <quote>blank</quote> for invisibility. Note you cannot treat HTML pages as
- images in most cases. For instance, frames require an HTML page to
- display. So a frame that is an ad, typically cannot be treated as an image.
- Forcing an <quote>image</quote> in this situation just will not work
- reliably.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
-<title><emphasis>+limit-connect</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
- requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
- <quote>+limit-connect</quote> to disable this altogether, or to allow
- more ports.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any valid port number, or port number range.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usages:</term>
- <listitem>
- <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
- <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
- <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>+limit-connect{443}</emphasis> # This is the default and need not be specified.
- <emphasis>+limit-connect{80,443}</emphasis> # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
- <emphasis>+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-}</emphasis> # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
- (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
- to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
- connections to the client <emphasis>and</emphasis> to the remote proxy.
- This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
- abused as TCP relays very easily.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid
- CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and
- port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and
- max to 65K).
- </para>
- <para>
- If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
- change this one.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
-<title><emphasis>+prevent-compression</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent the specified websites from compressing HTTP data.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+prevent-compression}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Some websites do this, which can be a problem for
- <application>Privoxy</application>, since
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>,
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
- and <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#GIF-DEANIMATE"><quote>+gif-deanimate</quote></ulink>
- will not work on compressed data. This will slow down connections to those
- websites, though. Default typically is to turn
- <quote>prevent-compression</quote> on.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
-<title><emphasis>+session-cookies-only</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Allow cookies for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (disabling):</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{-session-cookies-only}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If websites set cookies, <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> will make sure
- they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes
- profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
- that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
- sites, and is the recommended setting.
- </para>
- <para>
- <quote>+prevent-*-cookies</quote> actions should be turned off as well (see
- below), for <quote>+session-cookies-only</quote> to work. Or, else no cookies
- will get through at all. For, <quote>persistent</quote> cookies that survive
- across browser sessions, see below as well.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-reading-cookies">
-<title><emphasis>+prevent-reading-cookies</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Explicitly prevent the web server from reading any cookies on your
- system.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+prevent-reading-cookies}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote> to
- disable cookies completely. Note that
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
- requires these to both be disabled (or else it never gets any cookies to cache).
- </para>
- <para>
- For <quote>persistent</quote> cookies to work (i.e. they survive across browser
- sessions and reboots), all three cookie settings should be <quote>off</quote>
- for the specified sites.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-setting-cookies">
-<title><emphasis>+prevent-setting-cookies</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Explicitly block the web server from storing cookies on your
- system.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+prevent-setting-cookies}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Often used in conjunction with <quote>+prevent-reading-cookies</quote> to
- disable cookies completely (see above).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popup">
-<title><emphasis>+kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popups"></emphasis></title>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Stop those annoying JavaScript pop-up windows!
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+kill-popups}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>+kill-popups</quote> uses a built in filter to disable pop-ups
- that use the <literal>window.open()</literal> function, etc. This is
- one of the first actions processed by <application>Privoxy</application>
- as it contacts the remote web server. This action is not always 100% reliable,
- and is supplemented by <quote>+filter{<emphasis>popups</emphasis>}</quote>.
- </para>
- <!--
- <para>
- An alternate spelling is <quote>+kill-popup</quote>, which is
- interchangeable.
- </para>
- -->
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
-<title><emphasis>+send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Sends a cookie for every site stating that you do not accept any copyright
- on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track you.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+send-vanilla-wafer}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action only applies if you are using a <filename>jarfile</filename>
- for saving cookies. Of course, this is a (relatively) unique header and
- could conceivably be used to track you.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
-<title><emphasis>+send-wafer</emphasis></title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Multi-value.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical uses:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This allows you to send an arbitrary, user definable cookie.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Possible values:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- User specified cookie name and corresponding value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>{+send-wafer{name=value}}</emphasis>
- <emphasis>.example.com</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This can be specified multiple times in order to add as many cookies as you
- like.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3>
-<title>Summary</title>
-<para>
- Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
- misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
- a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
- content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
- and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
- linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
- actions.
-</para>
-</sect3>
+ <screen>
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+localhost
+apache_server.mylan
+# A list of common file extensions that are likely to indicate raw text, and best
+# if unfiltered.
+/(.*/)?.*\.(pl|(s|p)?h|c(c|xx|pp)?|tcl|am|init?|cfg?|conf(ig)?|txt|rc|bat)$
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect2" id="act-examples">
-<title>Sample Actions Files</title>
-<para>
- Remember that the meaning of any of the above references is reversed by preceding
- the action with a <quote>-</quote>, in place of the <quote>+</quote>. Also,
- that some actions are turned on in the default section of the actions file,
- and require little to no additional configuration. These are just <quote>on</quote>.
+# Documentation should not need filtering (at least on some sites).
+.tldp.org</screen>
</para>
<para>
- But, other actions that are turned on in the default section <emphasis>do
- typically require</emphasis> exceptions to be listed in the latter sections of
- one of our actions file. For instance, by default no URLs are
- <quote>blocked</quote> (i.e. in the default definitions of
- <filename>default.action</filename>). We need exceptions to this in order to
- <emphasis>enable</emphasis> ad blocking in the lower sections. But we need to
- be very selective about what we do block. Thus, the default is <quote>off</quote>
- for blocking.
+ Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
+ seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
+ You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
+ and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
+ <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
+ }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
+ <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
+ in default.action anyway:
</para>
<para>
- Below is a liberally commented sample <filename>default.action</filename> file
- to demonstrate how all the pieces come together. And to show how exceptions
- to the default policies can be handled. This is followed by a brief
- <filename>user.action</filename> with similar examples.
+ <screen>
+{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
+www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
+another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
+
+# Here we found one that is not in <application>Privoxy's</application> default blocked list:
+.adfactory.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
-# Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
+ To force URLs that tend to have ad images, but it is difficult for
+ <application>Privoxy</application> to know this since the ultimate returned
+ object is obscured for one reason or another, we can try to force these to be
+ treated as images (and thus avoid <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ <quote>BLOCKED</quote> banner page). Note that if what is returned by the
+ server turns out NOT to be an image, then your browser typically will display
+ a broken icon image. Use cautiously.
+</para>
-# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
-{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0
+<para>
+ <screen>
+{ +block-as-image }
+# A shockwave ad, very annoying.
+.trip.com/.*\.swf
+.doubleclick.net
+/Realmedia/ads/
+adremote.</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
+ but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
+ were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
+ you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
+ -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
+ aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
+ good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
+ that is causing the problem or not.
+</para>
-##########################################################################
-# <ulink url="actions-file.html#ALIASES">Aliases</ulink> must be defined *before* they are used. These are
-# easier to remember, and can combine several actions into one. Once
-# defined they can be used just like any built-in action -- but within
-# this file only! Aliases do not require a + or - sign.
-##########################################################################
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ fragile }
+.forbes.com</screen>
+</para>
-# Some useful aliases.
-# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
- -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
- -session-cookies-only
+<para>
+ You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
+ but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
+ don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
+ update-safe config, once and for all:
+</para>
-# Alias to both block and treat as if an image for ad blocking
-# purposes.
- +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
+/ # For ALL sites!</screen>
+</para>
-# Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
- fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
- -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
+<para>
+ Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
+ to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
+ really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
+ <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
+ won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
+</para>
-# Shops should be allowed to set persistent cookies
- shop = -filter -prevent-cookies -session-cookies-only
+<para>
+ You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
+ funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
+ to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
+ sites that you feel provide value to you:
+</para>
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ allow-ads }
+.sourceforge.net
+.slashdot.org
+.osdn.net</screen>
+</para>
-##########################################################################
-# Begin default action settings. Anything in this section will match
-# all URLs -- UNLESS we have exceptions that also match, defined below this
-# section. We will show all potential actions here whether they are on
-# or off. We could omit any disabled action if we wanted, since all
-# actions are 'off' by default anyway. Shown for completeness only.
-# Actions are enabled if preceded by a '+', otherwise they are disabled
-# (unless an alias has been defined without this).
-##########################################################################
- { \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#ADD-HEADER">-add-header</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">-deanimate-gifs</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">-downgrade-http-version</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">+fast-redirects</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">+filter{html-annoyances}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">+filter{js-annoyances}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">-filter{content-cookies}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-WEBBUGS">+filter{webbugs}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">-filter{refresh-tags}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN">-filter{fun}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-NIMDA">+filter{nimda}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">+filter{banners-by-size}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">-filter{shockwave-flash}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">-filter{crude-prental}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">+hide-forwarded-for-headers</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER">+hide-from-header{block}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER">-hide-referrer</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT">-hide-user-agent</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">-handle-as-image</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">+set-image-blocker{pattern}</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#LIMIT-CONNECT">-limit-connect</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">+prevent-compression</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">-session-cookies-only</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-READING-COOKIES">-prevent-reading-cookies</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES">-prevent-setting-cookies</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">-send-vanilla-wafer</ulink> \
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#SEND-WAFER">-send-wafer</ulink> \
- }
- / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
+<para>
+ Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
+ <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
+ <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
+ <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
+</para>
-##########################################################################
-# Default behavior is now set. Now we will define some exceptions to our
-# default action policies.
-##########################################################################
+<para>
+ <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
+ exceptions and additions to the default policies of
+ <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
+ default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
+ <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
+ <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
+ paths and patterns:
+</para>
-# These sites are very complex and require very minimal interference.
-# We'll disable most actions with our 'fragile' alias:
- { fragile }
- .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
- .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
+/ # ALL sites</screen>
+</para>
+</sect3>
+</sect2>
-# Shopping sites - not as fragile but require some special
-# handling. We still want to block ads, and we will allow
-# persistant cookies via the 'shop' alias:
- { shop }
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+</sect1>
-# These sites require pop-ups too :( We'll combine our 'shop'
-# alias with two other actions into one rule to allow all popups.
- { shop <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> }
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-# The 'Fast-redirects' action breaks some sites. Disable this action
-# for these known sensitive sites:
- { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS">-fast-redirects</ulink> }
- login.yahoo.com
- edit.europe.yahoo.com
- .google.com
- .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
- .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
- .nytimes.com
+<sect1 id="filter-file">
+<title>The Filter File</title>
+<para>
+ All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
+ <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
+ must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
+ called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
+ selected through the <literal>
+ <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
+ option.
+</para>
-# Define which file types will be treated as images. Important
-# for ad blocking.
- { <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">+handle-as-image</ulink> }
- /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)
-
-
-# Now lets list some domains that are known ad generators. And
-# our alias that we use here will block these as well as force
-# them to be treated as images. This combination of actions is
-# important for ad blocking. What the browser will show instead is
-# determined by the setting of <ulink url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
- { +imageblock }
- ar.atwola.com
- .ad.doubleclick.net
- .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
- .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
- bs*.gsanet.com
- bs*.einets.com
- .qkimg.net
- ad.*.doubleclick.net
-
-
-# These will just simply be blocked. They will generate the BLOCKED
-# banner page, if matched. Heavy use of wildcards and regular
-# expressions in this example. Enable block action:
- { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
- ad*.
- .*ads.
- banner?.
- count*.
- /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
- /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
- .hitbox.com
-
-
-# The above block section will probably inadvertantly catch some
-# sites we DO NOT want blocked via the wildcards and regular expressions.
-# Now let's set exceptions to the exceptions so the good guys get better
-# treatment. Disable block action:
- { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
- advogato.org
- adsl.
- ad[ud]*.
- advice.
-# Let's just trust all .edu top level domains.
- .edu
- www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
-# We'll need to access to path names containing 'download'
- .*downloads.
- /downloads/
-# 'adv' is for globalintersec and means advanced, not advertisement
- www.globalintersec.com/adv
-
-
-# Don't filter *anything* from our friends at sourceforge.
-# Notice we don't have to name the individual filter
-# identifiers -- we just turn them all off in one fell swoop.
-# Disable all filters for this one site:
- { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER">-filter</ulink> }
- .sourceforge.net
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies.
- The above would be a reasonable starting point for many situations. Now,
- we want to be more specific and have customized rules that are more suitable
- to our personal habits and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined
- situations like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in
- <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
- actions files and should not be clobbered by upgrades. So any settings here,
- will have the last word and over-ride any previously defined actions.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Now a few examples of some things that one might do with a
- <filename>user.action</filename> file.
+<para>
+ Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
+ common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
+ exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
+ infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
+ width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
+ or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
</para>
-<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
+<para>
+ Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain
+ text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
+ MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if
+ you want to <quote>roll your own</quote> filters, you should be
+ familiar with HTML syntax.
+</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
-# Sample user.action file.
-
-# Any aliases you want to use need to be re-defined here.
-# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
- -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
- -session-cookies-only
-
-# Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
- fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
- -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
-
-# Allow persistent cookies for a few regular sites that we
-# trust via our above alias. These will be saved from one browser session
-# to the next. We are explicity turning off any and all cookie handling,
-# even though the prevent-*-cookie settings were disabled in our above
-# default.action anyway. So cookies from these domains will come through
-# unmolested.
- { -prevent-cookies }
- .sun.com
- .yahoo.com
- .msdn.microsoft.com
- .redhat.com
-
-
-# My ISP uses obnoxious self promoting images on many pages.
-# Nuke them :) Note that <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink> need not be specified,
-# since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
-# general rules in default.action anyway.
- { <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
- www.my-isp-example.com/logo[0-9].gif
-
-
-# Say the site where you do your homebanking needs to open
-# popup windows, but you have chosen to kill popups by
-# default. This will allow it for your-example-bank.com:
-#
- { <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS">-filter{popups}</ulink> <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS">-kill-popups</ulink> }
- .my-example-bank.com
+ Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
+ filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
+ here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
+ <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
+ the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
+ <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
+ come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
+ text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
+ should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
+ comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
+ user interface</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
+ in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
+ +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
+ in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
+ like this:
+</para>
-# This site is delicate, and requires kid-glove
-# treatment.
- { fragile }
- .forbes.com
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+<para>
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
</para>
-</sect3>
-</sect2>
+<para>
+ Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
+ define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
+ in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
+ <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
+ will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
+ <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.3.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
+ for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
+ option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
+ to ungreedy matching.
+</para>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+<para>
+ If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
+ the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
+ see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
+ manual</ulink> for
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
+ <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
+ url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
+ expressions</ulink> in general.
+ The below examples might also help to get you started.
+</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="aliases">
-<title>Aliases</title>
+<sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
<para>
- Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
- as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other <quote>actions</quote>.
- These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in <quote>actions</quote>.
- Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, <quote>=</quote>,
- <quote>{</quote> or <quote>}</quote>. But please use only <quote>a</quote>-
- <quote>z</quote>, <quote>0</quote>-<quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and
- <quote>-</quote>. Alias names are not case sensitive, and
- <emphasis>must be defined before other actions</emphasis> in the
- actions file! And there can only be one set of <quote>aliases</quote>
- defined per file. Each actions file may have its own aliases, but they are
- only visible within that file. Aliases do not requir a <quote>+</quote> or
- <quote>-</quote> sign in front, since they are merely expanded.
+ Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
+ the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
+ <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
+ needed:
</para>
<para>
- Now let's define a few aliases:
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first!
- {{alias}}
- +prevent-cookies = +prevent-setting-cookies +prevent-reading-cookies
- -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies
- fragile = -block -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
- shop = -prevent-cookies -filter -fast-redirects
- +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
-
- # Aliases defined from other aliases, for people who don't like to type
- # too much: ;-)
- c0 = +prevent-cookies
- c1 = -prevent-cookies
- #... etc. Customize to your heart's content.
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
+ of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
+ care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
+ we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
</para>
<para>
- Some examples using our <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote>
- aliases from above. These would appear in the lower sections of an
- actions file as exceptions to the default actions (as defined in the
- upper section):
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- # These sites are very complex and require
- # minimal interference.
- {fragile}
- .office.microsoft.com
- .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- .nytimes.com
-
- # Shopping sites - but we still want to block ads.
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .scan.co.uk
-
- # These shops require pop-ups also
- {shop -kill-popups}
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ Our complete filter now looks like this:
</para>
-
<para>
- The <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> aliases are often used for
- <quote>problem</quote> sites that require most actions to be disabled
- in order to function properly.
-
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g</screen>
</para>
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
+<para>
+ Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
+ a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
+ abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
+</para>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+<para>
+ <screen>
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
+#
+s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+<para>
+ Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
+ <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
+ the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
+ by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
+</para>
-<sect1 id="filter-file">
-<title>The Filter File</title>
<para>
- Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This
- modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content,
- including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is
- oddly enough <filename>default.filter</filename>, located in the config
- directory.
+ Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
+ enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
+ means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
+ matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
+ it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
</para>
<para>
- This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both
- <quote>regular expression</quote> and HTML in order create custom
- filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with
- <application>Privoxy</application> for many common situations.
+ That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
+ matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
+ be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
+ special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
+ Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
+ the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
+ in the page (and appear in that order).
</para>
<para>
- The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins
- with the <literal>FILTER</literal> keyword, followed by the identifier
- for that section, e.g. <quote>FILTER: webbugs</quote>. Each section performs
- a similar type of filtering, such as <quote>html-annoyances</quote>.
+ But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
+ is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
+ means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
+ tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
</para>
<para>
- This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the
- target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some
- examples from the included default <filename>default.filter</filename>:
+ This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
+ The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
+ remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
+ the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
+ that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
+ text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
+ of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
+ only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
+ tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
+ multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
+ substitution is global.
</para>
<para>
- Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by
- deleting such references:
+ So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
+ (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
+ that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- FILTER: html-annoyances
+ Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
+ lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
+ easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
+ <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
+ the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
+ This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
+ (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
+ Business!"</literal>.
+</para>
- # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and status
- # bar. Make it so.
- #
- s/resizable="?(no|0)"?/resizable=1/ig s/noresize/yesresize/ig
- s/location="?(no|0)"?/location=1/ig s/status="?(no|0)"?/status=1/ig
- s/scrolling="?(no|0|Auto)"?/scrolling=1/ig
- s/menubar="?(no|0)"?/menubar=1/ig
+<para>
+ The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
+ <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
+ <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
+ since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
+ string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
+ information anymore.
+</para>
- # The <BLINK> tag was a crime!
- #
- s*<blink>|</blink>**ig
+<para>
+ We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
+ this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
+</para>
- # Is this evil?
- #
- #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig
- #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
+#
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of <quote>Microsoft</quote> with
- <quote>MicroSuck</quote>, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords:
+ <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
+ carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
+ or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
+ makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
+ option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
+ <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
+ a backreference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
+ with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
+ a backreference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- FILTER: fun
+ So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
+ strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
+ (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
+ real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
+ descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
+ you move your mouse over links.
+</para>
- s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
+</para>
- # Buzzword Bingo:
- #
- s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+<para>
+ Including the
+ <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
+ event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
+ When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
+ This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
+ <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
+ Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
+ case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
+ a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
+ instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
+ <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
+ content does.
</para>
<para>
- Kill those pesky little web-bugs:
+ The last example is from the fun department:
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
- FILTER: webbugs
+ <screen>
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
- s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
</para>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>The <emphasis>+filter</emphasis> Action</title>
<para>
- Filters are enabled with the <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action from within
- one of the actions files. <quote>+filter</quote> requires one parameter, which
- should match one of the section identifiers in the filter file itself. Example:
+ Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
+ in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
+ <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
+ in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
+ still replacing the word everywhere else.
</para>
-<screen>
- +filter{html-annoyances}
-</screen>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
+#
+s* industry[ -]leading \
+| cutting[ -]edge \
+| customer[ -]focused \
+| market[ -]driven \
+| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
+| high[ -]performance \
+| solutions[ -]based \
+| unmatched \
+| unparalleled \
+| unrivalled \
+*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
+*igx</screen>
+</para>
<para>
- This would activate that particular filter. Similarly, <quote>+filter</quote>
- can be turned off for selected sites as:
- <quote>-filter{html-annoyances}</quote>. Remember too, all actions are off by
- default, unless they are explicity enabled in one of the actions files.
+ The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
+ e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
</para>
+<para>
+ You get the idea?
+</para>
</sect2>
-
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<sect1 id="templates">
<title>Templates</title>
<para>
- When <application>Privoxy</application> displays one of its internal
- pages, such as a <ulink url="http://bogus_404_page.com">404 Not Found error page</ulink>
- (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for link to work as
- intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these
- are located in <filename>/etc/privoxy/templates</filename> by default. These
- may be customized, if desired. <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> is used to
- control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
+ All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
+ <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
+ error page</ulink>, the <ulink
+ url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page</ulink>
+ and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
+ user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
+ (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
+ intended.)
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
+ directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
+ this is typically
+ <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
+ or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
+ edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
+ (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
+ just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
+ ignored when the templates are filled in.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
+ find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
+ in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
+ always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
+ code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
+ blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
+ for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
+ our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
+ in in an alpha or beta development stage:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
+
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
+
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
+ <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
+ will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen><!-- --></screen>
</para>
+
<para>
- The default
-<ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Blocked
-(<application>Privoxy</application> needs to be running for page to display)</ulink>
- banner page with the bright red top
- banner, is called just <quote><filename>blocked</filename></quote>. This
- may be customized or replaced with something else if desired.
+ There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
+ mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
+ templates ;-)
+</para>
+<para>
+ All templates refer to a style located at
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
+ This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
+ and the source for it can be found and edited in the
+ <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
</para>
+
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
</sect1>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Copyright and History</title>
+<sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
-<sect2><title>Copyright</title>
<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
©right;
<!-- end copyright -->
-</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2><title>License</title>
+<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
+ &license;
+<!-- end copyright -->
+</sect2>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
&history;
<!-- end history -->
</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
+<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
+ &p-authors;
+<!-- end authors -->
+</sect2>
+
</sect1>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
<!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
<sect2 id="regex">
<title>Regular Expressions</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> can use <quote>regular expressions</quote>
- in various config files. Assuming support for <quote>pcre</quote> (Perl
- Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such
- configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be
- used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against
- URLs.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
+ expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
+ files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
+ through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
+ <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
</para>
<para>
If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
- introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-)
+ introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
+ url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
</para>
<para>
- <quote>Regular expressions</quote> is a way of matching one character
- expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the
- <quote>expressions</quote> is a literal string of readable characters
- (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal
- characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called
- meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have special meanings and
- are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible
- Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language
- with backward compatibility.
+ Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
+ run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
+ match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
+ strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
+ characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
+ special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
+ Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
+ <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
</para>
<para>
</member>
</simplelist></para>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>s/string1/string2/g</emphasis> - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
- <quote>string1</quote> is replaced by <quote>string2</quote> in this
- example. There must of course be a match on <quote>string1</quote> first.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
-
<para>
These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
<application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
in the expression anywhere).
</para>
-<para>
- <emphasis><literal>s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i</literal></emphasis> - This is
- a substitution. <quote>MicroSuck</quote> will replace any occurrence of
- <quote>microsoft</quote>. The <quote>i</quote> at the end of the expression
- means ignore case. The <quote>(?!.com)</quote> means
- the match should fail if <quote>microsoft</quote> is followed by
- <quote>.com</quote>. In other words, this acts like a <quote>NOT</quote>
- modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-).
-</para>
-
<para>
We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
<ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
</para>
+<para>
+ For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
+ in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
+ in this manual.
+</para>
</sect2>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
</para>
</blockquote>
<para>
- Alternately, this may be reached at <ulink
- url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>, but this
- variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
+ There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
+ doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
+ sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions','Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback</ulink>
+ <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
</para>
</listitem>
-
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-
-
<para>
- Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
- <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
+ Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+ <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
have more information about bookmarklets.
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
- matches any <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> patterns. If
+ matches any <link
+ linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
+ <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
is then checked and if it does not match, an
HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
- an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></ulink>
+ an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
+ linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
(blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
</para>
</listitem>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- If the URL pattern matches the <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink> action,
+ If the URL pattern matches the <link
+ linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
- of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></ulink>,
+ of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
+ linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
their parameters.
</para>
<para>
First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
- filtered as deterimed by the
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#PREVENT-SETTING-COOKIES"><quote>+prevent-setting-cookies</quote></ulink>,
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>,
- and <ulink url="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></ulink>
+ filtered as determined by the
+ <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
+ <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
+ and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
actions.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- If the <ulink url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink>
+ If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- If a <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
- or <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
+ If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
+ or <link
+ linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
<filename>default.filter</filename>) are processed against the buffered
<application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
</para>
<para>
- If neither <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink>
- or <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></ulink>
+ If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
+ or <link
+ linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
to the client browser as it becomes available.
</para>
<para>
The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>
- and <ulink url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>filters</quote></ulink>
+ <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
<emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
- <quote>regular expressions</quote> whose consequences are not always
- so obvious.
+ <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
+ always so obvious.
</para>
<para>
One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
- and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!).
+ and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
+ logs is a good idea too.
</para>
<para>
First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
<application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
- help with filtering effects (i.e. the <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></ulink> action) from
+ help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
+ linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
<screen>
Matches for http://google.com:
---- File standard ---
-(no matches in this file)
-
---- File default ---
-
-{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
- -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
- -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+
+{-add-header
+ -block
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects
+ -filter{popups}
+ -filter{fun}
+ -filter{shockwave-flash}
+ -filter{crude-parental}
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+ +filter{js-annoyances}
+ +filter{content-cookies}
+ +filter{webbugs}
+ +filter{refresh-tags}
+ +filter{nimda}
+ +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -handle-as-image
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ +prevent-compression
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
/
{ -session-cookies-only }
{ -fast-redirects }
.google.com
---- File user ---
+In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
(no matches in this file)
</screen>
</para>
<para>
This tells us how we have defined our
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></ulink>, and
+ <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
<quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
- which was for <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></ulink>
+ which was for <link
+ linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
(i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The
second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
- <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></ulink>
+ <link
+ linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
<screen>
Final results:
- -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
- -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -prevent-reading-cookies
- -prevent-setting-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
+
+ -add-header
+ -block
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ -fast-redirects
+ -filter{popups}
+ -filter{fun}
+ -filter{shockwave-flash}
+ -filter{crude-parental}
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+ +filter{js-annoyances}
+ +filter{content-cookies}
+ +filter{webbugs}
+ +filter{refresh-tags}
+ +filter{nimda}
+ +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -handle-as-image
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ +prevent-compression
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern}
</screen>
</para>
We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
- <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<ulink
- url="actions-file.html#ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></ulink> are defined in
+ <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
+ linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
than one action.)
</para>
would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
- is done here -- as both a <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>
+ is done here -- as both a <link
+ linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
<emphasis>and</emphasis> an
- <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>.
+ <link
+ linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
it more readable.
</para>
<para>
One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
- This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
+ This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
</para>
<para>
Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
- { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
- +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -prevent-setting-cookies
- -prevent-reading-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +deanimate-gifs
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+ +filter{js-annoyances}
+ +filter{kill-popups}
+ +filter{webbugs}
+ +filter{nimda}
+ +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +filter{hal}
+ +filter{fun}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -handle-as-image
+ +kill-popups
+ +prevent-compression
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
/
{ +block +handle-as-image }
was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
- One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. Try
- adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
+ One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. These
+ tend to be harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of
+ aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- This would probably be most appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>,
- for local site exceptions.
+ This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
+ appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
+ exceptions.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
+ <quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote> rule, which assumes
+ that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well most of the time
+ since these tend to be standardized).
</para>
<para>
Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
$Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
+ Revision 2.8 2002/10/21 02:46:09 hal9
+ Port changes to user.action examples section from 3.0.
+
+ Revision 2.7 2002/10/12 01:14:42 hal9
+ Updates for demoronizer filter, Radical profile, and the srvany.exe/icon
+ win32 fix.
+
+ Revision 2.6 2002/10/10 04:10:38 hal9
+ s/Advanced/Radical/ for standard.action change.
+
+ Revision 2.5 2002/10/10 03:50:38 hal9
+ Update cookie sections for pre-existing condition, and content cookies not
+ effected by session-cookies setting.
+
+ Revision 2.4 2002/09/26 05:58:07 hal9
+ Change development status from working on 3.0 to 3.2.
+
+ Revision 2.3 2002/09/26 00:12:17 hal9
+ Additional notes on Privoxy patterns, and filtering vs SSL.
+
+ Revision 2.2 2002/09/05 05:45:30 hal9
+ Syncing with 3.0. This should be it for doc sources. Not all builds tested
+ yet. No new content, just catching up.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
+ Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
+ CGIs.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
+ Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
+ Update to Mac OSX startup script name
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
+ Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
+ Nits re: actions file download
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
+ Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
+ Added 2 Gentoo sections
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
+ - Added version info to title
+ - Added info on new filters
+ - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
+ - Added info on where to get updated actions files
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
+ Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
+
+ Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
+ Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
+ Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
+ Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
+ This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
+ eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
+ so that these are in sync with each other.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
+ Ooops missed something from David.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
+ Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
+ That's a wrap, I think.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
+ Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
+ -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
+
+ Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
+ Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
+ Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
+
+ Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
+ Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
+
+ Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
+ - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
+ <literal><link> style.
+ - Small fixes in the actions chapter
+ - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
+ - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
+ renders them red (bad in TOC).
+
+ Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
+ Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
+
+ Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
+ Added Security hint
+
+ Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
+ -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
+ -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
+
+ Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
+ - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
+ - Small changes to Regex appendix
+ - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
+
+ Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
+ Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
+
+ Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
+ Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
+
+ Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
+ More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
+
+ Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
+ Extended and further commented the example actions files
+
+ Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
+ Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
+ clarification.
+
+ Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
+ Fixing the fixes
+
+ Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
+ Restored alphabetical order of actions
+
+ Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
+ Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
+
+ Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
+ Completed proofreading the actions chapter
+
+ Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
+ Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
+ apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
+
+ Revision 1.106 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 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
+ Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
+
+ Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
+ bumped version
+
+ Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
+ -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
+ -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
+
+ Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
+ Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
+
+ Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
+ Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
+ Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
+
+ Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
+ Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
+
Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
more structure in starting section
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff